The Nature Vs. Nurture Debate

Within the scientific community it is debated which aspect, between genetics or the environment plays the larger role in forming a person’s personality. The debate between these two sides has often been called the nature/nurture debate. The dispute of whether hereditary characteristics or the environment most impacts human development encompasses not only the personality of the individual, but their behavioral characteristics as well, as well as their habits, intelligence, sexuality, aggressive tendencies, and so on. Determining which of the two plays a more important role in forming the personality of an individual has proven difficult and both sides base their arguments on various unproven scientific theories despite the many studies that have been conducted in attempts to answer the question.
It is difficult to reach a conclusive answer on the subject because no two people are exactly alike, therefore, it is impossible to sufficiently test the different theories. In order to sufficiently create an experiment to reach an answer for the nature versus nurture debate, it would be required that we take two …show more content…
In the text they infer that neither variable plays a more important role than the other, but rather that both must be present and are just as important as the other. “It is like asking, “which is more important in making an automobile run- the gasoline or the engine? Quite obviously, if the car is to run at all, both gasoline and an engine must be provided. Likewise, if a baby is to develop normally, it must have a reasonable adequate biological inheritance and a reasonably adequate social environment.” The authors are not alone in this thought, as articles written by Timo Hannay of Edge Magazine and Alison Gopnik of The Wall Street Journal also suggest that the notion of nature versus nurture is a dated scientific