• Question: Which is more important, nature or nurture?

    Asked by anon-188275 to Shanti, Pizza Ka Yee, Nadine, Alex on 5 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Alex Reid

      Alex Reid answered on 5 Nov 2018: last edited 5 Nov 2018 6:05 pm

      Hi that is a great question, and something many people have wrestled with for a long time. Some of the other scientists might disagree but my feelings towards the nature vs. nurture debate is that for the most part it is a bit of what you might call a ‘false dichotomy’. This means that the question is forcing you to pick a side when there isn’t one: both are involved. Your genes (‘nature’) would not be expressed without some kind of environmental input (‘nurture’) and we would not develop properly otherwise. In reality things are a bit more complex than that (it depends what aspect of the body/brain you are talking about) but broadly speaking a fully functioning adult is the product of both their genes and the environment.

    • Photo: Nadine Mirza

      Nadine Mirza answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      Nature is of course, a significant part of who we are- our genes shape our entire existence.
      That being said, I tend to lean towards nurture because our environment, what we’re exposed to as we grow up, and the people around us, have huge impact (twin studies for example show this!). I think so much of psychology and its theories focus on nurture in different ways- whether it’s how we can condition ourselves to perform certain behaviours, or how our childhood can dictate mental health in later life.

      Plus I figure, between nature and nurture, we can’t control what clay nature decides to give us. But we can choose how we mould it with nurture.

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