Even social attitudes and opinions can be shaped by genetic factors. A person’s fondness for roller coasters can be attributed to genes passed along to him or her from a parent. The fears that humans indicate they have can be seen as genetically predisposed survival tactics. "We are survival machines," Richard Dawkins writes in The Selfish Gene, "robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes” (Dee, 2010). As behaviors are practiced by humans, who survive long enough to pass on their traits, certain traits that helped them to survive are imprinted on genes. These genes are passed along to the next generation so that they too can survive. The greatest fears of human beings did not become them on accident.
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It is the environment that makes people who they are. It shapes them to be the craziest outgoing people in the room, or to be the shy introverts left in the corner. Sets of twins are the sole reasons why genes cannot attest to this. Questions are left unanswered because there is simply no answer to them. These common-sense questions included: If identical twins are genetically indistinguishable, how could just one end up schizophrenic or homosexual (Sinha, 2004)? Another question that is left unanswered is why some people bounce back quickly after a traumatic experience that would have had another person devastated for years. Genes may be mentioned for a potential answer, but there is no specific gene for the “quick recovery from traumatic experiences.”
As humans evolve and grow, instincts play a smaller role in survival. These instincts are passed from generation to generation, but begin to have little importance as humans enter higher orders in species. People gain better environmental and behavioral adaptability in the continuous process of survival (Dee, 2010). In other words, humans have the least instincts out of all mammals. We instead have an excessive influence on our surroundings, and environment substantially determines our behavior (Dee, …show more content…
Experience matters, but so does genes. It no longer makes any sense to talk of “nature versus nurture” or “genes versus environment” (Ridley, 2003). When it comes to human development, the two are inextricably intertwined, says Matt Ridley (Ridley, 2003). For example, a gene for speaking, named FOXP2, allows the human mind to absorb from early experience the learning necessary for speaking (Ridley, 2003). When it comes to human behavior, genes and environment work together to provide humans with their various actions and
It is the environment that makes people who they are. It shapes them to be the craziest outgoing people in the room, or to be the shy introverts left in the corner. Sets of twins are the sole reasons why genes cannot attest to this. Questions are left unanswered because there is simply no answer to them. These common-sense questions included: If identical twins are genetically indistinguishable, how could just one end up schizophrenic or homosexual (Sinha, 2004)? Another question that is left unanswered is why some people bounce back quickly after a traumatic experience that would have had another person devastated for years. Genes may be mentioned for a potential answer, but there is no specific gene for the “quick recovery from traumatic experiences.”
As humans evolve and grow, instincts play a smaller role in survival. These instincts are passed from generation to generation, but begin to have little importance as humans enter higher orders in species. People gain better environmental and behavioral adaptability in the continuous process of survival (Dee, 2010). In other words, humans have the least instincts out of all mammals. We instead have an excessive influence on our surroundings, and environment substantially determines our behavior (Dee, …show more content…
Experience matters, but so does genes. It no longer makes any sense to talk of “nature versus nurture” or “genes versus environment” (Ridley, 2003). When it comes to human development, the two are inextricably intertwined, says Matt Ridley (Ridley, 2003). For example, a gene for speaking, named FOXP2, allows the human mind to absorb from early experience the learning necessary for speaking (Ridley, 2003). When it comes to human behavior, genes and environment work together to provide humans with their various actions and