Nature vs Nurture once again

[marinav]

School has only been in session for a week and a half and already I've taken part in several nurture vs. nature debates with classmates. I'm amazed at how many think of genes only in terms of predisposition to disease or motor development. In other words, they tend to lean toward the "tabula rasa" concept (which has been shattered by science far

Comments

[karl_with_a_k]

I think people don't like the idea of DNA being the primary factor in determining behavior since it implies that they can't really change or improve themselves no matter how hard they try.

I remember reading some article a long time ago that compared various aspects of personality and temperament of children to their parents and siblings. The interesting part was that these matched much more closely when the children were still living at home, but then diverged greatly after moving out. That makes me think that personality and temperament can be shaped by the environment much like foam, but also like foam, they are prone to spring back to their natural states when the environmental pressure is no longer as strongly present.

[marinav]

That's an interesting way of putting it. Parents can restrict behavior as necessary, but once the kids grow up and leave home, the restrictions are looser, more society based (such as rules about stealing, cheating, and so on) thus allowing the person to be him/herself. Some traits are very difficult to constrain, however, and some kids end up getting in trouble because of them over and over again, no matter how hard the parents try to constrain them. It's sad that in such cases the parents often blame themselves