Friday, March 20, 2009

Nature/Nurture

The classic nature/nurture debate: are characteristics and personality traits inherited or learned? Psychologists agree that it is a combination of both, and have come to a conclusion using the evolutionary developmental psychology. This field of psychology draws on basic principles of Darwinism to explain human development; however, conflict still exists when it comes to the topic of language acquisition. Psychologists have yet to decide if language is acquired through general learning methods or specified genetically. 

Another debatable argument when it comes to nature vs. nurture is intelligence. The "tabula rasa", or blank slate, is the view that all humans acquire their traits from "nurture"; each person is therefore a product of their environment. This concept of the blank slate gained popularity during the Enlightenment, and was popularized by the English thinker John Locke. This theory is supported by certain evidence; in a study on IQ, scientists found that a person's intelligence was greatly influenced by their family environment. This, however, does not explain other aspects of intelligence, such as people who are born bright and excel greatly in certain areas. It is especially hard for scientists to come to a conclusion on links between intelligence and heredity since, by adulthood, the comparison between IQ's of siblings is comparable to the IQ's of strangers. Monozygotic twins, on the other hand, have much more in common in terms of IQ in comparison to dizygotic twins and adoptive siblings.  

Similarly, studies show that personality is also both hereditary and learned to a certain extent, with hereditary/"nature" having a stronger influence. This was affirmed through a study on adoptive twins, since by adulthood they also have personality traits comparable to strangers. Because they are raised in the same household does not necessarily mean that siblings share the same character or personality traits. In fact, the odds are that they will have varying personalities. 

The heart of this debate came about in the 19th and 20th centuries, when thinkers began to question if traits were divinely distributed by a god or if they were simply the result of science at work. As time progresses, more and more people have come to believe in both nature and nurture as significant aspects in personality development. 

2 comments:

Hee Young Park said...

I also always curious about this study.How personality or intelligence are constructed. Some scientists say they are made before they were born but others say it is depending on their environment. However, I agree with environmental theory. Some people 's personalities are changing by their experiences and envrionment. For example, if someone was a quite person when she/he was young but if their friends are very outgoing people, their personlities are going to change by surrounding people. Moreover, usually twins do not have same personalities. Even they have grown by same parents and same environemt. Their personlities might not perfectly same. In my case, one of my cousins are twin but they have todally differnet personalities. One is very quite and one is very out going. Therefore I realized personality is cahnging as people are growing.

Kimin Kim said...

I agree with what HeeYoung said. Due to human is social-animal, we can not live alone. People need family, friends, or pets who are our living-mates. So, everyday we communicate each other, such as talk, play, study, eat, watch, and sleep together. All of these activities allow people affect each individuals. Then, people have to stand some stages which is they need to allow others' habits and personality or not. This kinda circumstances are repeated during our whole life. As time goes by, our personality are formed, but it's ongoing forever. Therefore, environment has the most powerful factor which affects a one's personality. On the other hand, the personality with birth is still remains our brain and heart, I think. When we were baby, we just express our unique personality which from our birth. However, if baby grows up and live in human society, we limit our personality ourselves because we are not live alone, we live with people.