Nuture: The Logical Answer

            In the debate of nature versus nurture, nurture is the more logical answer because the complex attributes of the personality cannot be inherited, and not all children are mirror images of their parents.

            One side of the debate is the nature theory. We can obviously see that physical characteristics, like facial features and hair color, are inherited. However, the nature theory states that humans acquire their personality traits or abilities, such as being a thrill seeker, being talented at singing, or even their sexual orientation, exclusively from their parents by birth. When a human being’s personality is spawned solely from nature, every person would be born with predetermined abilities, likes and dislikes, and even some prejudices.

            The other side of the debate is the nurture theory. It does not doubt that nature plays the role in developing our bodies. However, the nurture theory says that the human personality is formed, mostly during the opportune window of impressionability in the early stages of life, by the environment in which we were raised, along with the people around us. During the ages 0-2, the personality is formed, and the window of impressionability is thrown wide open for the child to absorb information from their parents and the environment around them. When a human being is born, they are, according to the nurture theory, a blank slate on which the parents and environment of the child will form a personality.

            The nurture theory can be easily proved by the study of two women who were identical twins. Their genes are exact replicas. For example, one project was initiated by Viola Bernard, a renowned psychiatrist in New York, who had persuaded the adoption agency to send each twin to a different family. Peter Neubauer, a prominent psychiatrist at New York University, studied the twins to compare the forces of nature and nurture. His research showed that they were not born with any of the traits of their schizophrenic mother, but each had particular strengths and likes of their own. One lived alone, dyed her straight hair a dark, golden brunette and was a fiery spirit. The other was married with a baby, favored her lightened red curls and was easy-going and relaxed. Although they were born with one hundred percent of the same DNA, they each developed unique personalities and qualities when reared apart.

            My theory in this debate, which I have named the “canvas” theory, is similar to the “blank-slate” theory, which says that nature does not play any role in personality development and humans are born simply blank with no knowledge of anything. The canvas theory says that there’s a little of both nature and nurture playing a part in the development of personalities, but nurture is the more dominant factor. Now, imagine an infant's personality as a blank canvas. The canvas has a textured sheet and a wooden structure on the inside. The texture of the canvas, which is used to hold paint more efficiently, is the genes that control learning capacity and speed, along with natural instincts that all humans inherit. The wooden structure, which keeps the canvas sheet stretched and flat, is their memory. Differences in the way it was “built” by their parents determines the quality of the information a child will obtain and how long it will be preserved in their brains.

            The scientific argument over nature and nurture has been baffling psychologists and geneticists for years. However, with the study of these twins, who were reunited recently, the nurture theory shines through. Although nature plays a part in the learning structures of our brains, it is proven that people are products of their environment. When our canvas is set, when paint is splayed and splattered across our surface, and when we are set on display for the world, our colors express each of us uniquely and differently from our siblings, our friends, and our parents. We shine as individuals, with all humans resembling snowflakes; all made of delicate ice crystals, but each one separately and inimitably constructed.