Have you ever wondered why you are acting the way you are now? Or simply, where’d you get your attitude from? Nature vs nurture has been an interesting debate among people. It is about whether genetics affects the individual personality of a person or is it the environment together with the influence of society that he or she grew up in.
Nature
Nature refers to the genes that we inherit from our parents. May it be our physical appearance, mentality, behavior, or our personality traits. Furthermore, nature plays a very important role in the development process as it influences who we are as a person from the time we were born. There are some instances that these hidden attributes don’t typically show at birth, it begins to show at a certain age, like when a person hits puberty. In nature, a person is born with talent. If a child was born with great physical features, that child will be great at sports even with little to no training at all. Nature means it has already been imprinted into your DNA to become what you are right now. This could simply mean that there is less or no hard work needed to be who you are now and in the future.
Nurture
Nurture refers to the effect of our environment on our behaviors, characteristics, and personalities. Even physical features can be influenced by the environment like how you would want to weigh to appear as attractive. Nurture occurs throughout an individual’s development. A great example of this is a child that was born with average qualities and the child gets interested in, for example, sports. The child would then proceed to train to make him or herself great at said interests. Most of the time, we don’t even know that we are being nurtured. Just like having your friends and peers, they too would be an influence on our personalities and behaviors.
Conclusion
Nature refers to all genetic and hereditary factors that influence us as a person. Nurture, on the other hand, refers to all of the environmental factors that also influence who we are. Nature and nurture dictate the development process of individuals because they get exposed and influenced by each of these two factors. Altogether, both factors are essential to become who you are.