Nature vs Nurture, that’s the question. Nature shows how genetics and our parents shape us while on the other side nurture shows us what our surroundings do to shape us as people. In society, we are either shaped more or less by one of the two. This essay will go into depth about an opinionated stance for one. Nurture shapes us more than nurture. This is because in society racism is not a genetic trait.
To make an opinionated stance about nature and nurture we need to go into depth about what each of them really means. Firstly, nature refers to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are, these can include our physical appearance or our personality characteristics. On the other hand, nurture refers to all of the environmental causes that impact who we are, these include our early childhood experiences, the way was raised, and our surrounding culture. Now that we know a little bit about each, we can make an opinionated approach.
Nurture is a better influence on the topic of racism. When a human being is born into this world were a blank slate, emotions, biases, and prejudices are all blank. As we grow up we learn what is wrong and what is right through our personal encounters. From the words of Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton Ph.D. “The genius of babies lies in their ability to detect subtle patterns in their environment, and to use this information to direct attention to the new stuff out there– the stuff that they are likely to learn the most from precisely because it’s new and full of wonder. But this instinct doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it interacts with parental lessons that give social meaning to the new stuff.” This statement from Mr. Mendoza-Denton shows how babies take in information that will shape their opinions on things later in life. The statement also proves my point to the fact that all people no matter where you are from could be entirely different depending on where they were raised.
However, what makes nature a better influencer? Nature ties directly to our gene line and how our parents and their parents were. When we’re born it’s not crazy to think that we might tend to be more aggressive or regressive depending on our mother or father. Felix Day from Cambridge University presents some great points on this in his article. He says, “The idea that there might be a genetic component of personality is not something that people have particularly looked at before is due to genetic factors, which likely act through a variety of biological mechanisms, many of which influence either physical traits, such as puberty timing, or personality characteristics, such as risk-taking propensity,” The words that Mr. Day shares with his audience show us that genetic factors can help deter a person down one path or another. Mr day also says, “Previous research by the team found that entering puberty at an earlier age was linked to increased long-term risks for diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.” This last piece of information shows that genetic factors that influence the time that adolescents enter puberty. He begins explaining that this increase of early puberty can lead to “long-term risk for diabetes, heart disease, and ETC.” to conclude this counter-argument, this side of nature is extremely informative and can disprove nurture just as well as the vice-versa.
Society shapes us in different ways that can influence our characteristics. Our gene biology and the racism that was surrounded by at a young age both influence a human being in their own respective ways. The parallel to both nature and nurture can be summarized in short. If you believe that racism is something that can be influenced by how were are taught or who were born too. To conclude I leave on these final words if you were to raise your child in a place where segregation is accepted or shunned which on would you think that would influence that child’s future behavior.
