Nurture vs. Nature

3 Pages 779 Words

A debate that all sociologists find themselves trying to fight is the Nurture vs. Nature. It is also sometimes known as the genetic/environmental controversy. The debate concerning the influence of nature and nurture in development is one of the most controversial and long-running in Psychology. When trying to answer the question 'What makes us the way we are?', we need to consider both the influence of innate influences such as personality traits or genetics, and of the environment and surroundings.
These two sides are fought very well. Nature and nurture affect behavior by influencing the structure and function of the nervous system. How genes, environment and experiences interact to tailor a person's behavior .In this controversy, we ask if the behavior of people is due to their Nature (or genetics) or to their Nurture (or environment). This is a philosophical question which science can only answer at the sidelines.

Charles Darwin’s strongly believes that human behavior is nature. For example what happens in our lives like becoming gamblers or criminals we are born with and it is not through experiences. Darwin fought this debate so that in the U.S people believed that humans behavior was instinctive, simply our “ nature”.
John B Watson developed a theory named behaviorism, which seized that behavior was not instinctive but a learned behavior. For example our surroundings and life experiences form who we become. This would be nurture which is important in developing human behavior in culture.
If we take identical twins, and give one the best environment possible, and put the other one in closet for eighteen years the differences will be profound, and caused totally by environmental differences between the two children. At the extreme the proponents of the Nurture side of the controversy would have us believe that the differences in human behavior are like the differences in the twin...