Nature vs. Nurture: Individuals Proclivity Toward Violence and Crime

Exploratory Paper

Nature vs. Nurture: Individuals Proclivity toward Violence and Crime

The classical debate between the biological science of nature and the social science of nurture is ongoing. This debate between which aspects of our behavior are inherited through our genetic makeup or learned characteristics through our environment will always be a contested issue. We attempt to understand the causes of these behavioral differences of violence and criminality that some people within our society exhibit. Both types of factors are known to play roles in human development and the nature and nurture of a person can vary greatly between individuals. Heredity and environment both influence the person we become so it can be reasoned that they both increase ones proclivity towards a deviant personality. Which one influences human personality development the most: nature or nurture? The reality is that nature and nurture interact in a host of different ways.

Biological factors determine if our genes give us any of our personality traits and a predisposition for our behaviors as nature’s process of selecting our physical and behavioral traits. Our genes predispose us to certain behaviors in our biological influence from birth and can’t be changed. “Those who adopt an extreme heredity position are known as nativists.  Their basic assumption is that the characteristics of the human species as a whole are a product of evolution and that individual differences are due to each person’s unique genetic code.” Charles Darwin’s study of evolution led people to think that human behavior was instinctive and our nature, that some people are born criminals. A person’s natural characteristics are the traits developed biologically. Genes indicate the potential of psychological characteristics for a person’s behavior and personality...