Nature Versus Nurture

Nature verses Nurture is a prominent debate with regards to a human’s behavior or personality. Nature is our genetic inheritance or biological factors, whereas, nurture is our acquired external factors (e.g. exposure and experience). However, I would agree that genetic and environment influences play a dual role in our personality and behavior. Current research in psychopathology with twins has shown that genetic influences account for the largest proportion, followed by unique environmental influences, and then shared environmental influences. The results of Vendlinski, Javaras, Van Hulle, Lemery-Chalfant, Maie, Davidson, and Goldsmith (2014) research study specified that the influence of genetic factors was higher for externalizing problems (i.e., conduct problems, ODD, ADHD than internalizing problems (i.e., depression and anxiety). The environmental influence was higher for internalizing problems and externalizing problems, with the presence of comorbidity with mental health symptoms. …show more content…
The five-factor model includes “extroversion (the tendency to experience positive emotions and sociability), neuroticism (the tendency to experience negative affect), conscientiousness (the ability to plan, organize, and complete tasks), agreeableness (the tendency to trust others and show sympathy and altruism), and openness (the tendency to engage in novel activities and emotions)” (Lewis at. el., 2014, p.866). The results indicated that the five-factor model has a common genetic influence on adolescent behavior problems (e.g. anxiety, peer problems, conduct, hyperactivity, low prosocial behavior). However, genetic influences are present in both normal personality and problem