Discusses the influence of heredity and environment on human behavior, emphasizing that nature and nurture are complementary, not opposing, forces. Explain that genes change through interaction with the environment, and that human behavior is the result of a combination of these two factors.
Philosophers and scientists have long wondered where human behavior comes from. The debate over whether human behavior is determined by genetics or the environment is still raging and far from settled. This debate is commonly described as nature versus nurture, or genetic determinism versus environmental determinism.
Genetic determinism argues that human behavior is determined by nature. The most fundamental essence of an organism is its genes, and human behavior is already programmed by them. Environmental determinism, on the other hand, emphasizes the importance of environmental influences on human behavior. It argues that the environment can change a person’s personality and that it is the environment that surrounds a person that shapes his or her culture. However, neither view is currently immune to opposing arguments.
In the midst of this fierce nature-nurture debate, Met Ridley’s Nature and Nurture offers a new perspective that goes beyond the two opposites. He argues that nature and nurture are not opposites, but rather complementary. He argues that nature and nurture are not opposites, but rather complementary. Met Ridley breaks the mold and looks at the debate from a more advanced and promising perspective. In this article, I’ll focus on the “nurture-nature” view, which describes the interaction between nature and nurture.
Before we begin, we need to revisit what we mean by nature and nurture. If nature refers to the inherent qualities of early humans, does it start with our DNA sequence, our genes? The question of where nature begins leads to the crucial debate of what counts as a human being, and therefore the meaning of the word nature is unclear. The same is true for nurture. Nurture means to take care of a child and make it grow. It could be argued that nurturing can start in the womb, before the child is even born. Where nurturing begins is also undeterminable. While the debate so far has presented nature and nurture as two opposites that correspond to their influence on human behavior, the meaning and boundaries between them are actually unclear. If the meaning of the two is unclear, even opinions about them can become blurred. For the purposes of this article, we’ll use nature as genes and nurture as everything else.
A gene is a particle that produces a trait and is the basic unit of genetic information. At birth, a normal baby inherits 23 chromosomes from each parent, each containing 20,000 to 25,000 genes. Genes determine traits and express those traits. They are created before our organs are in place. But the environment intervenes in the process of how the traits of those genes are expressed. In the process of making new cells and replicating genes, our bodies express genes that adapt to the physical environment. Even before our organs are created, genes are modified, created, and destroyed by the environment. During subsequent development, the body is always absorbing information from the environment outside the mother’s body, or from the environment outside the body, and adjusting its behavior and making changes accordingly. Therefore, it is not correct to say that a gene expresses its traits to the end in isolation from the environment. This means that nature is sensitive to and highly influenced by nurture.
Experiments on cross-breeding make this more concrete. Homogeneously bred rats have a consistent maze exploration behavior across species. This means that genes determine their behavior. However, with cross-breeding, the situation is interpreted differently. For example, if a rat pup of species A is cross-bred with a rat pup of species B, and the rat pup grows and is born in the womb of a rat mother of species B, the rat pup of species A will behave like the rat pup of species B that was raised. The environment in the womb changed the nature of the offspring. This suggests that genes, not the other way around, were shaped by the behavior of the parents in the environment.
Similarly, Harlow’s monkey experiments showed that monkeys have an innate preference for a certain kind of mother. However, when placed in a maternal deprivation situation, they are unable to fulfill this nature. For example, a female monkey who was raised with a mother doll made entirely of wire treated her offspring as callously as a giant flea when she later gave birth. The female monkey had an innate preference for warm mothers, but the coldness of her early life had been imprinted on her, and she saw herself as a mother made of wire. In this way, our surroundings and upbringing change our nature.
Not all human behavior can be attributed to the environment. Genes determine traits and are the basis of behavior. However, the genes do not remain unchanged. Human nature does not remain the same as it was at the beginning, but is influenced by the environment, which is why it is not possible to choose between nature and nurture. Nature and nurture are not mutually exclusive, but complementary. The nature of anything is opposed to its environment and it is difficult to explain it apart from its environment. Everything is shaped by its surroundings.
Humans place a lot of importance on education in their lives. This is because we subconsciously recognize the importance of upbringing and environment. Humans can be changed in unimaginable ways by their environment. But education is not about creating something new, it’s about practicing and developing the circuits that are already in our nature. We can’t ignore genetics. Genes are small, ruthless determinants, telling us predictable genetic information. But genes don’t exist in a vacuum, insensitive to external commands. They extract information from the environment, respond to it, change, and the genes that change are expressed.
Recent research has also shown that genes can be modified through interactions with the environment. For example, certain gene variants may only be expressed in stressful situations, showing how the environment can regulate the expression of genes. This suggests that nature and nurture do not exist independently, but are closely linked.
In this context, it is important to understand that human behavior and development is the result of a complex interaction between genetics and the environment. This understanding can lead to more effective approaches in a variety of fields, including education, psychotherapy, and social policy. For example, individualized education programs can be designed to take into account both a student’s genetics and environmental factors. Similarly, in psychotherapy, it is important to take into account both the patient’s genetic background and current environmental stresses.
Thus, nature and nurture are not opposing concepts, but rather complementary elements in understanding human behavior. Human behavior is the result of a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors, and understanding this complex interaction will lead to a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of human beings.
