Blog #1 - The Nature vs Nurture Debate

Each person's behavior is influenced by nature, one's DNA or biological makeup (psychology), and nurture, all of one's continual external influences (sociology). Thinking about the following aspects of a person, decide whether each is better influenced by nature or nurture and why.After considering each of these factors, discuss whether you think nature or nurture is a bigger factor in influencing one's personality and behavior and why? What factors weigh so heavily on this debate and how do you think we could possibly learn more from it?

-Eye color is created by genetics. You can't change your actual eye color from "nurture," but people can get colored contacts.

-Height is also genetics. It's not up to you how tall you are unless you want to go through crazy amounts of leg surgeries.

-Intelligence is both nature and nurture. I believe that, while you are born with the skills to grasp and retain information, what you do with these abilities is completely up to you.

-Weight- Is both nature and nurture. Some things, like a thyroid problem, can't be helped while other things, like what you eat and how often you exercise, is up to you. 

-Risk taking is one of those weird things that some people claim is a nature issue and some believe is a nurture problem.

-Profession: What your profession is is sometimes a nature issue (born athletically "gifted), but it is also a combination of what you have learned about in life and what interests you. 

-Athletic Ability is a skill that you can have running in your family, like a height advantage for basketball, but can also be taught, like learning how to throw a curve ball. It depends on the person and situation.

-Smoking is nurture. It is something that society tells you is okay to do. Whether that be your parents smoking, friends, or something on TV, it's not something in your DNA.

-Music Ability like Athletic Ability, can be both nature and nurture. Learning to play an instrument takes an extreme amout of time and concentration, but you can be born with a good singing voice or with, for example, long thin fingers to play the piano.

-Violent Behavior is really debatable. I think that it is more affected by nurture, or the environment a person is raised in, what they watch on TV, and who they associate themselves with. Some people, however, can be "born bad", or just be born horrible people. 

-Heart Disease is something that can be a genetic condition, or that can be caused by ingesting bad foods.

-Mental Illness is both nature and nurture because you can be born with a mental illness or you can cause a mental illness by abuse to drugs.

-Humor  is something that is nurture because you learn jokes and certain behaviors that are more positive or negative.

-Interest in Math & Science OR Arts & Humanities is nature.

-Skilled ability to perform in Math/Science OR Art/Humanities NATURE

I think that Nurture affects how people behave more than Nature because, when you are born with a certain condition, deficiency, mental illness, physical illness, or personality trait, certain steps can be made to teach you how to behave differently, cut an addiction, heal an illness, or live comfortably. I think that in modern society, nurture can change the way that people are much more then it used to in the past. Technology, the large amount of people in the Psychology field, and access to cutting edge drugs change how people behave. In my opinion, people used to be much more affected by how they were born, their genetic deformities, and their families then they are now. Our easy access to the rest of the world changes what we believe, what we think, and how we think it.