Nature’s theories against nurture have wasted a lot of human energy. Plato is considered to be the first to realize that you are made not only of flesh but also of an intellectual soul.
The problem may be much older …
In Greek mythology, when the gods created man, they endowed him with divinity. However, the man began to challenge them. They feared his potentials and decided to deprive him of power.
“Where to hide the divinity?” was the big question
They considered frozen mountain heights, shining star boundaries, and wells in the earth. But all places were accessible to the capabilities of man.
So they decided to hide it inside the man himself.
Since then, man has been climbing icy mountains. He has sailed in deep seas. It has crossed the moon. Their machines have even touched Mars. But he is still searching for his “lost paradise”.
Man, it’s inside of you!
Now they call it personality. It is “scientific” to ask how it arises. Is it heritable? It is natural. Is it the result of the environment? Do you have any will to change your behaviors or are you obliged to follow the dictates?
Nature versus nurture theories focus on these issues. New discoveries in the genome and quantum physics have reignited the debate. By the way, the more they discover, the more they baffle. The abstraction continues to intensify.
How to define theories of nature versus nurture
There are three different schools of thought.
1- Personality is natural
This group believes that their personality is the result of an evolutionary process. It inherits behaviors due to the complex interaction of genes. They control their behaviors. So you have no free will to act otherwise.
2- The personality is nurtured
This group argues that you do not inherit your personality. Your mind is a blank slate at birth. It is their environment, education, and culture that shape their behaviors. There are differences on the subject of “free will” to change your behaviors.
3- Personality is spiritual
This group claims that their personality is not the result of nature or upbringing. It is a gift from some deity. They are divided on the subject of “free will.”
Theories of nature versus nurture and evolutionary psychology
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Darwin’s theory of evolution led William Hamilton, George Williams, and many others to the idea of ​​personality evolution. They proposed that, like physical organs, your personality is the result of natural selection for the survival of the fittest. Do what your genes dictate.
They suggest that fear of death, fear of injury, fear of snakes, shyness, addiction, criminality, and sexual orientation are prime examples of heritable behaviors. Steven Pinker (2004) includes religiosity, liberalism, and conservatism on the list. William Paley considers cognitive abilities, temperaments, and deceptive behaviors inheritable.
However, there are strong criticisms of this approach.
1- There is no single universal behavior that can be shown to be evolutionary. Even the fear of death, which seems natural to everyone, is nullified in crusades, suicides and suicide bombings.
2- You are made up of 25,000 to 30,000 genes. They are simply twice the number of a fruit fly. Chimpanzees share 95% of their genetic characteristics. However, they do not share even 10% of their behaviors.
3- People do not differ in behaviors, since they do differ in skin pigments. Extroverts, introverts, optimists, pessimists, criminals, liberals, etc. they are found in all societies and cultures. Even identical twins (with 100% similar genes) and fraternal twins (with 50% similar genes) behave differently in most cases.
4- No genome scientist has related genes or a set of genes with some type of behavior.
5- There is a good number of living and fossil organisms that suggest intermediate stages to physical evolution. However, no such intermediate stages are available for personality evolution.
Theories and physics of nature versus nurture
Discoveries in physics have always given new meat to theories of nature versus nurture. Newton and Einstein’s conclusions helped people believe that future events can be predicted with the help of true knowledge of matter and natural laws. This led psychologists to suggest that their future behaviors may be predetermined. The whole mechanism of psychometry follows this hypothesis.
However, quantum physics has completely changed the situation. The evidence shows that two (almost) simultaneous measurements of observables cannot be made correctly. For instance:
1- Position and moment of a particle
2- Position and direction of a particle
3- Time and frequency of a sound wave
4- Wavelength and magnitude of a sound wave
The list goes on …
Quantum physics has shaken determinism. So much so that scientists have the motto “Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle”, which challenges any physical event to be accurately predicted in time and space.
Do you think the particles are too small to affect large events?
Reconsider this.
What if Hitler had died in his young age from cancer, which can occur with a slight genetic mutation?
Theories and reality of nature versus nurture
“What was the first cause?” Aristotle had asked centuries before
The universe has been shown not to be the result of an infinite series of collaborative causes and events. There was a first event; the Big Bang just 13.7 billion years ago. What was its cause?
There can only be two answers:
1- There was no previous cause, or
2- There was a first Causer
When you affirm the first statement, you accept that there may be other events that have no precedent causes. The birth of the personality is one of them.
However, if you agree with the second statement, then you are on the side of the spiritual school of thought.
What about the environment?
It plays a very important role in carrying out their behaviors. However, any behavior you acquire is modifiable. Second, it’s not just your environment that influences you, the reverse is also true. You can count hundreds of names that influenced their environments, cultures, and societies.
The best advice is to believe in your personality. Use your free will to develop and refine your behaviors. Use all the abilities to collect small successes on a daily basis to build a bigger one in the future. Your way of thinking and your style of doing will determine your destiny.
In the meantime, let nature’s counsels versus parenting theories continue their confusing debates.