violence nature or nurture essay

• Crime, The Law & Your Rights

Dangerous Behavior: Stalkers Using “Apple Air Tags” to Spy on, Harass, Threaten Lovers And Spouses

How Your Brainwaves Could Be Used In Criminal Trials

R. Kelly: Aided By A Network of Complicity Enabling His Crimes

How Social Media Turns Online Arguments Between Teens Into Real-World Violence

Kathleen Folbigg’s Children Likely Died Of Natural Causes, Not Murder. Here’s The Evidence My Team Found

Do criminals freely decide to commit offences? How the courts decide

Trending tags.

• Neuroscience
• Mental Health
• Criminal Brain
• Juvenile Crime

Psychopaths – Born Or Made?

The Question of Why: Did Ted Bundy have Dissociative Identity Disorder?

What Should We Do With Teenage Psychopaths?

A Criminal Disorder? Advances in Neurocriminology Are Leading The Way

An Interview With Former FBI Profiler Mark Safarik on Violent Offending and Criminal Behavioral Analysis

The Criminal Mind: An Interview With Forensic Psychologist and Author Katherine Ramsland

• Psychopathy

Reckless Speculation about Jeffrey MacDonald

O. J. Simpson Trial: 26 Years Later

O. J. Simpson: Murder in the First Degree

Reasonable Doubt: The Hendricks Family Murders

A Convicted Killer, Two Criminologists, and One Podcast: Direct Appeal Investigates ‘Suitcase Killer’ Melanie McGuire Case

Family Annihilation: The Crimes and Psychology of Familicide

Justice For Brianna Ghey: A Murder Trial Unveiling Dark Secrets

Sada Abe: The Unkindest Cut

The Murder of Cecil Wells and the 49th State

Uneven Ground: The Melissa Witt Story, True Crime Documentary Review

The Babysitting Murder Of Hannah Wesche: What We Know So Far

EXCLUSIVE – Errol Flynn: From Theft to Fame and Fortune

• Serial Murder
• Documentaries
• Guest Posts

Connected By Fate: Unmasking The Brutal Killer of Melissa Ann Witt

Strangled: A Courageous Fight Against The Darkest Corners of Humanity

The Girl I Never Knew: Melissa Ann Witt Deserves Justice

Befriending A Serial Killer: An Interview With Mark Austin

The Husband Poisoner: Lethal Ladies and Dangerously Tasty Recipes

Details are Unprintable: Wayne Lonergan and the Sensational Café Society Murder

• Historical Crime Books

Is A Car Accident A Criminal Or Civil Case?

How to Prove Sexual Abuse Without Physical Evidence

When Does Medical Malpractice Become a Criminal Case?

Can A Crime Turn Into A Personal Injury Lawsuit?

A Tale of Two Zodiacs

5 Tell-Tale Signs Of An Abusive Person

• Family Violence
• Book Reviews
• Crime Spotlight

Nature and Nurture: The Origins of Violence

For decades psychologists have argued over these two umbrella terms and what they signify. which is more important in shaping us as adults and driving aggressive behavior.

There are so many aspects of human behavior that still baffle us as researchers, scientists, and psychologists.  Why some people display violent and aggressive behavior whereas others are entirely passive and non-violent is a question that has received particular attention. In searching for answers on the origins of violence, the debate surrounding the influence of nature and nurture revolves at the center.

Nature vs Nurture

As humans, we are all made up of genetics; genes, cells, DNA, and neurotransmitters, and we know that this biological makeup can operate differently across individuals.  This is the ‘nature’ aspect of the debate.  Those factors that are uncontrolled by us, things that we cannot choose or in theory influence, and these have a significant impact on our behavior and how our minds work .

On the other side are the environmental aspects, the ‘nurture’ side where what we have experienced in our lives, the lessons and influences on us as we were growing up which includes the environment we were brought up in, and how our parents treated and provided for us, shapes us as individuals.

More personal aspects come into play here; whether we receive love as children or whether we were neglected. Whether our home and social environment were nurturing and beneficial for learning those key parts of humanity; empathy, care, sympathy, and love, or whether we were surrounded by violence, neglect, and abuse .

Which one of these, nature or nurture, is more important in shaping us as adults and driving our behavior?

For decades psychologists have argued over these two umbrella terms and what they signify.  You have the more scientifically driven who place their belief in nature, in genetics and biology, as the most significant and influential driving force. If there are faults in this biology, connections that are just not there, genes which predispose a person to violent behavior, and areas of the brain which have not developed fully or have developed abnormally then these, and these alone, are responsible for the behaviors displayed. Furthermore, if these are present then an individual is on a crash course.  They are essentially ‘born evil’ and there is little that could have been or could now be done to change it.

Alternatively, there is the belief that we are all born with basically the same mechanics. We all have a blueprint that we start with biologically and none of it can be considered evil at the starting line. This belief advocates that the reason some are violent and some are not is down to environmental factors, external influences that have molded an individual.

“I don’t deny the importance of genetics.  However, the fact that I might be altruistic isn’t because I have a gene for altruism; the fact that I do something for my children at some cost to myself comes from a history that has operated on me.” –  American Psychologist B.F. Skinner

The development of a child is an extremely important stage that no one can deny. How a child learns what is appropriate behavior and what isn’t, how to regulate their own behavior and emotional responses to others, along with appropriate social behaviors is through the environment they develop in.  These examples are set by others; the behaviors they witness as a child are significant.

Imagine, a child who grows up in a household with no rules and no boundaries, with parents who pay them little attention, who are involved in criminal behavior, who mix with others of a similar ilk. This is what this child thinks is ‘normal’.  The behaviors they witness, the possible violence, and the lack of caring they experience are what they internalize into their own psyche and into their own developing personalities.

In comparison, a child who is loved, whose parents provide care and support, engages in play and activities to teach them how to share, to teach them others have feelings, molds entirely different normality for that child and this is more than likely the developmental path they will follow.

JIM FALLON: NATURAL BORN KILLER?

Sociology and psychology film producer and author Chris Livesey has recently directed a documentary film featuring Professor James Fallon  where he explores his research, his discoveries, and what this means for our understanding of criminal behavior, violence and aggression, and the nature-nurture debate.

It is an excellent film, breaking down the components of a complex debate and explaining their significance.  It is an opportunity to listen to Professor Fallon discuss his work and these theories in his own words, giving a real insight into the current thinking in this field of research at this time.

Furthermore, this film from Short Cuts TV reveals his thoughts on how nurture may, in fact, be able to change nature, alter those genes and biological factors and ignite them in a way that can have devastating consequences.

Nature and Nurture?

It has become apparent in recent years that a more accurate picture of what makes up an individual and the influencing factors on behavior is a combination of nature and nurture rather than one or the other. Genes and biological brain development do influence a developing mind as does how a person grows up, and those external influences and experiences they develop within.  While this combined perspective and theory sound more reasonable and more appropriate, the mechanics of how this works is still something that has not become clear.

Advancements in technology have helped greatly in this search for answers to the roots and origins of human behavior, particularly when it comes to criminal behavior, violent aggression, and acts against others that are especially brutal.  This is why the behaviors of serial killers can often be at the center of these investigations.

Multiple murderers represent individuals in society who appear to have no conscience.  They do not seem to feel anything for their victims and they have the capacity in many cases to carry out cruel and brutal acts to the clear distress and pain of those they are hurting.

Some get a kick out of this behavior; they enjoy inflicting pain on their victims.  Many enjoy the fear that their victim displays when they have been captured and realize what is about to happen to them.  Not only can these individuals carry out these acts, but they also do so repeatedly.

“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction” – German Psychologist Erich Fromm

They are not repelled or repulsed by their behavior, they are curious and keen to carry it out again to achieve the same feelings they got the first time.

The idea that multiple murderers may have some form of addiction to killing has been suggested, almost akin to a drug or alcohol addiction.  The act of killing and the particular way they carry out the murder gives them an emotional reward of some kind. For some, this may be a feeling of power, for others it is sexual gratification.

It is clear that it is not the same for all killers, it varies just as their modus operandi and signatures differ. These individuals are a sample pool of humans where their psychology and now it appears their biological make-up, is most likely flawed.  Something has gone wrong somewhere and we want to know what it is.

As the above film demonstrates, the research of Professor James Fallon has been very influential in this field.  A geneticist in origin, Fallon found himself studying the brain scans of individuals in search of markers for Alzheimer’s disease, and in doing so, he became somewhat of an expert on the analysis of brain patterns and the interpretation of brain scans.  Inevitably along the line, he was asked to review the brain scans of a large sample of criminals, most of whom were convicted serial killers and many were hoping a default in their brain would equal exoneration from responsibility for their crimes, or at least ensure they avoided the death penalty.

What Professor Fallon found was especially interesting and it was novel.  He found distinct brain patterns on MRI scans for serial killers compared to non-serial killers.  All had the same pattern, suggesting a lack of activity in the frontal lobe area of the brain .  Being so consistent across his sample this is a finding which was begging to be followed up and explored further.

Professor Fallon’s book ‘The Psychopath Inside’ is a fascinating read.  A book that is a documentation of his life, his studies, and his career on one side and a journey of discovery about his own brain, personality, and behaviors on the other.

For a man who had dedicated his life to science and was very much of the opinion that our behaviors as humans were at least 80% due to our genetics and biology and entirely from nature, this journey and his discoveries came as quite a shock. A shock not only personally but professionally, resulting in backtracking of his original theories and the development of new ones, very much incorporating and giving great weight to the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate.

“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself” – American Psychologist Abraham Maslow

Anyone who is familiar with Fallon’s research will know the surprising discovery he made about his own brain. A discovery that his brain pattern matched the brain patterns of the serial killers he had been studying. A pattern that he had found to be consistent with violent psychopaths who can and have done great harm to others.

While this came as a surprise it also came with an air of curiosity. If he had the same brain pattern, the same lack of activity in those frontal areas of the brain which by his own theory was a strong signal that the owner of that brain was a psychopath with violent tendencies, then why wasn’t he a serial killer?  Why didn’t he have a history of violence against others?

This proved that such brain patterns alone and therefore biology alone cannot account for these behaviors and why these individuals are as they are. As a further route of investigation, he checked his genes, his genetic code, to see if he had the gene set that indicates a predisposition for violence (the so-called ‘warrior gene’ ) and found once again he was the odd one out in his sample.

It was his genetics that showed these markers, but again if he had the genetics and the biological brain patterns, why wasn’t he a serial murderer? These are some of the key questions that Professor James Fallon and his colleagues in neuroscience, psychology, and criminology are trying to answer and they are unlikely to be answered soon. However, the impact of these findings is clear; the nature vs nurture debate has transformed into a nature and nurture interaction .  An interrelationship that may hold the key to why some individuals display such violent aggression.  The potential of these research findings, and these new theories on nature and nurture are substantial and they are exciting.  Modern science and research are taking us one step closer to that understanding of human behavior which many have been searching for.

Guy, F. (2016, May 16) Nature and Nurture: The Origins of Violence. Crime Traveller. Retrieved from https://www.crimetraveller.org/2016/05/nature-nurture-origins-violence/

Related Books:

• Criminal Psychology: A Beginner’s Guide:  From the signals which give away we’re lying to psychologically profiling violent offenders, this exhaustive guide, written by UK experts is the perfect introduction.
• Familicidal Hearts: The Emotional Styles of 211 Killers:  Neil Websdale uncovers the stories behind 196 male and 15 female perpetrators of familicide exploring the roles of shame, rage, and fear in the lives and crimes of the killers.
• The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers:  Accurate, unglamorized information on hundreds of serial murder cases including the Sniper Killers; the Green River Killer; Harold Shipman, and Aileen Wuornos.

SketchCop: Police Sketch Artist Reveals His Secrets

Scotland yard’s ghost squad: the unique and secretive police unit fighting post-war crime, related posts.

The truth is, whether it be an old boss, co-worker, friend, or partner, most people have known a psychopath.

Some professionals have questioned whether this was the driving force behind the murderous behaviors of Ted Bundy.

Adolescence is a time of dramatic psychosocial change and relative to adults, adolescent psychopathy scores are not as stable.

Scotland Yard's Ghost Squad: The Unique and Secretive Police Unit Fighting Post-War Crime

I wonder how much research has been done looking at serial killers for example and their childhoods. I guess most of them had a background that could explain their behaviour. If they have genetics and biology that is wrong in the first place then add possible abuse and violence into the equation it is not surprising they have grown up showing some very nasty behaviour towards others. Interesting area of research.

I am incessantly thought about this, thanks for putting up.

Some really good blog posts on this website, thank you for contribution.

Hi Jina, thank you, I am glad you are enjoying the site and posts. If you would like to keep up to date with new posts and articles, you can sign up to the monthly newsletter ( http://eepurl.com/bK2BAH ) which will deliver straight into your email inbox at the end of each month for free!

Thanks for stopping by Shelley! I do find the nature and nurture debate a fascinating topic and with the introduction now of new methods and techniques such as imaging and genetic testing, it will be interesting to see where it goes in the future.

In the research I did; I went back as far as I could exploring the childhood of a particular serial killer. There were a lot of missing pieces to the information available, but the childhood was terrible for that particular killer. I consider the nurture factor for a child not only to be that which he receives from his family, but from the other people in their lives as well, such as, teachers, classmates, and neighbors. I finally came to the conclusion that for whatever reason, that particular serial killer, had developed deviant coping mechanisms rather than normal coping mechanisms. I also decided that society had created the serial killer that was eventually unleashed upon them because of the things he endured during his childhood and early teen years included society as a whole.

Grrr, I have a blog on my website and it sucks. I actually removed it, but may have to bring it back. I was given by you motivation! Keep on writing!

Hi, I have been reading about Scoipath Covert Narcissist. My 2 Older Brothers and my 2 younger sisters we were born in Africa, Kamapla capital of Uganda . I remember my grandma (father) she was raising us kids and was very abusing . My parents had a store in the jungle collecting Coffee . I remember go in the jungle at the store . We played where the coffee beans were stored . I also remember when my dad would come to visit us he would take us to the park ,then take us to the store and gave each one of us choice of what each one wanted . Then before he left to go back to the jungle he would give us one shilling (dollar)each . The next day my grandma would take the money from us . My grandma was very abusing .She would punish us a lot . I recall her pinching us to where tears come out so fast. Then I remember we were going to school,where every quarter we would get report cards, I would be the only one that got beat lol. I wasn’t good with book, also every time my second oldest would get himself in trouble he blame me and always got beat . Sorry just giving a little bit of grow up . Well I never remembered ever playing with the oldest brother, I did a lot with my second oldest . Then in 1972 Idi Amin the president of Uganda expailed All none Uganda’s out of the country and had 90 days to be out or else be thrown in camps. Every body were trying to get out. My oldest brother was pickup by the Canada and then U S come in and didn’t want to spilt up family took all of us . Well my dad didn’t know if it was for sure so he told my oldest brother to leave to Canada and will get together once we got to the states . So after two yrs he could be us in the states. He was 16yrs old when he went to Canada I was 13 yrs old coming to the states . I always knew something was not right. There is a lot but I would like to get to the point lol. Jan 2018 I finally found out he is a Scoipath Covert Narcissist. My mom has denanch last 4 yrs but it just getting to where she forget something that you were just talking about. But she remembers a lot of stuff. She is 84 yrs old and had a tough life . My brother The Scoipath robbed us when my father passed and now he is using/ coaching my other brothers wife and they daughter to abuse her. The tools they use is gaslighting isolates verbal abuse . And I am the scapegoat . He is so good at it That all my kids and friends have stop talking to me cuz I found out he is extorting my mom’s bank account with the help of my other brother. Everything I have rade about a Covert Narcissist is Right there . The making of the golden child . I have proof of what going on with text massage e mails and how I can’t hold on to a job more then 90 days. I have been in construction since 1 was 16. I thought I was cool for school but as I found out I was nothing but a fool .Now he has been a coach for people that have no self esteem and other problems. I took a class that he coached 32 yrs ago . And it was a class just like AA I pd 800:00 He now lives in McKinney Tx . He is evil I know he manipulates older people he hides behind the lord (spritul) but he is not. Has a good job works for Workday wife is the CEO of Nate’s Honey and I am scared cuz he is very abusing and I know he has all the 9 triets of Covert Narcissist. To the T . He has been married 5 times 2 of them were 3 yrs 1 was 7 months he married one them Twice and now he has been with this wife since 1995 . They have a so called non profit co called His saving Grace . And nothing makes sense with that co . Also the Book called 2 Nations under god by Tim dolly I think. His and wife’s name are in the back of the book for Some pictures that they took at Mt Olive. Also my youngest sister he has been manipulating for years that now I am see the damage he has done. It’s not good . He uses her to attack me for his supply also he abuses he with again gaslighting it’s at point where poor girl going to go mad just like my mom. So to end this I have real strong feelings that he has killed before or helped/coached people how to manipulate older people cuz he is sure doing it to my mom via the brother wife. I have video of her when I go there and if the brothers family is there she is so scared to take if I ask her to lunch the next day. When I call her she won’t answer and when I stop by she won’t answer. My brothers don’t want me around my mom at All. . You might ask why I haven’t filed a complaint . I did but my youngest sister that also knows what’s going on was told to lie or else. . I have proof of that too. Now when the county and the police dept called me about the report they told me it was false. Well my sister sold me out. But one thing didn’t make sense is the officer that was at the meeting his body language was very. I can’t explain it but looked like if he had his gun lol. Also The Scoipath’s wife her father was a officer of the law in Dallas Tex I believe. I know he was an officer. Well I will keep reading but so far I think he would/ has killed before but I can’t bring it up unless I am 120% sure with evidence. Well crimetraveller has helped me and hope something in this has matched or some how helped you guys. Thank you very much for your guys time

• Pingback: ShortCutstv | ShortCutstv Weekly Round-Up

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Privacy Policy Agreement * I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy .

Double Murder, Dismemberment, and Lies: The Twisted Web of Chandler Halderson

Harry Roberts and Foxtrot One-One: The Shepherd’s Bush Massacre

Lindbergh Kidnapping: Did Charles Lindbergh Kill His Son?

The Sarah Johnson Parricide Case: A Parent’s Murder and a 16-Year-old Daughter’s Conviction

Follow crime traveller.

Jack The Ripper Was Three Killers: New Theory in Sherlock Holmes and the Autumn of Terror

A psych for sore minds: an interview with forensic psychiatrist dr sohom das, the warrior gene: genetics and criminology, trapped: the rise in domestic violence during coronavirus lockdown.

☆ Get your true crime book reviewed on Crime Traveller

• About Crime Traveller
• Contact Page
• True Crime & Justice
• Crime Research
• Psychology of Murder
• True Crime Book Reviews & Author Interviews
• Disclaimers

Copyright © 2016 - 2024 Crime Traveller, a website owned and operated by Alythium | All Rights Reserved.

• Family Crime

Paper Information

• Previous Paper
• Paper Submission

Journal Information

• About This Journal
• Editorial Board
• Current Issue
• Author Guidelines

American Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences

p-ISSN: 2165-901X    e-ISSN: 2165-9036

2020;  10(6): 370-373

doi:10.5923/j.ajmms.20201006.04

Causative Factors for Aggressive Behavior and Violent Tendencies: Nature Versus Nurture

Shubham Patel , Miguel Miyares , Manish Mishra

Trinity School of Medicine, Trinity Medical Sciences University, Ratho Mill, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Scientific & Academic Publishing.

For the last few decades, two hypotheses (Nurture and Nature) have strongly influenced the research on human aggressive behavior, violent tendencies, and disease onset. The nurture hypothesis states that humans acquire their behavioral violent tendencies as a result of adapting to their hostile environment such as family violence, societal violence and media violence. Whereas the nature hypothesis states that violent tendencies arise as a result of epigenetic regulation or polymorphism in important genes such as mono-amine oxidase A ( MAOA ), the serotonin transporter and others, which may be causative factors in the progression and maintenance of chronic violent tendencies. To compare these premises, we conducted a pilot study among young subjects, and data was collected from 130 respondents via convenience and referral sampling through an online survey. A significant correlation between the subjects’ current violent tendencies, and both the hypotheses was noted. However, inherited characteristics play a more impactful role than nurture in most participants.

Keywords: Epigenetics, DNA methylation, Gene expression, Histone modification, Polymorphism

Cite this paper: Shubham Patel , Miguel Miyares , Manish Mishra , Causative Factors for Aggressive Behavior and Violent Tendencies: Nature Versus Nurture, American Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences , Vol. 10 No. 6, 2020, pp. 370-373. doi: 10.5923/j.ajmms.20201006.04.

Article Outline

1. introduction, 2. material and methods, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions.

• Type 2 Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Digestive Health
• Multiple Sclerosis
• COVID-19 Vaccines
• Occupational Therapy
• Healthy Aging
• Health Insurance
• Public Health
• Patient Rights
• Caregivers & Loved Ones
• End of Life Concerns
• Health News
• Thyroid Test Analyzer
• Doctor Discussion Guides
• Hemoglobin A1c Test Analyzer
• Lipid Test Analyzer
• Complete Blood Count (CBC) Analyzer
• What to Buy
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Medical Expert Board

What Are Nature vs. Nurture Examples?

How is nature defined, how is nurture defined, the nature vs. nurture debate, nature vs. nurture examples, what is empiricism (extreme nurture position), contemporary views of nature vs. nurture.

Nature vs. nurture is an age-old debate about whether genetics (nature) plays a bigger role in determining a person's characteristics than lived experience and environmental factors (nurture). The term "nature vs. nature" was coined by English naturalist Charles Darwin's younger half-cousin, anthropologist Francis Galton, around 1875.

In psychology, the extreme nature position (nativism) proposes that intelligence and personality traits are inherited and determined only by genetics.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the extreme nurture position (empiricism) asserts that the mind is a blank slate at birth; external factors like education and upbringing determine who someone becomes in adulthood and how their mind works. Both of these extreme positions have shortcomings and are antiquated.

This article explores the difference between nature and nurture. It gives nature vs. nurture examples and explains why outdated views of nativism and empiricism don't jibe with contemporary views. 

Thanasis Zovoilis / Getty Images

In the context of nature vs. nurture, "nature" refers to genetics and heritable factors that are passed down to children from their biological parents.

Genes and hereditary factors determine many aspects of someone’s physical appearance and other individual characteristics, such as a genetically inherited predisposition for certain personality traits.

Scientists estimate that 20% to 60% percent of temperament is determined by genetics and that many (possibly thousands) of common gene variations combine to influence individual characteristics of temperament.

However, the impact of gene-environment (or nature-nurture) interactions on someone's traits is interwoven. Environmental factors also play a role in temperament by influencing gene activity. For example, in children raised in an adverse environment (such as child abuse or violence), genes that increase the risk of impulsive temperamental characteristics may be activated (turned on).

Trying to measure "nature vs. nurture" scientifically is challenging. It's impossible to know precisely where the influence of genes and environment begin or end.

How Are Inherited Traits Measured?

“Heritability”   describes the influence that genes have on human characteristics and traits. It's measured on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0. Very strong heritable traits like someone's eye color are ranked a 1.0.

Traits that have nothing to do with genetics, like speaking with a regional accent ranks a zero. Most human characteristics score between a 0.30 and 0.60 on the heritability scale, which reflects a blend of genetics (nature) and environmental (nurture) factors.

Thousands of years ago, ancient Greek philosophers like Plato believed that "innate knowledge" is present in our minds at birth. Every parent knows that babies are born with innate characteristics. Anecdotally, it may seem like a kid's "Big 5" personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness) were predetermined before birth.

What is the "Big 5" personality traits

The Big 5 personality traits is a theory that describes the five basic dimensions of personality. It was developed in 1949 by D. W. Fiske and later expanded upon by other researchers and is used as a framework to study people's behavior.

From a "nature" perspective, the fact that every child has innate traits at birth supports Plato's philosophical ideas about innatism. However, personality isn't set in stone. Environmental "nurture" factors can change someone's predominant personality traits over time. For example, exposure to the chemical lead during childhood may alter personality.

In 2014, a meta-analysis of genetic and environmental influences on personality development across the human lifespan found that people change with age. Personality traits are relatively stable during early childhood but often change dramatically during adolescence and young adulthood.

It's impossible to know exactly how much "nurture" changes personality as people get older. In 2019, a study of how stable personality traits are from age 16 to 66 found that people's Big 5 traits are both stable and malleable (able to be molded). During the 50-year span from high school to retirement, some traits like agreeableness and conscientiousness tend to increase, while others appear to be set in stone.

Nurture refers to all of the external or environmental factors that affect human development such as how someone is raised, socioeconomic status, early childhood experiences, education, and daily habits.

Although the word "nurture" may conjure up images of babies and young children being cared for by loving parents, environmental factors and life experiences have an impact on our psychological and physical well-being across the human life span. In adulthood, "nurturing" oneself by making healthy lifestyle choices can offset certain genetic predispositions.

For example, a May 2022 study found that people with a high genetic risk of developing the brain disorder Alzheimer's disease can lower their odds of developing dementia (a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking, and social abilities enough to affect daily life) by adopting these seven healthy habits in midlife:

• Staying active
• Healthy eating
• Losing weight
• Not smoking
• Reducing blood sugar
• Controlling cholesterol
• Maintaining healthy blood pressure

The nature vs. nurture debate centers around whether individual differences in behavioral traits and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture. Early philosophers believed the genetic traits passed from parents to their children influence individual differences and traits. Other well-known philosophers believed the mind begins as a blank slate and that everything we are is determined by our experiences.

While early theories favored one factor over the other, experts today recognize there is a complex interaction between genetics and the environment and that both nature and nurture play a critical role in shaping who we are.

Eye color and skin pigmentation are examples of "nature" because they are present at birth and determined by inherited genes. Developmental delays due to toxins (such as exposure to lead as a child or exposure to drugs in utero) are examples of "nurture" because the environment can negatively impact learning and intelligence.

In Child Development

The nature vs. nurture debate in child development is apparent when studying language development. Nature theorists believe genetics plays a significant role in language development and that children are born with an instinctive ability that allows them to both learn and produce language.

Nurture theorists would argue that language develops by listening and imitating adults and other children.

In addition, nurture theorists believe people learn by observing the behavior of others. For example, contemporary psychologist Albert Bandura's social learning theory suggests that aggression is learned through observation and imitation.

In Psychology

In psychology, the nature vs. nurture beliefs vary depending on the branch of psychology.

• Biopsychology:  Researchers analyze how the brain, neurotransmitters, and other aspects of our biology influence our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. emphasizing the role of nature.
• Social psychology: Researchers study how external factors such as peer pressure and social media influence behaviors, emphasizing the importance of nurture.
• Behaviorism: This theory of learning is based on the idea that our actions are shaped by our interactions with our environment.

In Personality Development

Whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in personality development depends on different personality development theories.

• Behavioral theories: Our personality is a result of the interactions we have with our environment, such as parenting styles, cultural influences, and life experiences.
• Biological theories: Personality is mostly inherited which is demonstrated by a study in the 1990s that concluded identical twins reared apart tend to have more similar personalities than fraternal twins.
• Psychodynamic theories: Personality development involves both genetic predispositions and environmental factors and their interaction is complex.

In Mental Illness

Both nature and nurture can contribute to mental illness development.

For example, at least five mental health disorders are associated with some type of genetic component ( autism ,  attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ,  bipolar disorder , major depression, and  schizophrenia ).

Other explanations for mental illness are environmental, such as:

• Being exposed to drugs or alcohol in utero 
• Witnessing a traumatic event, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Adverse life events and chronic stress during childhood

In Mental Health Therapy

Mental health treatment can involve both nature and nurture. For example, a therapist may explore life experiences that may have contributed to mental illness development (nurture) as well as family history of mental illness (nature).

At the same time, research indicates that a person's genetic makeup may impact how their body responds to antidepressants. Taking this into consideration is important for finding the right treatment for each individual.

 What Is Nativism (Extreme Nature Position)?

Innatism emphasizes nature's role in shaping our minds and personality traits before birth. Nativism takes this one step further and proposes that all of people's mental and physical characteristics are inherited and predetermined at birth.

In its extreme form, concepts of nativism gave way to the early 20th century's racially-biased eugenics movement. Thankfully, "selective breeding," which is the idea that only certain people should reproduce in order to create chosen characteristics in offspring, and eugenics, arranged breeding, lost momentum during World War II. At that time, the Nazis' ethnic cleansing (killing people based on their ethnic or religious associations) atrocities were exposed.

Philosopher John Locke's tabula rasa theory from 1689 directly opposes the idea that we are born with innate knowledge. "Tabula rasa" means "blank slate" and implies that our minds do not have innate knowledge at birth.

Locke was an empiricist who believed that all the knowledge we gain in life comes from sensory experiences (using their senses to understand the world), education, and day-to-day encounters after being born.

Today, looking at nature vs. nature in black-and-white terms is considered a misguided dichotomy (two-part system). There are so many shades of gray where nature and nurture overlap. It's impossible to tease out how inherited traits and learned behaviors shape someone's unique characteristics or influence how their mind works.

The influences of nature and nurture in psychology are impossible to unravel. For example, imagine someone growing up in a household with an alcoholic parent who has frequent rage attacks. If that child goes on to develop a substance use disorder and has trouble with emotion regulation in adulthood, it's impossible to know precisely how much genetics (nature) or adverse childhood experiences (nurture) affected that individual's personality traits or issues with alcoholism.

Epigenetics Blurs the Line Between Nature and Nurture

"Epigenetics " means "on top of" genetics. It refers to external factors and experiences that turn genes "on" or "off." Epigenetic mechanisms alter DNA's physical structure in utero (in the womb) and across the human lifespan.

Epigenetics blurs the line between nature and nurture because it says that even after birth, our genetic material isn't set in stone; environmental factors can modify genes during one's lifetime. For example, cannabis exposure during critical windows of development can increase someone's risk of neuropsychiatric disease via epigenetic mechanisms.

Nature vs. nurture is a framework used to examine how genetics (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) influence human development and personality traits.

However, nature vs. nurture isn't a black-and-white issue; there are many shades of gray where the influence of nature and nurture overlap. It's impossible to disentangle how nature and nurture overlap; they are inextricably intertwined. In most cases, nature and nurture combine to make us who we are. 

Waller JC. Commentary: the birth of the twin study--a commentary on francis galton’s “the history of twins.”   International Journal of Epidemiology . 2012;41(4):913-917. doi:10.1093/ije/dys100

The New York Times. " Major Personality Study Finds That Traits Are Mostly Inherited ."

Medline Plus. Is temperament determined by genetics?

Feldman MW, Ramachandran S. Missing compared to what? Revisiting heritability, genes and culture .  Phil Trans R Soc B . 2018;373(1743):20170064. doi:10.1098/rstb.2017.0064

Winch C. Innatism, concept formation, concept mastery and formal education: innatism, concept formation and formal education .  Journal of Philosophy of Education . 2015;49(4):539-556. doi:10.1111/1467-9752.12121

Briley DA, Tucker-Drob EM. Genetic and environmental continuity in personality development: A meta-analysis .  Psychological Bulletin . 2014;140(5):1303-1331. doi:10.1037/a0037091

Damian RI, Spengler M, Sutu A, Roberts BW. Sixteen going on sixty-six: A longitudinal study of personality stability and change across 50 years .  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . 2019;117(3):674-695. doi:10.1037/pspp0000210

Tin A, Bressler J, Simino J, et al. Genetic risk, midlife life’s simple 7, and incident dementia in the atherosclerosis risk in communities study .  Neurology . Published online May 25, 2022. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000200520 

Levitt M. Perceptions of nature, nurture and behaviour .  Life Sci Soc Policy . 2013;9(1):13. doi:10.1186/2195-7819-9-13

Ross EJ, Graham DL, Money KM, Stanwood GD. Developmental consequences of fetal exposure to drugs: what we know and what we still must learn . Neuropsychopharmacology. 2015 Jan;40(1):61-87. doi: 10.1038/npp.2014.14

World Health Organization. Lead poisoning .

Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models .  The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1961; 63 (3), 575–582 doi:10.1037/h0045925

Krapfl JE.  Behaviorism and society .  Behav Anal.  2016;39(1):123-9. doi:10.1007/s40614-016-0063-8

Bouchard TJ Jr, Lykken DT, McGue M, Segal NL, Tellegen A. Sources of human psychological differences: the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart . Science. 1990 Oct 12;250(4978):223-8. doi: 10.1126/science.2218526

National Institutes of Health.  Common genetic factors found in 5 mental disorders .

Franke HA. Toxic Stress: Effects, Prevention and Treatment . Children (Basel). 2014 Nov 3;1(3):390-402. doi: 10.3390/children1030390

Pain O, Hodgson K, Trubetskoy V, et al.  Identifying the common genetic basis of antidepressant response .  Biol Psychiatry Global Open Sci . 2022;2(2):115-126. doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2021.07.008

National Human Genome Research Institute. Eugenics and Scientific Racism .

OLL. The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes .

Toraño EG, García MG, Fernández-Morera JL, Niño-García P, Fernández AF. The impact of external factors on the epigenome:  in utero  and over lifetime .  BioMed Research International . 2016;2016:1-17. doi:10.1155/2016/2568635

Smith A, Kaufman F, Sandy MS, Cardenas A. Cannabis exposure during critical windows of development: epigenetic and molecular pathways implicated in neuropsychiatric disease .  Curr Envir Health Rpt . 2020;7(3):325-342. doi:10.1007/s40572-020-00275-4

By Christopher Bergland Christopher Bergland is a retired ultra-endurance athlete turned medical writer and science reporter. 

• Bipolar Disorder
• Therapy Center
• When To See a Therapist
• Types of Therapy
• Best Online Therapy
• Best Couples Therapy
• Best Family Therapy
• Managing Stress
• Sleep and Dreaming
• Understanding Emotions
• Self-Improvement
• Healthy Relationships
• Student Resources
• Personality Types
• Guided Meditations
• Verywell Mind Insights
• 2023 Verywell Mind 25
• Mental Health in the Classroom
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Review Board
• Crisis Support

The Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Genetic and Environmental Influences and How They Interact

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Verywell / Joshua Seong

• Definitions
• Interaction
• Contemporary Views

Nature refers to how genetics influence an individual's personality, whereas nurture refers to how their environment (including relationships and experiences) impacts their development. Whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in personality and development is one of the oldest philosophical debates within the field of psychology .

Learn how each is defined, along with why the issue of nature vs. nurture continues to arise. We also share a few examples of when arguments on this topic typically occur, how the two factors interact with each other, and contemporary views that exist in the debate of nature vs. nurture as it stands today.

Nature and Nurture Defined

To better understand the nature vs. nurture argument, it helps to know what each of these terms means.

• Nature refers largely to our genetics . It includes the genes we are born with and other hereditary factors that can impact how our personality is formed and influence the way that we develop from childhood through adulthood.
• Nurture encompasses the environmental factors that impact who we are. This includes our early childhood experiences, the way we were raised , our social relationships, and the surrounding culture.

A few biologically determined characteristics include genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, and skin color. Other characteristics are tied to environmental influences, such as how a person behaves, which can be influenced by parenting styles and learned experiences.

For example, one child might learn through observation and reinforcement to say please and thank you. Another child might learn to behave aggressively by observing older children engage in violent behavior on the playground.

The Debate of Nature vs. Nurture

The nature vs. nurture debate centers on the contributions of genetics and environmental factors to human development. Some philosophers, such as Plato and Descartes, suggested that certain factors are inborn or occur naturally regardless of environmental influences.

Advocates of this point of view believe that all of our characteristics and behaviors are the result of evolution. They contend that genetic traits are handed down from parents to their children and influence the individual differences that make each person unique.

Other well-known thinkers, such as John Locke, believed in what is known as tabula rasa which suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate . According to this notion, everything that we are is determined by our experiences.

Behaviorism is a good example of a theory rooted in this belief as behaviorists feel that all actions and behaviors are the results of conditioning. Theorists such as John B. Watson believed that people could be trained to do and become anything, regardless of their genetic background.

People with extreme views are called nativists and empiricists. Nativists take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics are the result of inheritance. Empiricists take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics result from learning.

Examples of Nature vs. Nurture

One example of when the argument of nature vs. nurture arises is when a person achieves a high level of academic success . Did they do so because they are genetically predisposed to elevated levels of intelligence, or is their success a result of an enriched environment?

The argument of nature vs. nurture can also be made when it comes to why a person behaves in a certain way. If a man abuses his wife and kids, for instance, is it because he was born with violent tendencies, or is violence something he learned by observing others in his life when growing up?

Nature vs. Nurture in Psychology

Throughout the history of psychology , the debate of nature vs. nurture has continued to stir up controversy. Eugenics, for example, was a movement heavily influenced by the nativist approach.

Psychologist Francis Galton coined the terms 'nature versus nurture' and 'eugenics' and believed that intelligence resulted from genetics. Galton also felt that intelligent individuals should be encouraged to marry and have many children, while less intelligent individuals should be discouraged from reproducing.

The value placed on nature vs. nurture can even vary between the different branches of psychology , with some branches taking a more one-sided approach. In biopsychology , for example, researchers conduct studies exploring how neurotransmitters influence behavior, emphasizing the role of nature.

In social psychology , on the other hand, researchers might conduct studies looking at how external factors such as peer pressure and social media influence behaviors, stressing the importance of nurture. Behaviorism is another branch that focuses on the impact of the environment on behavior.

Nature vs. Nurture in Child Development

Some psychological theories of child development place more emphasis on nature and others focus more on nurture. An example of a nativist theory involving child development is Chomsky's concept of a language acquisition device (LAD). According to this theory, all children are born with an instinctive mental capacity that allows them to both learn and produce language.

An example of an empiricist child development theory is Albert Bandura's social learning theory . This theory says that people learn by observing the behavior of others. In his famous Bobo doll experiment , Bandura demonstrated that children could learn aggressive behaviors simply by observing another person acting aggressively.

Nature vs. Nurture in Personality Development

There is also some argument as to whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in the development of one's personality. The answer to this question varies depending on which personality development theory you use.

According to behavioral theories, our personality is a result of the interactions we have with our environment, while biological theories suggest that personality is largely inherited. Then there are psychodynamic theories of personality that emphasize the impact of both.

Nature vs. Nurture in Mental Illness Development

One could argue that either nature or nurture contributes to mental health development. Some causes of mental illness fall on the nature side of the debate, including changes to or imbalances with chemicals in the brain. Genetics can also contribute to mental illness development, increasing one's risk of a certain disorder or disease.

Mental disorders with some type of genetic component include autism , attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder , major depression , and schizophrenia .

Other explanations for mental illness are environmental. This includes being exposed to environmental toxins, such as drugs or alcohol, while still in utero. Certain life experiences can also influence mental illness development, such as witnessing a traumatic event, leading to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Nature vs. Nurture in Mental Health Therapy

Different types of mental health treatment can also rely more heavily on either nature or nurture in their treatment approach. One of the goals of many types of therapy is to uncover any life experiences that may have contributed to mental illness development (nurture).

However, genetics (nature) can play a role in treatment as well. For instance, research indicates that a person's genetic makeup can impact how their body responds to antidepressants. Taking this into consideration is important for getting that person the help they need.

Interaction Between Nature and Nurture

Which is stronger: nature or nurture? Many researchers consider the interaction between heredity and environment—nature with nurture as opposed to nature versus nurture—to be the most important influencing factor of all.

For example, perfect pitch is the ability to detect the pitch of a musical tone without any reference. Researchers have found that this ability tends to run in families and might be tied to a single gene. However, they've also discovered that possessing the gene is not enough as musical training during early childhood is needed for this inherited ability to manifest itself.

Height is another example of a trait influenced by an interaction between nature and nurture. A child might inherit the genes for height. However, if they grow up in a deprived environment where proper nourishment isn't received, they might never attain the height they could have had if they'd grown up in a healthier environment.

A newer field of study that aims to learn more about the interaction between genes and environment is epigenetics . Epigenetics seeks to explain how environment can impact the way in which genes are expressed.

Some characteristics are biologically determined, such as eye color, hair color, and skin color. Other things, like life expectancy and height, have a strong biological component but are also influenced by environmental factors and lifestyle.

Contemporary Views of Nature vs. Nurture

Most experts recognize that neither nature nor nurture is stronger than the other. Instead, both factors play a critical role in who we are and who we become. Not only that but nature and nurture interact with each other in important ways all throughout our lifespan.

As a result, many in this field are interested in seeing how genes modulate environmental influences and vice versa. At the same time, this debate of nature vs. nurture still rages on in some areas, such as in the origins of homosexuality and influences on intelligence .

While a few people take the extreme nativist or radical empiricist approach, the reality is that there is not a simple way to disentangle the multitude of forces that exist in personality and human development. Instead, these influences include genetic factors, environmental factors, and how each intermingles with the other.

Schoneberger T. Three myths from the language acquisition literature . Anal Verbal Behav . 2010;26(1):107-31. doi:10.1007/bf03393086

National Institutes of Health. Common genetic factors found in 5 mental disorders .

Pain O, Hodgson K, Trubetskoy V, et al. Identifying the common genetic basis of antidepressant response . Biol Psychiatry Global Open Sci . 2022;2(2):115-126. doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2021.07.008

Moulton C. Perfect pitch reconsidered . Clin Med J . 2014;14(5):517-9 doi:10.7861/clinmedicine.14-5-517

Levitt M. Perceptions of nature, nurture and behaviour . Life Sci Soc Policy . 2013;9:13. doi:10.1186/2195-7819-9-13

Bandura A, Ross D, Ross, SA. Transmission of aggression through the imitation of aggressive models . J Abnorm Soc Psychol. 1961;63(3):575-582. doi:10.1037/h0045925

Chomsky N. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax .

Galton F. Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development .

Watson JB. Behaviorism .

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

International Handbook of Violence Research pp 589–607 Cite as

The Nature-Nurture Problem in Violence

• Laura Baker  

1834 Accesses

In recent years we have witnessed, through the media, several American middle-class, white school children from apparently good families open gunfire on their teachers, classmates, and parents, killing and seriously wounding them in astounding numbers (see Males, 1999). In at least two different cases, the young killers did not fit the stereotypical mold of underprivileged, neglected and unsupervised individuals. In the Columbine High School shooting (April 1999) in which twelve students and one teacher were killed, the White teenage assailants, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, were from middle-class suburban homes. In Springfield, Oregon (May 1998), 15 year old Kipland Kinkel’s parents were school teachers described as model parents, trying to do everything in their power to steer their young son away from his obsession with firearms. What may have begun as rebellious adolescent behavior turned into a shooting spree in which Kip shot nine of his classmates and killed his own parents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution .

Buying options

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Unable to display preview.  Download preview PDF.

Baker, Laura A. (1986). Estimating Genetic Correlations Among Discontinuous Phenotypes: An Analysis of Criminal Convictions and Psychiatric Hospital Diagnoses in Danish Adoptees. Behavior Genetics , 16 , 127–142.

Article   Google Scholar  

Baker, Laura A. (1999). Biological Theories. In Ronald Gottesman & Richard M. Brown (Eds.), Violence in America: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1: A-F (pp. 306–311). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Google Scholar  

Baker, Laura A., Wendy A. Mack, Terrie E. Moffitt, & Sarnoff A. Mednick. (1989). Sex Differences in Property Crime in a Danish Adoption Cohort. Behavior Genetics , 19 , 355–370.

Bohman, Michael, C. Robert Cloninger, Soeren Sigvardsson, & Ann-Liis Von Knorring. (1982). Predisposition to Petty Criminality in Swedish Adoptees: I. Genetic and Environmental Heterogeneity. Archives of General Psychiatry , 39 , 1233–1241.

Cadoret, Remi J. (1978). Psychopathology in Adopted-away Offspring of Biologic Parents with Antisocial Behavior. Archives of General Psychiatry , 35 , 176–184.

Cadoret, Remi J., Colleen A. Cain, & Raymond R. Crowe. (1983). Evidence for a Gene-environment Interaction in the Development of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior. Behavior Genetics , 13 , 301–310.

Cadoret, Remi J., Thomas W. O’Gorman, Ed Troughton, & Ellen Heywood. (1985). Alcoholism and antisocial personality: Interrelationships, genetic and environmental factors. Archives of General Psychiatry , 42 , 161–167.

Cadoret, Remi J., Ed Troughton, Thomas W. O’Gorman, & Ellen Heywood. (1986). An Adoption Study of Genetic and Environmental Factors in Drug Abuse. Archive of General Psychiatry , 43 , 1131–1136.

Cadoret, Remi J., William R. Yates, Ed Troughton, George Woodworth, & Mark Stewart. (1995). Genetic x Environmental Interaction in the Genesis of Aggressivity and Conduct Disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52 (11), 916–924.

Carey, Gregory. (1986). A General Multivariate Approach to Linear Modeling in Human Genetics. American Journal of Human Genetics , 39 , 775–786.

Carey, Gregory. (1992). Twin Imitation for Antisocial Behavior: Implications for Genetic and Family Environment Research. Journal of Abnormal Psychology , 101 , 18–25.

Carey, Gregory. (1993). Multivariate Genetic Relationships among Drug Abuse, Alcohol Abuse, and Antisocial Personality. Psychiatric Genetics , 3 , 141.

Carey, Gregory. (1994). Genetics and Violence. In Albert J. Reiss, Klaus A. Miczek & Jeffrey A. Roth (Eds), Understanding and Preventing Violence. Vol. 2. Biobehavioral Influences on Violence (pp. 21–58). Washington: National Academy Press.

Carey, Gregory, & David Goldman. (1997). The Genetics of Antisocial Behavior. In David M. Stoff, James Breiling & Jack Maser (Eds.), Handbook of Antisocial Behavior (pp. 243–254). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Christiansen, Karl O. (1968). Threshold of Tolerance in Various Population Groups Illustrated by Results from Danish Criminological Twin Study. In Anthony Vivian Smith de Reuck & Ruth Porter (Eds.), Ciba Foundation Symposium on the Mentally Abnormal Offender (pp. 107–116). London: J. & A. Churchill Ltd

Christiansen, Karl O. (1974). Seriousness of Criminality and Concordance among Danish Twins. In Roger Hood (Ed.), Crime, Criminology. and Public Policy (pp. 63–77) London: Heinemann

Christiansen, Karl O. (1977). A Review of Studies of Criminality among Twins. In Sarnoff A. Mednick & Karl O. Christiansen (Eds.), Biosocial Bases of Criminal Behavior (pp. 45–88). New York: Gardner.

Cloninger, C. Robert; Soeren Sigvardsson, Michael Bohman, & Anne-Liis Von Knorring. (1982). Predisposition to Petty Criminality in Swedish Adoptees: II. Cross-fostering Analysis of Gene-environment Interaction. Archives of General Psychiatry , 39 , 1242–1247.

Cloninger, C. Robert, Karl O. Christiansen, Theodore Reich, & Irving I. Gottesman. (1978). Implications of Sex Differences in the Prevalences of Antisocial Personality, Alcoholism, and Criminality for Familial Transmission. Archives of General Psychiatry , 35 , 941–951.

Cloninger, C. Robert, & Irving I. Gottesman. (1987). Genetic and Environmental Factors in Antisocial Behavior Disorders. In Sarnoff A. Mednick & Terrie E. Moffitt (Eds.), Proceedings of Conference on Biosocial Bases of Antisocial Behavior (pp. 92–109). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cloninger, C. Robert, Theodore Reich, & Samuel B. Guze. (1975). The Multifactorial Model of Disease Transmission: II. Sex Differences in the Familial Transmission of Sociopathy (Antisocial Personality). British Journal of Psychiatry , 127 , 11–22.

Coccaro, Emil F., Larry J. Siever, Howard M. Klar, Gail Maurer, Karen Cochrane, Thomas B. Cooper, Richard C. Mohs, & Kenneth L. Davis. (1989). Serotonergic Studies in Patients with Affective and Personality Disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry , 46 , 587–599.

Coccaro, Emil F., Cynthia S. Bergeman, & Gerald E. McClearn. (1993). Heritability of Irritable Impulsiveness: A Study of Twins Reared Together and Apart. Psychiatry Research , 48 , 229–242.

Coccaro, Emil F., Jeremy M. Silverman, & Howard M. Klar. (1994). Familial Correlates of Reduced Central Serotonergic System Function in Patients with Personality Disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry , 51 , 318–324.

Coccaro, Emil F., Cynthia S. Bergeman, Richard J. Kavoussi, & Alesha D. Seroczynski. (1997). Heritability of Aggression and Irritability: A Twin Study of the Buss-Durkee Aggression Scales in Adult Male Subjects. Biological Psychiatry , 41 , 273–284.

Crowe, Raymond R. (1972). The Adopted Offspring of Women Criminal Offenders: A Study of Their Arrest Records. Archives of General Psychiatry , 27, 600–603.

Crowe, Raymond R. (1974). An Adoption Study of Antisocial Personality. Archives of General Psychiatry , 31 , 785–791.

Davis, Chayna, Carol A. Van Hulle, Collen M. Coffey, & Gregory Carey. (1999). Genetics: Twins, Families and Adoptions. In Ronald Gottesman & Richard Maxwell Brown (Eds.), Violence in America: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 2: G-Q (pp. 25–28). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

DiLalla, Lisabeth F., & Irving I. Gottesman. (1991). Does Violence Beget Violence? Wisdom’s Untold Tale. Psychological Bulletin, 109(1) , 125–129.

Dodge, Kenneth A., John E. Bates, & Gregory S. Petit. (1990). Mechanisms in the Cycle of Violence. Science , 250 . 1678–1683.

DSM-VI. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. 4th Edition . Washington: American Psychiatric Association.

Eaves, Lindon J., Judy L. Silberg, John K. Hewitt, Michael Rutter, Joanne M. Meyer, Michael C. Neale, & Andrew Pickles. (1993). Analyzing Twin Resemblance in Multi-symptom Data: Genetic Applications of a Latent Class Model for Symptoms of Conduct Disorder in Juvenile Boys. Behavior Genetics , 23 , 5–19.

Falconer, Douglas S., & Trudy F. C. Mackay. (1996). Introduction to Quantitative Genetics . 4th Edition. Essex: Longman Ltd.

Fisher, Ronald A. (1918). The Covariation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 52 , 399–433.

Ghodsian-Carpey, Jilla, & Laura A. Baker. (1987). Genetic and Environmental Influences on Aggression in 4to 7-year Old Twins. Aggressive Behavior , 13 , 173–186.

Gottesman, Irving I., Gregory Carey, & Daniel R. Hanson. (1983). Pearls and Perils in Epigenetic Psychopathology. In Samuel B. Guze, Felton Earls & James E. Barrett (Eds.), Childhood Psychopathology and Development (pp. 287–300). New York: Raven Press.

Grove, William M., Elke D. Eckert, Leonard L. Heston, Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr., Nancy Segal, & David T. Lykken. (1990). Heritability of Substance Abuse and Antisocial Behavior: A Study of Monozygotic Twins Raised Apart. Biological Psychiatry, 27 , 293–304.

Harris, Judith. R. (1998). The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do . New York: Free Press.

Hindelang, Michael J., Travis Hirschi, & Joseph Weiss. (1979). Correlates of Delinquency: The Illusion of Discrepancy between Self-report and Official Measure. American Sociological Review , 44 , 995–1014.

Hutchings, Barry. (1972). Environmental and Genetic Factors in Psychopathology and Criminality . Unpublished M. Phil. Thesis, University of London.

Hutchings, Barry, & Sarnoff A. Mednick. (1975). Registered Criminality in the Adoptive and Biological Parents of Registered Male Criminal Adoptees. In Ronald R. Fieve, David Rosenthal & Henry Brill (Eds.), Genetic Research in Psychiatry (pp. 105–116). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Lyons, Michael J., Lindon J. Eaves, Ming T. Tsuang, Seth A. Eisen, Jack Goldberg, & William R. True. (1993). Differential Heritability of Adult and Juvenile Antisocial Traits. Psychiatric Genetics , 3 , 117.

Lyons, Michael J., William R. True, Seth A. Eisen, Jack Goldberg, Joanne M. Meyer, Stephen V. Faraone, Lindon J. Eaves, & Ming T. Tsuang. (1995). Differential Heritability of Adult and Juvenile Antisocial Traits. Archives of General Psychiatry , 52 , 906–915.

Lyons, Michael J. (1996). A Twin Study of Self-reported Criminal Behavior. In Gregory R. Bock & Jaime A. Goode (Eds.), Genetics of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior, Ciba Foundation Symposium , 194 (pp. 61–69). Chichester: Wiley.

Males, Mike A. (1999). Children. In Ronald Gottesman & Richard Maxwell Brown (Eds.), Violence in America: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1: A-F (pp. 228–232). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Mason, Dehryl A., & Paul J. Frick. (1994). The Heritability of Antisocial Behavior: A Meta-analysis of Twin and Adoption Studies. Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Assessment , 16 , 301–323.

Matheny, Adam P., Ronald S. Wilson, & Anne B. Dolan. (1976). Relations Between Twins’ Similarity of Appearance and Behavioral Similarity: Testing an Assumption. Behavior Genetics, 6(3) , 343–351.

McCord, Joan. (1999). Intergenerational Transmission of Violence. In Ronald Gottesman & Richard M. Brown (Eds.), Violence in America: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 2: G-Q (pp. 174–177). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Mednick, Sarnoff A., William F. Gabrielli,Jr., & Barry Hutchings. (1984). Genetic Influences in Criminal Convictions: Evidence from an Adoption Cohort. Science, 224 , 891–894.

Mednick, Sarnoff A., William F. Gabrielli, Jr., & Barry Hutchings. (1987). Genetic Factors in the Etiology of Criminal Behavior. In Sarnoff A. Mednick, Terrie E. Moffitt & Susan A. Stack (Eds.), The Causes of Crime: New Biological Approaches (pp. 74–91). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Mednick, Sarnoff A., & Elizabeth Kandel. (1988). Genetic and Perinatal Factors in Violence. In Terrie E. Moffitt, Sarnoff A. Mednick (Eds.), Biological Contributions to Crime Causation . NATO Advanced Science Institutes Series D: Behavioral and Social Sciences, No. 40 (pp. 121–131). Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishing.

Moffitt, Terrie E. (1993). Adolescent-limited and Life-course-persistent Antisocial Behavior: A Developmental Taxonomy. Psychological Review , 100 , 674–701.

Plomin, Robert, John C. DeFries, Gerald E. McClearn, & Michael Rutter. (1997). Behavioral Genetics . 3rd Edition. New York: W.H. Freeman.

Plomin, Robert, Terryl T. Foch, & David C. Rowe. (1981). Bobo Clown Aggression in Childhood: Environment, Not Genes. Journal of Research in Personality . 15 331–342.

Plomin, Robert, Kathrine Nitz, & David C. Rowe. (1990). Behavioral Genetics and Aggressive Behavior in Childhood. In Michael Lewis & Suzanne Melanie Miller (Eds.), Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology: Perspectives in Developmental Psychology (pp. 119–133). New York: Plenum Press.

Plomin, Robert, Lee Willerman, & John C. Loehlin. (1976). Resemblance in Appearance and the Equal Environments Assumption in Twin Studies of Personality Traits. Behavior Genetics , 6 , 1, 43–52.

Raine, Adrian. (1993). The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior as a Clinical Disorder . San Diego: Academic Press.

Raine, Adrian, & Peter H. Venables. (1989). Antisocial Behaviour: Evolution, Genetics, Neuropsychology, and Psychophysiology. In Anthony Gale & Michael W. Eysenck (Eds.), Handbook of Individual Differences: Biological Perspectives (pp. 287–321). Chichester: Wiley.

Rowe, David C. (1983). Biometrical Genetic Models of Self-reported Delinquent Behavior: A Twin Study. Behavior Genetics , 13 , 473–489.

Rowe, David C. (1985). Sibling Interaction and Self-reported Delinquent Behavior: A Study of 265 Twin Pairs. Criminology , 23 , 223–240.

Rowe, David C. (1986). Genetic and Environmental Components of Antisocial Behavior: A Study of 265 Twin Pairs. Criminology , 24 , 513–532.

Rowe, David C. (1994). The Limits of Family Influence. Genes, Experience, and Behavior . New York: Guilford Press.

Rushton, J. Phillipe, David W. Fulker, Michael C. Neale, David K. B. Nias, & Hans J. Eysenck. (1986). Altruism and Aggression: The Heritability of Individual Differences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 50 , 1192–1198.

Rutter, Michael, Patrick Bolton, Richard Harrington, Ann le Couteur, Hope McDonald & Emily Simonoff. (1990). Genetic Factors in Child Psychiatric Disorders: I. A Review of Research Strategies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines , 31 , 1, 3–37.

Schulsinger, Fini. (1972). Psychopathy: Heredity and Environment. International Journal of Mental Health , 1 , 190–206.

Sigvardsson, Soeren, C. Robert Cloninger, Michael Bohman, & Ann-Liis Von Knorring. (1982). Predisposition to Petty Criminality in Swedish Adoptees: III. Sex Differences and Validation of the Male Typology. Archives of General Psychiatry , 39 , 1248–1253.

Tellegen, Auke, David T. Lykken, Thomas J. Bouchard, Kimberly Wilcox, Nancy Segal, & Stephen Rich. (1988). Personality Similarity in Twins Reared Apart and Together. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 54 , 1031–1039.

Van Dusen, Kathy T., Sarnoff A. Mednick, William Gabrielli, Jr., & Barry Hutchings. (1983). Social Class and Crime in an Adoption Cohort. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 74 , 249–269.

Venables, Peter, & Adrian Raine. (1987). Biological Theory. In Barry J. McGurk, David M. Thornton & Mark Williams (Eds.), Applying Psychology to Imprisonment: Theory and Practice (pp. 3–27). London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Books.

Download references

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Editor information

Rights and permissions.

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter.

Baker, L. (2003). The Nature-Nurture Problem in Violence. In: Heitmeyer, W., Hagan, J. (eds) International Handbook of Violence Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48039-3_30

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48039-3_30

Publisher Name : Springer, Dordrecht

Print ISBN : 978-1-4020-3980-5

Online ISBN : 978-0-306-48039-3

eBook Packages : Springer Book Archive

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

share this!

September 28, 2016

Nature or nurture: is violence in our genes?

Nature or nurture? The quest to understand why humans kill one another has occupied the minds of philosophers, sociologists and psychologists for centuries.

Are we innately violent, as Englishman Thomas Hobbes postulated in the 1650s, or is our behaviour influenced more by the environment we grow up in, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau theorised a century later?

On Tuesday, a team of scientists who looked at the question from a new angle—that of evolutionary biology—concluded that our violent nature was at least partly inherited from an ancient ancestor , and shared with other primates.

Lethal violence appears to be "deeply rooted" in the lineage of monkeys, apes and Homo sapiens, the researchers wrote in the science journal Nature .

This, in turn, suggests that "a certain level of lethal violence in humans arises from the occupation of a position within a particularly violent mammalian clade."

A clade is the biological term for a group of organisms descending from a common evolutionary ancestor.

The Spanish researchers gathered data on more than four million deaths in 1,024 present-day mammal species, as well as 600-plus human populations from the late Stone Age some 50,000-10,000 years ago until today.

The animals sampled represent some 80 percent of mammal families.

The researchers looked specifically at the proportion of deaths caused by lethal violence perpetrated by a member of the same species—in humans this was war, homicide, infanticide, execution and other intentional killings.

They also searched for similarities between species with common ancestors, which they used to infer how violent those predecessors would have been, and to reconstruct a history of ancestral killing rates.

Overall, the researchers found, intraspecies killing was the cause of about 0.3 percent of mammal deaths.

Turning it off

But for the ancestor of all primates, rodents and hares, killings caused about 1.1 percent of deaths, rising to 2.3 percent for the next, more recent, common ancestor of primates and tree shrews.

By the time the common human ancestor first appeared around 200,000-160,000 years ago, the rate was about two percent—similar to that for other primates, the team found.

"This means that humans have phylogenetically inherited their propensity for violence," they wrote.

Phylogenetics is the study of the genetic relationship between species over time, giving us the so-called evolutionary tree, with a primordial ancestor at its base from which all organisms developed.

Study co-author Jose Maria Gomez Reyes told AFP the new data showed there was "an evolutionary component to human violence, not that this is the only component."

This evolutionary component are not only genetic, and "most likely" influenced by environmental pressures on survival.

"In fact, social behaviour and territoriality, two behavioural traits shared with relatives of (Homo) sapiens, seem to have also contributed to the level of lethal violence... inherited in humans," said the study.

Commenting on the study, Mark Pagel of the University of Reading said it provided "good grounds for believing that we are intrinsically more violent than the average mammal."

But it also showed that humans are able to curtail such tendencies.

"Rates of homicide in modern societies that have police forces, legal systems, prisons and strong cultural attitudes that reject violence are, at less than one in 10,000 deaths (or 0.01 percent) about 200 times lower than the authors' predictions for our state of nature," he wrote.

"Hobbes has landed a serious blow on Rousseau, but not quite knocked him out."

Journal information: Nature

Explore further

Feedback to editors

Researchers crack mystery of swirling vortexes in egg cells

12 minutes ago

Researchers train a bank of AI models to identify memory formation signals in the brain

21 minutes ago

Soil bacteria link their life strategies to soil conditions: Study

15 hours ago

Atom-by-atom: Imaging structural transformations in 2D materials

Researchers identify genetic variant that helped shape human skull base evolution

16 hours ago

Two-dimensional nanomaterial sets expansion record

Vibrations of granular materials: Theoretical physicists shed light on an everyday scientific mystery

17 hours ago

Global study reveals health impacts of airborne trace elements

Researchers find lower grades given to students with surnames that come later in alphabetical order

New model finds previous cell division calculations ignore drivers at the molecular scale

Relevant physicsforums posts, can four legged animals drink from beneath their feet.

Apr 15, 2024

Mold in Plastic Water Bottles? What does it eat?

Apr 14, 2024

Dolphins don't breathe through their esophagus

Is this egg-laying or something else.

Apr 13, 2024

Color Recognition: What we see vs animals with a larger color range

Apr 12, 2024

How to Implement Beamforming in Ultrasound Diffraction Tomography

Apr 10, 2024

More from Biology and Medical

Related Stories

Alcohol-involved homicide victimization—common, linked to male gender, minority status, and history of domestic abuse.

Sep 28, 2016

Why are there so many species of bugs, but so few species of human?

Sep 16, 2016

Study of ancient Japanese hunter-gatherers suggests warfare not inherent in human nature

Mar 30, 2016

'Virtual fossil' reveals last common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals

Dec 17, 2015

Human ancestor was less-chimp-like than thought: study

Dec 3, 2013

New research suggests all primates shared common blood type ancestor

Oct 23, 2012

Recommended for you

How interspecies competition led to a 'bizarre' pattern in our own evolutionary tree

21 hours ago

Mountain chickadees have remarkable memories. A new study explains why

20 hours ago

Amazon butterflies show how new species can evolve from hybridization

22 hours ago

Marine plankton behavior could predict future marine extinctions, study finds

Discovery of bacterial proteins that induce asexual reproduction in insects

Apr 17, 2024

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter

Nature vs. Nurture Debate In Psychology

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

The nature vs. nurture debate in psychology concerns the relative importance of an individual’s innate qualities (nature) versus personal experiences (nurture) in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits. While early theories favored one factor over the other, contemporary views recognize a complex interplay between genes and environment in shaping behavior and development.

Key Takeaways

• Nature is what we think of as pre-wiring and is influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological factors.
• Nurture is generally taken as the influence of external factors after conception, e.g., the product of exposure, life experiences, and learning on an individual.
• Behavioral genetics has enabled psychology to quantify the relative contribution of nature and nurture concerning specific psychological traits.
• Instead of defending extreme nativist or nurturist views, most psychological researchers are now interested in investigating how nature and nurture interact in a host of qualitatively different ways.
• For example, epigenetics is an emerging area of research that shows how environmental influences affect the expression of genes.

The nature-nurture debate is concerned with the relative contribution that both influences make to human behavior, such as personality, cognitive traits, temperament and psychopathology.

Examples of Nature vs. Nurture

Nature vs. nurture in child development.

In child development, the nature vs. nurture debate is evident in the study of language acquisition . Researchers like Chomsky (1957) argue that humans are born with an innate capacity for language (nature), known as universal grammar, suggesting that genetics play a significant role in language development.

Conversely, the behaviorist perspective, exemplified by Skinner (1957), emphasizes the role of environmental reinforcement and learning (nurture) in language acquisition.

Twin studies have provided valuable insights into this debate, demonstrating that identical twins raised apart may share linguistic similarities despite different environments, suggesting a strong genetic influence (Bouchard, 1979)

However, environmental factors, such as exposure to language-rich environments, also play a crucial role in language development, highlighting the intricate interplay between nature and nurture in child development.

Nature vs. Nurture in Personality Development

The nature vs. nurture debate in personality psychology centers on the origins of personality traits. Twin studies have shown that identical twins reared apart tend to have more similar personalities than fraternal twins, indicating a genetic component to personality (Bouchard, 1994).

However, environmental factors, such as parenting styles, cultural influences, and life experiences, also shape personality.

For example, research by Caspi et al. (2003) demonstrated that a particular gene (MAOA) can interact with childhood maltreatment to increase the risk of aggressive behavior in adulthood.

This highlights that genetic predispositions and environmental factors contribute to personality development, and their interaction is complex and multifaceted.

Nature vs. Nurture in Mental Illness Development

The nature vs. nurture debate in mental health explores the etiology of depression. Genetic studies have identified specific genes associated with an increased vulnerability to depression, indicating a genetic component (Sullivan et al., 2000).

However, environmental factors, such as adverse life events and chronic stress during childhood, also play a significant role in the development of depressive disorders (Dube et al.., 2002; Keller et al., 2007)

The diathesis-stress model posits that individuals inherit a genetic predisposition (diathesis) to a disorder, which is then activated or exacerbated by environmental stressors (Monroe & Simons, 1991).

This model illustrates how nature and nurture interact to influence mental health outcomes.

Nature vs. Nurture of Intelligence

The nature vs. nurture debate in intelligence examines the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to cognitive abilities.

Intelligence is highly heritable, with about 50% of variance in IQ attributed to genetic factors, based on studies of twins, adoptees, and families (Plomin & Spinath, 2004).

Heritability of intelligence increases with age, from about 20% in infancy to as high as 80% in adulthood, suggesting amplifying effects of genes over time.

However, environmental influences, such as access to quality education and stimulating environments, also significantly impact intelligence.

Shared environmental influences like family background are more influential in childhood, whereas non-shared experiences are more important later in life.

Research by Flynn (1987) showed that average IQ scores have increased over generations, suggesting that environmental improvements, known as the Flynn effect , can lead to substantial gains in cognitive abilities.

Molecular genetics provides tools to identify specific genes and understand their pathways and interactions. However, progress has been slow for complex traits like intelligence. Identified genes have small effect sizes (Plomin & Spinath, 2004).

Overall, intelligence results from complex interplay between genes and environment over development. Molecular genetics offers promise to clarify these mechanisms. The nature vs nurture debate is outdated – both play key roles.

Nativism (Extreme Nature Position)

It has long been known that certain physical characteristics are biologically determined by genetic inheritance.

Color of eyes, straight or curly hair, pigmentation of the skin, and certain diseases (such as Huntingdon’s chorea) are all a function of the genes we inherit.

These facts have led many to speculate as to whether psychological characteristics such as behavioral tendencies, personality attributes, and mental abilities are also “wired in” before we are even born.

Those who adopt an extreme hereditary position are known as nativists.  Their basic assumption is that the characteristics of the human species as a whole are a product of evolution and that individual differences are due to each person’s unique genetic code.

In general, the earlier a particular ability appears, the more likely it is to be under the influence of genetic factors. Estimates of genetic influence are called heritability.

Examples of extreme nature positions in psychology include Chomsky (1965), who proposed language is gained through the use of an innate language acquisition device. Another example of nature is Freud’s theory of aggression as being an innate drive (called Thanatos).

Characteristics and differences that are not observable at birth, but which emerge later in life, are regarded as the product of maturation. That is to say, we all have an inner “biological clock” which switches on (or off) types of behavior in a pre-programmed way.

The classic example of the way this affects our physical development are the bodily changes that occur in early adolescence at puberty.

However, nativists also argue that maturation governs the emergence of attachment in infancy , language acquisition , and even cognitive development .

Empiricism (Extreme Nurture Position)

At the other end of the spectrum are the environmentalists – also known as empiricists (not to be confused with the other empirical/scientific  approach ).

Their basic assumption is that at birth, the human mind is a tabula rasa (a blank slate) and that this is gradually “filled” as a result of experience (e.g., behaviorism ).

From this point of view, psychological characteristics and behavioral differences that emerge through infancy and childhood are the results of learning.  It is how you are brought up (nurture) that governs the psychologically significant aspects of child development and the concept of maturation applies only to the biological.

For example, Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory states that aggression is learned from the environment through observation and imitation. This is seen in his famous bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961).

Also, Skinner (1957) believed that language is learned from other people via behavior-shaping techniques.

Evidence for Nature

• Biological Approach
• Biology of Gender
• Medical Model

Freud (1905) stated that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality.

He thought that parenting is of primary importance to a child’s development , and the family as the most important feature of nurture was a common theme throughout twentieth-century psychology (which was dominated by environmentalists’ theories).

Behavioral Genetics

Researchers in the field of behavioral genetics study variation in behavior as it is affected by genes, which are the units of heredity passed down from parents to offspring.

“We now know that DNA differences are the major systematic source of psychological differences between us. Environmental effects are important but what we have learned in recent years is that they are mostly random – unsystematic and unstable – which means that we cannot do much about them.” Plomin (2018, xii)

Behavioral genetics has enabled psychology to quantify the relative contribution of nature and nurture with regard to specific psychological traits. One way to do this is to study relatives who share the same genes (nature) but a different environment (nurture). Adoption acts as a natural experiment which allows researchers to do this.

Empirical studies have consistently shown that adoptive children show greater resemblance to their biological parents, rather than their adoptive, or environmental parents (Plomin & DeFries, 1983; 1985).

Another way of studying heredity is by comparing the behavior of twins, who can either be identical (sharing the same genes) or non-identical (sharing 50% of genes). Like adoption studies, twin studies support the first rule of behavior genetics; that psychological traits are extremely heritable, about 50% on average.

The Twins in Early Development Study (TEDS) revealed correlations between twins on a range of behavioral traits, such as personality (empathy and hyperactivity) and components of reading such as phonetics (Haworth, Davis, Plomin, 2013; Oliver & Plomin, 2007; Trouton, Spinath, & Plomin, 2002).

Implications

Jenson (1969) found that the average I.Q. scores of black Americans were significantly lower than whites he went on to argue that genetic factors were mainly responsible – even going so far as to suggest that intelligence is 80% inherited.

The storm of controversy that developed around Jenson’s claims was not mainly due to logical and empirical weaknesses in his argument. It was more to do with the social and political implications that are often drawn from research that claims to demonstrate natural inequalities between social groups.

For many environmentalists, there is a barely disguised right-wing agenda behind the work of the behavioral geneticists.  In their view, part of the difference in the I.Q. scores of different ethnic groups are due to inbuilt biases in the methods of testing.

More fundamentally, they believe that differences in intellectual ability are a product of social inequalities in access to material resources and opportunities.  To put it simply children brought up in the ghetto tend to score lower on tests because they are denied the same life chances as more privileged members of society.

Now we can see why the nature-nurture debate has become such a hotly contested issue.  What begins as an attempt to understand the causes of behavioral differences often develops into a politically motivated dispute about distributive justice and power in society.

What’s more, this doesn’t only apply to the debate over I.Q.  It is equally relevant to the psychology of sex and gender , where the question of how much of the (alleged) differences in male and female behavior is due to biology and how much to culture is just as controversial.

Polygenic Inheritance

Rather than the presence or absence of single genes being the determining factor that accounts for psychological traits, behavioral genetics has demonstrated that multiple genes – often thousands, collectively contribute to specific behaviors.

Thus, psychological traits follow a polygenic mode of inheritance (as opposed to being determined by a single gene). Depression is a good example of a polygenic trait, which is thought to be influenced by around 1000 genes (Plomin, 2018).

This means a person with a lower number of these genes (under 500) would have a lower risk of experiencing depression than someone with a higher number.

The Nature of Nurture

Nurture assumes that correlations between environmental factors and psychological outcomes are caused environmentally. For example, how much parents read with their children and how well children learn to read appear to be related. Other examples include environmental stress and its effect on depression.

However, behavioral genetics argues that what look like environmental effects are to a large extent really a reflection of genetic differences (Plomin & Bergeman, 1991).

People select, modify and create environments correlated with their genetic disposition. This means that what sometimes appears to be an environmental influence (nurture) is a genetic influence (nature).

So, children that are genetically predisposed to be competent readers, will be happy to listen to their parents read them stories, and be more likely to encourage this interaction.

Interaction Effects

However, in recent years there has been a growing realization that the question of “how much” behavior is due to heredity and “how much” to the environment may itself be the wrong question.

Take intelligence as an example. Like almost all types of human behavior, it is a complex, many-sided phenomenon which reveals itself (or not!) in a great variety of ways.

The “how much” question assumes that psychological traits can all be expressed numerically and that the issue can be resolved in a quantitative manner.

Heritability statistics revealed by behavioral genetic studies have been criticized as meaningless, mainly because biologists have established that genes cannot influence development independently of environmental factors; genetic and nongenetic factors always cooperate to build traits. The reality is that nature and culture interact in a host of qualitatively different ways (Gottlieb, 2007; Johnston & Edwards, 2002).

Instead of defending extreme nativist or nurturist views, most psychological researchers are now interested in investigating how nature and nurture interact.

For example, in psychopathology , this means that both a genetic predisposition and an appropriate environmental trigger are required for a mental disorder to develop. For example, epigenetics state that environmental influences affect the expression of genes.

What is Epigenetics?

Epigenetics is the term used to describe inheritance by mechanisms other than through the DNA sequence of genes. For example, features of a person’s physical and social environment can effect which genes are switched-on, or “expressed”, rather than the DNA sequence of the genes themselves.

Stressors and memories can be passed through small RNA molecules to multiple generations of offspring in ways that meaningfully affect their behavior.

One such example is what is known as the Dutch Hunger Winter, during last year of the Second World War. What they found was that children who were in the womb during the famine experienced a life-long increase in their chances of developing various health problems compared to children conceived after the famine.

Epigenetic effects can sometimes be passed from one generation to the next, although the effects only seem to last for a few generations. There is some evidence that the effects of the Dutch Hunger Winter affected grandchildren of women who were pregnant during the famine.

Therefore, it makes more sense to say that the difference between two people’s behavior is mostly due to hereditary factors or mostly due to environmental factors.

This realization is especially important given the recent advances in genetics, such as polygenic testing.  The Human Genome Project, for example, has stimulated enormous interest in tracing types of behavior to particular strands of DNA located on specific chromosomes.

If these advances are not to be abused, then there will need to be a more general understanding of the fact that biology interacts with both the cultural context and the personal choices that people make about how they want to live their lives.

There is no neat and simple way of unraveling these qualitatively different and reciprocal influences on human behavior.

Epigenetics: Licking Rat Pups

Michael Meaney and his colleagues at McGill University in Montreal, Canada conducted the landmark epigenetic study on mother rats licking and grooming their pups.

This research found that the amount of licking and grooming received by rat pups during their early life could alter their epigenetic marks and influence their stress responses in adulthood.

Pups that received high levels of maternal care (i.e., more licking and grooming) had a reduced stress response compared to those that received low levels of maternal care.

Meaney’s work with rat maternal behavior and its epigenetic effects has provided significant insights into the understanding of early-life experiences, gene expression, and adult behavior.

It underscores the importance of the early-life environment and its long-term impacts on an individual’s mental health and stress resilience.

Epigenetics: The Agouti Mouse Study

Waterland and Jirtle’s 2003 study on the Agouti mouse is another foundational work in the field of epigenetics that demonstrated how nutritional factors during early development can result in epigenetic changes that have long-lasting effects on phenotype.

In this study, they focused on a specific gene in mice called the Agouti viable yellow (A^vy) gene. Mice with this gene can express a range of coat colors, from yellow to mottled to brown.

This variation in coat color is related to the methylation status of the A^vy gene: higher methylation is associated with the brown coat, and lower methylation with the yellow coat.

Importantly, the coat color is also associated with health outcomes, with yellow mice being more prone to obesity, diabetes, and tumorigenesis compared to brown mice.

Waterland and Jirtle set out to investigate whether maternal diet, specifically supplementation with methyl donors like folic acid, choline, betaine, and vitamin B12, during pregnancy could influence the methylation status of the A^vy gene in offspring.

Key findings from the study include:

Dietary Influence : When pregnant mice were fed a diet supplemented with methyl donors, their offspring had an increased likelihood of having the brown coat color. This indicated that the supplemented diet led to an increased methylation of the A^vy gene.

Health Outcomes : Along with the coat color change, these mice also had reduced risks of obesity and other health issues associated with the yellow phenotype.

Transgenerational Effects : The study showed that nutritional interventions could have effects that extend beyond the individual, affecting the phenotype of the offspring.

The implications of this research are profound. It highlights how maternal nutrition during critical developmental periods can have lasting effects on offspring through epigenetic modifications, potentially affecting health outcomes much later in life.

The study also offers insights into how dietary and environmental factors might contribute to disease susceptibility in humans.

Bandura, A. Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through the imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 63, 575-582

Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bouchard, T. J. (1994). Genes, Environment, and Personality. Science, 264 (5166), 1700-1701.

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment. Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Loss . New York: Basic Books.

Caspi, A., Sugden, K., Moffitt, T. E., Taylor, A., Craig, I. W., Harrington, H., … & Poulton, R. (2003). Influence of life stress on depression: moderation by a polymorphism in the 5-HTT gene.  Science ,  301 (5631), 386-389.

Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. Mouton de Gruyter.

Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax . MIT Press.

Dube, S. R., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Edwards, V. J., & Croft, J. B. (2002). Adverse childhood experiences and personal alcohol abuse as an adult.  Addictive Behaviors ,  27 (5), 713-725.

Flynn, J. R. (1987). Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: What IQ tests really measure.  Psychological Bulletin ,  101 (2), 171.

Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality . Se, 7.

Galton, F. (1883). Inquiries into human faculty and its development . London: J.M. Dent & Co.

Gottlieb, G. (2007). Probabilistic epigenesis.   Developmental Science, 10 , 1–11.

Haworth, C. M., Davis, O. S., & Plomin, R. (2013). Twins Early Development Study (TEDS): a genetically sensitive investigation of cognitive and behavioral development from childhood to young adulthood . Twin Research and Human Genetics, 16(1) , 117-125.

Jensen, A. R. (1969). How much can we boost I.Q. and scholastic achievement? Harvard Educational Review, 33 , 1-123.

Johnston, T. D., & Edwards, L. (2002). Genes, interactions, and the development of behavior . Psychological Review , 109, 26–34.

Keller, M. C., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (2007). Association of different adverse life events with distinct patterns of depressive symptoms.  American Journal of Psychiatry ,  164 (10), 1521-1529.

Monroe, S. M., & Simons, A. D. (1991). Diathesis-stress theories in the context of life stress research: implications for the depressive disorders.  Psychological Bulletin ,  110 (3), 406.

Oliver, B. R., & Plomin, R. (2007). Twins” Early Development Study (TEDS): A multivariate, longitudinal genetic investigation of language, cognition and behavior problems from childhood through adolescence . Twin Research and Human Genetics, 10(1) , 96-105.

Petrill, S. A., Plomin, R., Berg, S., Johansson, B., Pedersen, N. L., Ahern, F., & McClearn, G. E. (1998). The genetic and environmental relationship between general and specific cognitive abilities in twins age 80 and older.  Psychological Science ,  9 (3), 183-189.

Plomin, R., & Petrill, S. A. (1997). Genetics and intelligence: What’s new?.  Intelligence ,  24 (1), 53-77.

Plomin, R. (2018). Blueprint: How DNA makes us who we are . MIT Press.

Plomin, R., & Bergeman, C. S. (1991). The nature of nurture: Genetic influence on “environmental” measures. behavioral and Brain Sciences, 14(3) , 373-386.

Plomin, R., & DeFries, J. C. (1983). The Colorado adoption project. Child Development , 276-289.

Plomin, R., & DeFries, J. C. (1985). The origins of individual differences in infancy; the Colorado adoption project. Science, 230 , 1369-1371.

Plomin, R., & Spinath, F. M. (2004). Intelligence: genetics, genes, and genomics.  Journal of personality and social psychology ,  86 (1), 112.

Plomin, R., & Von Stumm, S. (2018). The new genetics of intelligence.  Nature Reviews Genetics ,  19 (3), 148-159.

Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior . Acton, MA: Copley Publishing Group.

Sullivan, P. F., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (2000). Genetic epidemiology of major depression: review and meta-analysis.  American Journal of Psychiatry ,  157 (10), 1552-1562.

Szyf, M., Weaver, I. C., Champagne, F. A., Diorio, J., & Meaney, M. J. (2005). Maternal programming of steroid receptor expression and phenotype through DNA methylation in the rat .  Frontiers in neuroendocrinology ,  26 (3-4), 139-162.

Trouton, A., Spinath, F. M., & Plomin, R. (2002). Twins early development study (TEDS): a multivariate, longitudinal genetic investigation of language, cognition and behavior problems in childhood . Twin Research and Human Genetics, 5(5) , 444-448.

Waterland, R. A., & Jirtle, R. L. (2003). Transposable elements: targets for early nutritional effects on epigenetic gene regulation . Molecular and cellular biology, 23 (15), 5293-5300.

Further Information

• Genetic & Environmental Influences on Human Psychological Differences

Evidence for Nurture

• Classical Conditioning
• Little Albert Experiment
• Operant Conditioning
• Behaviorism
• Social Learning Theory
• Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory
• Social Roles
• Attachment Styles
• The Hidden Links Between Mental Disorders
• Visual Cliff Experiment
• Behavioral Genetics, Genetics, and Epigenetics
• Epigenetics
• Is Epigenetics Inherited?
• Physiological Psychology
• Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
• So is it nature not nurture after all?

Evidence for an Interaction

• Genes, Interactions, and the Development of Behavior
• Agouti Mouse Study
• Biological Psychology

What does nature refer to in the nature vs. nurture debate?

In the nature vs. nurture debate, “nature” refers to the influence of genetics, innate qualities, and biological factors on human development, behavior, and traits. It emphasizes the role of hereditary factors in shaping who we are.

What does nurture refer to in the nature vs. nurture debate?

In the nature vs. nurture debate, “nurture” refers to the influence of the environment, upbringing, experiences, and social factors on human development, behavior, and traits. It emphasizes the role of external factors in shaping who we are.

Why is it important to determine the contribution of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) in human development?

Determining the contribution of heredity and environment in human development is crucial for understanding the complex interplay between genetic factors and environmental influences. It helps identify the relative significance of each factor, informing interventions, policies, and strategies to optimize human potential and address developmental challenges.

Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Nature Versus Nurture — The Nature vs Nurture Debate

The Nature Vs Nurture Debate

• Categories: Nature Versus Nurture

About this sample

Words: 603 |

Published: Jan 29, 2024

Words: 603 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Nature argument, nurture argument, interactionist perspective, criticisms and limitations of the debate.

• One of the most compelling examples of genetic influences on behavior is the study of identical twins. Identical twins share the same genes and were commonly separated at birth, yet they often display remarkable similarities in personality traits, interests, and even medical conditions.
• Genetic factors can lead to the onset of psychological disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia.
• Evolution and natural selection have created inherited traits such as physical characteristics that enable humans to adapt to their environments.
• Early childhood experiences can heavily influence an individual’s cognitive development. Studies have shown that a nurturing environment positively contributes to intellectual development and conversely, poverty and violence negatively impact cognitive development.
• Socialization is a critical environmental factor that shapes one's personality. Cultural norms also deeply influence one's way of thinking, behavior, and personal identity.
• Environmental factors can heavily impact behavior, such as peer pressure and negative societal influences leading to adverse outcomes.
• Genetic factors and environmental factors have both been shown to interact to influence behavior, gene-environment interaction being critical scientific evidence of this.
• Epigenetics, the study of how environmental factors can activate or suppress certain genes, can have impacts on both personality and physical health.
• Plomin, R. (2018). Genetics and life events: The importance of childhood environments for recruitment into ‘nature’s experiments’. Psychological Review, 125(5), 778-791.
• Reiss, D., Neiderhiser, J. M., Hetherington, E. M., & Plomin, R. (2000). The relationship code: Deciphering genetic and social influences on adolescent development. Harvard University Press.
• Jablonka, E., & Raz, G. (2009). Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance: Prevalence , Mechanisms, and Implications for the Study of Heredity and Evolution. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 84(2), 131–176.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof. Kifaru

Verified writer

• Expert in: Psychology

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 990 words

3 pages / 1195 words

3 pages / 1170 words

2 pages / 944 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Nature Versus Nurture

Human growth and development involve a variety of complex processes, periods, and theories that contribute to the understanding of how individuals change and develop over time. In this essay, we will explore the developmental [...]

An individual's behavior and social interactions are heavily influenced by their attitudes and personality traits. In psychology, attitudes refer to the feelings, beliefs, and behaviors towards a particular object or idea, while [...]

Throughout history, philosophers and scholars have grappled with the concept of human nature. This essay will explore the three major views of human nature: Tabula Rasa, Innate Goodness, and Evil Inclination. By examining the [...]

The nature vs. nurture debate in sports is a multifaceted discourse that challenges simplistic binaries. Genetic factors (nature) and environmental influences (nurture) are intertwined, shaping athletes' performance in complex [...]

Various scientists believe that we as humans behave the way we do because of our genetic structure or primal instincts. Otherwise known as nature theory, while other scientists believe the way we think and behave is learned. [...]

The question of whether or not is predetermined at birth to lead a life of crime is a question that has been debated for decades. Nature and nurture is a hotly contested argument concerning what influences the behaviour and [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

80 Nature vs Nurture Essay Topics & Examples

Have some suggestions and questions about nature vs nurture? On this page, find research and essay topics to explore a particular aspect of the discussion.

📑 Aspects to Cover in a Nature vs Nurture Essay

🏆 best nature vs nurture essay topics & essay examples, 📌 most interesting nurture vs nature topics to write about, 👍 good nature vs nurture topics, ❓ questions about nature vs nurture.

What affects human development: nature or nurture? Are gender roles and differences come naturally, or does society impose them? What can be argued about the personalities of identical twins? Explore any of the issues with us! Our IvyPnada team has prepared nurture vs nature topics to write about. Check essay examples via the links as well.

At first glance, a nature vs nurture essay seems to be easy. However, a limited view of the subject matter may cost you marks, which is why it is crucial to offer a well-rounded account of the debate. Here are some of the aspects that you might want to include in your essay on nature vs nurture.

• The importance of the topic. The debate on what influences one’s personality, intelligence, and character is among the most prominent ones in psychology and other social sciences. Your task is to reflect this and to attempt to justify why the debate is so important. What could be done if it were resolved one day? How does the dispute affect other subject fields and topics in psychology? How would the resolution help the study of psychology and human behavior to move forward? Would it help to prove certain theories or refute the others, and what would be the effect on professional practice?
• The origins of the debate. While you explore the first aspect, you might stumble upon the history of the nature vs nurture debate. Covering this theme in your essay could also earn you some extra marks. Merely summarizing historical facts is not enough, though, because your tutor is probably aware of them already. Instead, you should focus on why the debate started. Were there any developments in psychology that prompted it?
• Prominent views. It is hard to omit the opinions expressed by famous scholars while writing an essay on this subject. John Locke, John B. Watson, Calvin Hall, and other authors had all shared ideas on the issue. If you need more names, try searching sample essays on nature and nurture online since most of them point out the key names. This might also help you to identify possible nature vs nurture essay titles.
• Results of research studies. Research evidence is among the key nature vs nurture essay topics because there were many attempts to prove one or the other view. Examples of such studies may be cited in your textbook, so it should be the first point of your research. Your school’s library and Google Scholar might also give you more information. If you find any sources online, make sure that they are of academic quality, or you might lose marks.
• Your personal experience and thoughts. Because the controversy is so prominent, nearly all people who study psychology or social studies have an opinion on it. If the instructions don’t prevent you from doing this, you should share your thoughts on the debate between nature and nurture. Support your opinion with credible research evidence and link it to the work of other scholars. If you believe that the environment is more important than genes, why is that? What other theorists supported this view, and why did they? Your opinion, supported by relevant facts and views, may become an excellent nature vs nurture essay thesis.
• Suggestions for further research. Try to think about what could be done to resolve the debate once and for all. What are the main gaps in studies on nature vs nurture and how could they be addressed by scholars?

Covering all of the themes above will help you to produce an outstanding essay. Make sure to check our website for a nature vs nurture essay prompt, titles, and other useful materials!

• Nature vs. Nurture In most cases, nature determines the physical characteristics which in effect influence the behavior of an individual. These are traits which largely determined by the socio-cultural environmental factors or the way the individuals are socialized […]
• Human Development: Nature or Nurture? With studies and theories carried out to examine the impact of nature on the personal development and personality traits, heredity is an important factor in the development.
• As Nature Made Him: Summary and Analysis As aforementioned, the author of this book provides useful analysis of this aspect of personality. One of the greatest questions that readers get answer from this book is the question of nature vs.nurture in sexuality […]
• Nature vs. Nurture: “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote Thus, by contrasting Dick’s nurturing in love and affection and the conditions of his blissful childhood and adolescence with the details of a horrible crime committed by him and his attitude to it, the author […]
• Physical and Mental Wellbeing: Nature Versus Nurture In conclusion, the debates on nature versus nurture reveal that both innate health conditions and external factors shape the outcomes for physical and mental wellbeing of an individual.
• Nature Versus Nurture and Learning Among Children Of much concern among modern researchers is the determination of the degree of influence of nature and nurture on the development of a child and the provision of learning experiences.
• Violent Behavior: Nature vs. Nurture Considering this circumstance, the shifts in one’s attitudes are likely to be ascribed to the modifications in conditions, which can be reported by families with children.
• “Nature” Versus “Nurture”: Effects on Child Development Consequently, a child’s behavior cannot be viewed as solely attributable to the genetic composition of the parents and the hereditary characteristics.
• Nature vs. Nurture: New Science Stirs Debate How Behavior Is Shaped A prime example of this nature of debates is the debate on whether nature or nurture has a greater bearing on the development of the diverse individual behavioral differences that exist.
• Alcoholism-Nature vs. Nurture Debate The analysis on physiological physiology regarding alcohol shows that, alcohol displays feelings of superiority and fearless behavior and also, it reduces an individual’s fear.
• The Relationship Between Nature and Nurture on the Intelligence
• The Controversies Surrounding the Topic of Nature Versus Nurture
• The Nurture Side of the Dichotomy Nature Versus Nurture
• The Formula For Fruition: The Age Old Debate of Nature Versus Nurture by Kendra Cherry
• The Meaning of Nature and Nurture in Psychology
• The Role of Nature vs. Nurture in Violent Behavior
• Influence of Nature Versus Nurture on Child Development
• The Role of Nature and Nurture: Adolescence Eating Disorders
• The Nature vs. Nurture Debate in Learning More About Alcoholism
• The Psychological Argument Between Nature vs. Nurture
• The Role of Nature and Nurture in Human Development
• The Influence of Nature Versus Nurture on an Individual Human Behavior
• Use of Nature and Nurture Based Studies on Epigenetics
• The Impact of Nature and Nurture on Huck’s and Finn’s Personality and Behavior in the Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Correlation Between Nature and Nurture in the Personal Development
• Role of Nature and Nurture in Language Development
• Personality, Behavior, and the Significance of Nature vs. Nurture
• The Disputes Concerning the Popular Nature vs. Nurture Argument
• Understanding the Role of Nature Versus Nurture in Alcohol Addiction
• Wild Child vs. Nature and Nurture
• The Importance of Nature Verses Nurture in Shaping Behavior and Personality
• The Differences Between Boys and Girls from Combination Between Nature and Nurture
• The Role of Nature and Nurture in Human Homosexuality
• The Nature Versus Nurture Debate in the Blasphemy of Talking Politics During Bach Year, an Article by Susan McClary
• What Roles Do Nature and Nurture Play on Children’s
• What Differentiates the Entrepreneurs From Non-Entrepreneurs on Nature and Nurture
• The Source of Violence: Nature vs. Nurture
• Gender and Socialization: Nature or Nurture
• How Nature and Nurture Affects the Pies in Adolescence and Adulthood
• The Debate Between Criminal Nature and Criminal Nurture: William Sheldon Theory
• The Nurture and Care From Nature and the Damage Caused by Humans to Our Environment
• The Evolutionary Theory of Nature vs. Nurture
• The Personality and Biology Differences in Nature Versus Nurture and Man Versus Woman Situations in Daily Life
• The Importance of Twin Studies in the Nature Versus Nurture Debate
• The Scientific and Cultural Debate of Nature vs. Nurture
• The Issue of Nature Versus Nurture in the Development of Serial Killers
• The Role of Nature vs. Nurture, Culture and Gender, and Family
• What Makes a Monster Nature vs. Nurture in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein
• The Theme of Nature Versus Nurture in Shelly’s Frankenstein
• The Psychology Field of Study About Nature and Nurture
• How Children Develop and the Interplay of Nature vs. Nurture?
• How Nature vs. Nurture Affect Human Development?
• Homosexuality: Nature vs. Nurture?
• How Do Nature vs. Nurture Work Together Example?
• How Does Nature vs. Nurture Affect Human Behavior?
• Why Is Nature vs. Nurture Called a False Debate?
• Nature vs. Nurture: Do Our Genes Affect Our Personalities?
• Nature vs. Nurture: Which Has a More Significant Influence on Child Development?
• How Do You Argue Nature vs. Nurture?
• Nature vs. Nurture: Who’s to Blame for Acts of Violence?
• How Does Nature vs. Nurture Affect Intelligence?
• Nature vs. Nurture: Which Is the Origin of Virtue?
• How Does Shelley Represent the Nature vs. Nurture Debate?
• Nature vs. Nurture: Which Determines Personality?
• What Are Examples of Nature vs. Nurture?
• Nature vs. Nurture: What Does Matter More?
• What Is Stronger Nurture vs. Nature?
• Why Nurture Is Better Than Nature?
• How Does the Nature vs. Nurture Debate in May Affect the Physical?
• What Is Nature vs. Nurture in Child Development?
• How Nature vs. Nurture Influence Substance Abuse?
• Twin Studies: What Can They Tell Us About Nature vs. Nurture?
• How Does Nature vs. Nurture Affect the Development of Social-Emotion Attributes?
• Who Won Nature vs. Nurture?
• How Nature vs. Nurture Apply the Principles of Life?
• What Is the Difference Between Nature vs. Nurture in Child Development?
• What Is the Main Idea of Nature vs. Nurture?
• Is Nature vs. Nurture Misleading?
• Nature vs. Nurture: What Impacts a Child’s IQ?
• How Does Nature vs. Nurture Affect Human Development?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, March 2). 80 Nature vs Nurture Essay Topics & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nature-vs-nurture-essay-examples/

"80 Nature vs Nurture Essay Topics & Examples." IvyPanda , 2 Mar. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nature-vs-nurture-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '80 Nature vs Nurture Essay Topics & Examples'. 2 March.

IvyPanda . 2024. "80 Nature vs Nurture Essay Topics & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nature-vs-nurture-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "80 Nature vs Nurture Essay Topics & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nature-vs-nurture-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "80 Nature vs Nurture Essay Topics & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/nature-vs-nurture-essay-examples/.

• Cognitive Development Essay Ideas
• Emotional Development Questions
• Human Development Research Ideas
• Developmental Psychology Essay Ideas
• Child Development Research Ideas
• Moral Development Essay Topics
• Lifespan Development Essay Titles
• Literacy Development Titles
• Personality Development Ideas
• Social Development Essay Topics
• Human Nature Essay Titles
• Academic Achievements Research Topics
• Bioethics Titles
• Emotional Intelligence Paper Topics
• Genetics Research Ideas

Essay Sample: Nature Versus Nurture

26 March, 2020

7 minutes read

Author:  Kate Smith

This sample is a great example of the compare and contrast essay writing. It presents two points of view on what influences the development of a personality the most - genetics or environmental factors. Don't hesitate to read it to see what such a type of essay should look like when written professionally!

Nature and nurture is a hotly contested argument concerning what influences the behavior and personality attributes of individuals. Nature is entirely dependent on the genetic combination of an individual which dictates their character and appearance. On the other hand, nurture is dependent on the environmental factors that an individual gets exposed to which end up shaping his or her personality. Nature and nurture influence individuals to a certain extent because individuals get exposed to both of them in one way or the other dictating their development process.

Nature principle holds that biological characteristics of individuals get inherited from the genetic makeup in their lineage. Character traits such as height, weight, vulnerability to certain illnesses and skin complexion are inherited and determined by the genetic combination of individuals. Such biological combination is usually similar amongst individuals who are blood relatives, and for this reason, they tend to have almost a uniform genetic combination. Moreover, other behavioral, mental and personality attributes are also a reflection of our genetic makeup and usually inherited from individuals’ close blood relatives (Kong et al. 2018). Through the traits, it is easier to identify closely related individuals just by looking at their appearance and conduct.

Besides, specific characteristics do not become evident during birth, and when a person reaches a certain age, for instance, during puberty, that is when the hidden attributes begin showing up. The biological clock guides such characteristics, and when the right time comes, the physical and behavioral attributes mature and become conspicuous. Such traits get programmed in a way that for them to grow visible, they will take a certain period to develop. Moreover, they are also dependent on other biological factors within our bodies for them to manifest. However, the traits still maintain the genetic combination and the similarity of a specific lineage.

Note that our company provides academic writing help. You can buy a narrative essay (or any other type) written from scratch by our  essay writer .

On the contrary, through nurture, an individual acquires specific attributes from the environment that surrounds them. When a child is born, for instance, its mind is black and empty. It is through its interaction with the surrounding and the people around it that will make the infant acquire some of their traits through learning, observation and aping their conducts. In other words, nurturing is dependent on the environment, experience, and learning as the individual interacts with the environment with time (Vazsonyi, Roberts, Huang & Vaughn, 2015). The way an individual was nurtured or brought up will influence their aspect of child development. Maturation will only affect biological development. The environment plays a vital role in the development process.

Similarly, the type of relationships also plays a crucial role in the nurturing, especially during child development. For instance, an infant develops an emotional attachment to its parents because of the love and affection it receives. Moreover, children who are given proper care and affection will reciprocate the same while growing up. On the contrary, infants who receive harsh treatment from their parents will develop withdrawal symptoms while growing up. Also, the infants also try and learn how and what to talk by studying the speech of those around them. The cognitive development comes from the exposer that the infant receives and conditions surrounding it.

Correspondingly, certain traits are acquired based on what an individual went through. Children who got abused or molested when growing up develop specific antisocial characteristics, for instance, being high tempered, harsh and develops particular disorders. For example, bipolar disorders manifest because an individual underwent harsh treatment which affects their psychological stability after that. Some of them become abusers and molesters in their future relationships as a way of imitating and justifying what they experienced while growing up. Imitation is a way of implementing what the individual has learned during the nurturing process by putting the lessons into practice.

Striking a Balance

However, after careful analysis, psychologists have discovered that both nature and nurture are responsible for the development of an individual. Both factors interact with each other and play a crucial role in shaping up the conduct of an individual (Lux, 2014). For example, in psychopathology, it is argued that both hereditary factors and environmental conditions contribute to the development of mental disorders in individuals. The biological combinations of people closely interact with the socio-cultural set up surrounding them. Individuals are now left to make their own choices in dictating what is suitable for them and what should be left out. Nature and nurture complement each other in shaping an individual.

Conclusively, nature and nurture are broiling discussion, and both sides have valid points to justify their stands. Nature is purely based on the fact that genetic makeup influence how an individual behaves and thinks. Similarly, the natives hold that genetic factors dictate factors such as the appearance, particular illness, and intelligence levels. On the contrary, individuals who believe in nurturing hold that environmental factors are majorly involved in the development process of individuals. Children acquire traits through learning from the people surrounding them and will try to imitate the behavior after that. However, psychologists are trying their level best to strike a balance between the two school of thoughts since both sides hold valid arguments, but both nurture and nature interact with each other during the development process. Nature and nurture cannot get treated in isolation.

Lux, V. (2014). Nature and nurture.  Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology , 1225-1231.

Kong, A., Thorleifsson, G., Frigge, M. L., Vilhjalmsson, B. J., Young, A. I., Thorgeirsson, T. E., … & Gudbjartsson, D. F. (2018). The nature of nurture: Effects of parental genotypes.  Science ,  359 (6374), 424-428.

Vazsonyi, A. T., Roberts, J. W., Huang, L., & Vaughn, M. G. (2015). Why focusing on nurture made and still makes sense: The biosocial development of self-control.  The Routledge international handbook of biosocial criminology , 263-280.

A life lesson in Romeo and Juliet taught by death

Due to human nature, we draw conclusions only when life gives us a lesson since the experience of others is not so effective and powerful. Therefore, when analyzing and sorting out common problems we face, we may trace a parallel with well-known book characters or real historical figures. Moreover, we often compare our situations with […]

Ethical Research Paper Topics

Writing a research paper on ethics is not an easy task, especially if you do not possess excellent writing skills and do not like to contemplate controversial questions. But an ethics course is obligatory in all higher education institutions, and students have to look for a way out and be creative. When you find an […]

Art Research Paper Topics

Students obtaining degrees in fine art and art & design programs most commonly need to write a paper on art topics. However, this subject is becoming more popular in educational institutions for expanding students’ horizons. Thus, both groups of receivers of education: those who are into arts and those who only get acquainted with art […]

Which is to blame for acts of violence - nature or nurture? Discuss.

Model essay.

I. Introduction

• Definition of nature and nurture
• Explanation of violence as a multifaceted issue

II. Nature’s Influence on Acts of Violence

• Biological factors and predispositions
• Genetic influences and hereditary traits
• Neurological and hormonal factors

III. Nurture’s Influence on Acts of Violence

• Environmental factors and upbringing
• Childhood experiences and exposure to violence
• Socioeconomic conditions and cultural influences

IV. Interplay between Nature and Nurture

• Gene-environment interactions
• Epigenetics and the impact of experiences
• Complex relationship between biology and environment

V. Debate: Nature vs. Nurture in Acts of Violence

• Arguments supporting nature’s influence
• Arguments emphasizing the significance of nurture
• Recognition of the intertwined nature of both factors

VI. Conclusion

• Recap of nature and nurture’s role in acts of violence
• Emphasis on the complex interplay between biological and environmental factors
• Importance of adopting a comprehensive approach to addressing violence

ADVERTISEMENT

Acts of violence are a complex issue that cannot be attributed solely to nature or nurture. The debate surrounding the influence of nature (biological factors) versus nurture (environmental influences) on violent behavior has garnered significant attention. While some argue that biological predispositions play a more prominent role, others emphasize the impact of environmental factors. In reality, acts of violence are influenced by an intricate interplay between nature and nurture, as biological predispositions interact with environmental factors to shape behavior.

Nature, encompassing genetic and biological aspects, contributes to the understanding of violence. Biological factors such as genetic predispositions, neurological abnormalities, and hormonal imbalances can play a role in influencing aggressive tendencies. For instance, certain genetic variations have been associated with an increased risk of aggressive behavior. Furthermore, imbalances in brain chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine can affect impulse control and emotional regulation, potentially contributing to acts of violence.

Nurture, referring to the environmental influences, also plays a significant role in shaping violent behavior. Childhood experiences, exposure to violence, and the social environment can contribute to the development of aggressive tendencies. Individuals who grow up in violent or abusive environments may learn aggressive behavior as a means of self-defense or as a response to their surroundings. Socioeconomic conditions, cultural influences, and access to resources also shape the environmental context within which violent behavior can emerge.

It is important to recognize the interplay between nature and nurture when examining acts of violence. The interaction of genetic predispositions and environmental factors is complex and multifaceted. Gene-environment interactions suggest that biological predispositions can be influenced and shaped by environmental conditions. Additionally, epigenetics highlights the impact of experiences on gene expression, indicating that environmental factors can modify genetic expression, potentially increasing or decreasing the likelihood of violent behavior.

The debate between nature and nurture in acts of violence should not revolve around placing blame on either factor alone. Instead, a comprehensive understanding requires acknowledging the intertwined nature of both influences. By adopting a holistic approach, society can address the multiple factors that contribute to violent behavior. This includes providing support for individuals who exhibit aggressive tendencies, promoting violence prevention programs, improving access to mental health resources, and creating nurturing environments that foster empathy, emotional regulation, and conflict resolution skills.

In conclusion, acts of violence are shaped by a complex interplay of both nature and nurture. Biological factors contribute to the understanding of aggression, but they do not operate independently of environmental influences. The interaction between genetic predispositions and environmental conditions is crucial in shaping violent behavior. To effectively address acts of violence, society must adopt a comprehensive approach that considers both biological and environmental factors and implements preventive measures, intervention programs, and support systems to promote a safer and more peaceful society.

Personality

Share this Article

Nature Vs Nurture Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on nature vs nurture.

The topic of nature vs nurture is always a great topic of debate among people. There are great men who did work hard to achieve great heights . But still, they are some people who didn’t work that hard yet still managed to be successful.

In other words, it is a debate between hard work and talent. In the grooming of a person, the nurturing is essential. However, still, there are some individuals who were never born in a great environment . Yet by their sense of knowledge and intellectualism created a special place in the hearts of people.

Nature has given us many things in life and one of them is talents. Either we are born as the only individual in our family or it is in our genes. Furthermore, nature plays a vital role in deciding the future of a child. Many singers in this era are born with beautiful voices. They did not need any nurturing. Their talent took them to heights they couldn’t even imagine.

For instance, some of the great legends like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Kishor Kumar had soulful voices. Also, they were the ones who sang from their childhood days. They started their careers and became successful at a very early age. Moreover, they did not get much teaching but still are the legends of all time.

Apart from singing, there are other talents that nature has given us. Various scientists like Albert Einstein , Isaac Newton , Galileo Galilei, started their work in their teenage years. They had amazing intellectualism, because of which they got recognition in their entire world. Furthermore, these scientists did not get any mentoring. They did everything on their own. Because they had extraordinary intelligence and ambition in life.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

On the other hand, the nurturing of a person is important. Because hard work beats talent. With proper mentoring and practice, a person can achieve success in life. If a person has an environment in which everybody is in the same profession and are successful in it.

Then there is a great chance that the person will land up in the same profession and will achieve heights. Because in that environment he will get proper nurturing.

Furthermore, he will also be able to perform better over the years. “ Hard work always pays off ”. This idiom is always true and nobody can deny that. If a person has true dedication then it can beat talent. Various singers, dancers, musicians, businessmen, entrepreneurs did work really hard for years.

And because of that, they got recognition in the entire world. In these categories, musicians are who achieved heights only with their hard work and constant practice.

It is true that there are no shortcuts to success. Various known legends like Bob Dylon. Lou Reed, Elvis Persley, Michael Jackson worked hard throughout their lives. As a result, they were some of the great personalities in the entire world.

Q1. What is the meaning of nurture?

A1. Nurture means the way a person grooms himself. This is done in order to achieve success. Nurturing is essential in a person’s life because it can be a way a person can cross the barrier and do something great. Moreover nurture also means the mentoring and care a person is getting in an environment.

Q2. What is the difference between Nature and Nurture?

A2. The main difference between nature and nurture is, nature is the talent a person inherits from his parents or is God gifted. While nurturing is hard work and mentoring of a person in a particular field. So that he may excel in that field.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App