Nature or Nurture

[Raisa]

The word on the street is that our personalities are the way they are by

50% nurture. That is how you have adapted to your environment, and how the things around you in your life have effected who you are...

and 50% nature, meaning half of your personality traits you were already born with.

Now I think, that the raito is more like 75% environment and 25% genetics make you who you are.
Even if we were 50/50 I think who you HAVE to be in life over rides who you are alittle bit. Maybe even 25%.
If you were a nice temepered baby and then you live somewhere where you have to kick someones ass if they disrespect you or everyone will walk all over you and kick your ass, and you turn into an ass kicker that cant be looked at, that is who you learn to be. Maybe you dont HAVE to be that way ,but youve been convinced you do. And as a result that agressiveness is now a part of your personality.

Then there is how you are treated based on your temperment that I theorize influences how your personality is.
This is kind of like environment but for some reason I almost consider this a third element here.
You are a loud noisy ass baby! And eventually you turn into a loud noisy ass three year old. You just cant shut up and eventually you tire the hell out of your family and they start resenting you even if they dont quite show it, and they treat you alot more like a chore then a child. Suppose you feel that in order to get their attention you have to do something so bad, because they have gotten used to your loud mouth so much allready that is is like whispering to them. So you got to do something bad. You have developed this concept subcontiously based on the way they treat you as a result of your naturally loud temperment. And delinquency becomes part of your personality because you were a difficult baby and your family didnt really know how to deal with it or anything.

All this is just me theorizing over here.

Either way, I think environment influences us more then genetics.

Genetics-schmenetics!

what about you?

[commiecrusader]

I think the vast majority of how we act is determined by our environment. Traits that appear genetic since they are the same as mum/dad I think our probably just adopted through primary socialisation when young. The evidence is clear that without this, people ended up pretty messed up to say the least:

http://www.feralchildren.com/en/index.php

I think genes may have a tiny impact, in that there is proof that people's genetics
can make them more vulnerable to problems such as depression etc. But I think probably 90% of our personalities are defined by how we are socialised, in the primary stages when young, and the secondary socialisation that occurs throughout life.

This idea makes better sense from an evolutionary perspective as well, since people are going to be more likely to survive/co-exist properly if our personalities are changeable and determined by external factors, since this makes us more likely to get on with other people in a 'tribe' and not just those in the immediate family with the same genetics.

[Zingu]

I've had quite a number of Communists in my family; could this be a recessive genetic trait?! :D

[ComradeChris]

Originally posted by [email protected] 31 2005, 09:24 AM
I've had quite a number of Communists in my family; could this be a recessive genetic trait?! :D
Could that be your environment though? See I don't know how you can defer the two. If you have nice parents, grandparents, etc, and came out nice, you can't tell whether it is nature or nurture unless you separated the family. I'm part of the group who believe it's 50/50.