Nature v. Nurture

[calgaryjimbo]

This is a debate that has been confounding sociologists and geneticists for years. Just curious as to where you folks fall on this question and why. Do you believe that a person's eventual personality is predetermined by their genetic "pre-wiring" and that environmental factors have no effect on what the person will become? Or is it the opposite -- is the sum of a person's experiences the deciding factor in who someone becomes? There's plenty of evidence to support both sides of the argument. Please feel free to cite some or all of it. I'll put my $.02 in a little later.

Begin!

[Nynus]

I like the movie "Trading Places" Ackroyd and Murphy were great in that one.

[Niccivan]

I believe it is a combination to some extent. But I'm convinced by my own personal experiences that genetics play a BIGGER role of who you are and who you will become. Without going into too many details about my family, I am exactly like my biological mother and NOTHING like my adoptive mother. I've never even met my biological mother (or father for that matter). But I know alot about her.

[sierradoc]

i am also adopted with limited knowledge about my biologics but i apparantly take after my maternal GM.

that being said being raised in a Jewish home with emphasis on academic performance and achievement certainly played a role in who i am, and who i ain't!

[Niccivan]

OH I have no doubts that my parents and my religion plays a huge role in who I am today......but I dont think it has anything to do with who Im not.....does that make sense? By all accounts I should be a good christian girl....and im some respects I am. But in alot of respects Im not

[featherlou]

I think everyone is born with tendencies that are dictated by genetics. I think these tendencies are reinforced or downplayed by the environment they grow up in and the experiences that they have throughout their lives.

[Sammy]

This is pretty deep shit there Jimbob !! One's character or personality is made of many factors.... lol!!!trading places, yip! been there done that!and still doing it!!! lol....
This is a heavy and in depth thread. Rich ,poor, black ,white and the reason one goes through life trying to figure out , I believe you can't.

If you have a perspective, and a goal ,yes then you can determine the direction you like to go. But that's up to everyone. Things happen on the road to life, and life experiences help you learn, so maybe you can make things better for yourselve.


Maybe I read this wrong!

[Niccivan]

You can't deny genetics. Sometimes you can try to cover them up, but they are still there, encrypted in your DNA. And you can't get rid of that. All you can do is just be who you are. If you dont like it.....tough shit. Life aint a cake walk...nor should it be. those who have thier lives handed to them on a silver platter - sure - they can decide who they want to be and when they want to be them. then there are people like the rest of us.....who just have no choice but to be who we are.

I think your envoronment can help you shape you and help enrich your life - but they cant change you either.

[bluffmanxx]

both play a big role.....but sometimes it is hard to see where one ends and the other begins. what happens to us is only part of the picture. our perception of what happens is in my mind even bigger. and i think much of how we intrepret things is due to the biological component.

experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him.
A. Huxley

[calgaryjimbo]

A heritability study by Scarr and Kidd (1983) indicated that genetics plays a larger role in determining intelligence than personality or interests. This has long been consistent with my personal observations. Personality traits and interests, while possibly leaning in a particular direction due to genetic predisposition, are consistently and constantly shaped by a person's environment. Pure intelligence, however, is something you are either born with or not. And that follows through any number of disciplines; I am strong in the "soft sciences" such as languages and history, but not so great at the "hard sciences" like math and biology, and this has remained a consistent reality for me, regardless of how much effort I've put into them.

So I fall very much into the camp which says that genetics gives you a starting place, some strengths and weaknesses, but environment determines what you will ultimately become.