One of the most important issues in psychology is the nature/nurture one. Am I who I am because of my unique combination of genes and chromosomes, or is it more because of my environment? Is it DNA, or is it life in the USA as compared to life in Cambodia? While pondering this question for the umpteenth time, I came across two cute examples in Pierce Howard’s The Owner’s Manual to the Brain:
- Two monozygotic twin girls were separated at birth and placed in homes far apart. About four years later, researchers interviewed the adoptive parents of each girl. Shauna’s parents said, “She is a terrible eater—won’t cooperate, stubborn, strong-willed. I can’t get her to eat anything unless I put cinnamon on it.” The parents of Ellen said, “Ellen is a lovely child—cooperative and outgoing.” When the researcher asked about her eating habits, they said, “Fantastic—she eats anything I put before her, as long as I put cinnamon on it!”
- Two monozygotic twin boys were separated at birth and placed in homes far apart. They were interviewed 27 years later. Both had turned out to be obsessive-compulsive neatniks, scrubbing their separate homes frequently and constantly picking up and making things neat and clean. When they were asked to explain their compulsion for neatness, on attributed it to his reaction to an adoptive parent who was a slob, while the other attributed it to his upbringing by an adoptive parents who was a neatnik!
What do you think about this issue? For starters, look at yourself and share some of your behaviors or predispositions that you might have inherited. Then again, you might have picked them up from a parent, a peer, or a television show.
Shrink Rapping 
This kind of topic could be talked about for hours and hours but could never really be narrowed down to a specific answer of which one is better than the other. I find that nurture is the best out of the two that has influenced who I am today. My sister and I could not be any more different than if we had come from different parents. I eat anything that is put in front of me and I am a very shy person until I get to know somebody really well. On the other hand, my sister is such a picky eater and very outspoken. To come from the same parents and to be so different is beyond me! When I was younger my mom always made me atleast try what she cooked before she gave me the option to just eat chicken nuggets. With my sister it is a totally different story. When she was younger, if she didn’t want to eat what mom had cooked she didn’t even have to try it before she just got to eat chicken nuggets. We are like this with so many other things which leads me to believe that our enviornment in which we were raised had a bigger impact on us than out genes have.
How about academically? Do you like the same topics? Do you each have different talents like music or sports?I think all of these behaviors are related to nature. Because the article states these twins were seperated from each other and they oviously carry some of the same genes. The twin girls won’t eat there food unless cinnamon is on it, and the boys are neat heads. Though these are not bad issues it’s just amazing how similar their behavoirs are while they are seperated. I know that I inherited the fight within myself to get what I want from my mother, but my sister will not do it she will wait with patience just like my father. I do believe we all have certain inherited traits.
Me too. And yet, I'm wondering if being around both parents also influenced you and your sister, especially if people said, "Cynethia, you're just like your mother." Comments like that are reinforcing and encourage us to model after this person even more.Great post George! I love the quote by Socrates.
In many ways, I think your environment has a stronger influence on you than your genes. A lot of who we are is detemined by our education and exposure to society. Who we are is determined by the morals and ethics we develop from our parents, teachers, ministers, peers,etc. Socrates states “a self-aware person will act completely within their capabilities to their pinnacle, while an ignorant person will flounder and encounter difficulty.” In order to have self-awareness, one must know where they are in regards to their surroundings. We have evolved due to improvements in society. Whether you think about Adam and Eve or Darwin’s Theory, we are all products of our environment. Although Aristotle said “when a person act in accordance with his NATURE and realizes his full potential, he will do good and be content.” You must have some knowledge of society to reach that potential.
Joi, I’m going to give you my standard, all-time favorite response: It depends. It truly does. For one thing, it depends on the nature of the problem.
Christina, That’s a smart answer…and definitely one that I agree with. When I think of all of the possible combinations of genes and chromosomes, it’s mind boggling. Then when I figure in the myriad experiences a person has and the things she is exposed to, it’s virutally impossible to say that one is more instrumental than another in making you you.
I have so many questions about my crazy life. I would love to get some feed back from psychology teacher’s instead of going to see a psychologist, who will stop me from talking when my time is up. Nothing get accomplished because the next time I see him or her there will be some other issue I need to talk about.
Do you answer those type questions or just school psychology questions?
I think that this is such a complex question and that their is no definitive right or wrong answer I truly believe that it is a culmination of both the nature and the nurture that create who we are and who we become. I think that our gene structure participates in some ways and that how we are raised and where we are raised also play an integral part in how we end up as adults. I do not think that the true answer to this question is black and white I think that it is the grey area that we will find our answers in.