Nature versus Nurture: What Affects a Person More (Essay Sample)

Nature versus Nurture: What Affects a Person More
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Nature versus Nurture: What Affects a Person More
For a long time, the contemporary biologists and environmentalists have engaged in endless debates as to whether it is nature or nurture that affects human development and behavior. While the nativists attribute people’s behavior to hereditary and biological factors, the environmentalists believe that it is the surroundings that control the psychological aspects of human beings. Zaky (2015) defines nature as the genetic factors pre-wired to control people, and nurture as the external factors that influence behavior after conception. Although both nature and nurture play a significant role in developing people’s character, the environment affect individuals more due to its impact on the growth and development process that comes from learning, exposure, and experience.
To start with, nurture affects people more than nature because of the environmental role it plays in molding individual’s personalities. According to Zaky (2015), the children’s brains at birth are normally tabula rasa, an empty slate that is supposed to be filled through learning and exposure. In most cases, children adopt their initial behaviors from their immediate family members and friends. If, for example, youngsters are exposed to domestic violence, they are likely to grow up into social delinquents (Levitt, 2013). For this matter, parental behavior and their relationship with their children influence the adolescents’ growth and development stages. Likewise, the neighborhood environment affects teenagers’ socialization life and what they are likely to become in their adulthood.
Conversely, the nativists argue that nature supersedes nurture because of the genetic composition that defines personality. They believe that certain human behaviors are inborn and take place naturally without depending on the environment. According to Zaky (2015), the nativists’ position stems from the claim that human beings are defined by their genetic traits and the evolution process. However, geneticists’ argument offers little evidence as compared to what the environmentalists present. Through exposure, individuals can be trained to become and do anything, irrespective of their innate background, for instance, children’s ability to learn a language by imitating their parents.
Although the supremacy between nature and nurture is endless, these two aspects cannot be separated as they work hand in hand to shape human behavior. Instead of inquiring whether it is the environment or the genes that affects people more, scholars should now focus on the level of impact (Levitt, 2013). For this matter, the surroundings seem to have an upper hand because all decisions and activities in a person’s life are shaped by their family, peers, schools, and the environment in ge...