Nature vs. Nurture- Evaluating the Impact on Development Through Personal and Scholarly Perspectives

Nature vs. Nurture- Evaluating the Impact on Development Through Personal and Scholarly Perspectives

Nature versus nurture has been an ongoing debate in psychology for a very long time now. Nature refers to the hereditary and genetic factors that impact who individuals are in regard to personality characteristics and physical appearance, among other aspects. On the other hand, nurture is the environmental variable that influences who people are, including their social relationships and early childhood experiences (McLeod, 2018). Most psychologists agree that both nature and nurture influence the development of people, and some seek to understand the extent to which they individually affect behavior and development. The problem is that both nature and nurture interact together to affect an individual’s development, and hence, seeking to understand the two separately can be problematic.

Twin studies have shed some light on the importance of nature and nurture. In the video of the identical twins that were separated at birth, it can be observed that the effects of nature were strong since they had some similar stories and behaviors despite the fact that they had grown in different environments (Strombo, 2007).  The video was, however, unclear on how different or similar their backgrounds were. Research shows that depression can be hereditary.

I have two friends who are siblings and were brought up in different environments. One grew up in an extremely poor and broken family where family violence and drug abuse were constant. The other one grew up in a rather decent family of middle-income earners. By the age of 19, the one from the broken home had been diagnosed with depression and had also been in and out of jail for a while due to delinquent behaviors. The other one has had a pretty healthy mental, physical, and social status. Their experience shows that the environment in which one grows can greatly influence their genetic predisposition.

The diathesis-stress model suggests that physical and mental disorders develop from a biological predisposition for the illness together with stressful conditions in the environment that play a facilitating or precipitating role (Colodro-Conde et al, 2018). Therefore, both nature and nurture are essential in the development of human beings.

 References

Colodro-Conde, L., Couvy-Duchesne, B., Zhu, G., Coventry, W. L., Byrne, E. M., Gordon, S., … & Martin, N. G. (2018). A direct test of the diathesis-stress model for depression. Molecular psychiatry, 23(7), 1590-1596.

McLeod, S. (2018). Nature vs nurture in psychology. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/naturevsnurture.html

Strombo. (2007). Identical Twins Separated at Birth. (YouTube video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

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In thinking about the nature versus nurture debate, explain why you think nature, nurture, or both has/have the strongest impact on development.

Nature vs. Nurture- Evaluating the Impact on Development Through Personal and Scholarly Perspectives

Include information from the video and scholarly resources to support your viewpoint. Please give specific examples from your development or the development of someone you know.
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