Nature versus nurture

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

Which do you think is more important to a childs development nature or nurture ?

Discuss !!

NB - I am scouting for ideas for an essay, I have my plan all sorted and have written most of it but I am looking for alternative ideas to those cited in standard books I will reference the site if I use anything

[Clara]

The more I think about it the more confused I get.....

Presumably you mean "nature" as the inherent genetically-inherited characteristics, thereby the stuff they get from their parents whereas "nurture" is the input they receive externally, mostly from their errrrrm parents! See my point? How can you distinguish which is which, apart from doing weird experiments with twins or children brought up in care

I think more than anything its important to practise mindful parenting, being aware of your own falabilties and how they might be inherited OR impressed upon your children....and to remember that no one is perfect and also the inevitability of that famous Larkin poem.....

"they f*ck you up, yer mum and dad".

[Milims]

If my son is anything to go by - no matter how hard you nurture them you can't overshadow the nature! We are having a real problem with what could be a personality disorder - ie nature and no matter how much we work with him - nurture - we don't seem to be able to get round it!
I believe that there are certain elements of ones "make-up" which shine thru no matter how much you do to divert them - if that's the right way of putting it.

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

exactly - nature is seen as your genetic make up - non changeable wheres nurture is seen as environment, diet etc and is changeable

two 'intelligent' people can produce a gentically intelligent child but the childs environment is starved that intelligence is meaningless, equally two'less able' people can produce a 'less able' child but with an enriched environment they can achieve more

personally I find some of the course and theories offensive and stereotyping at its worst - and will say so in my work

[Milims]

Funnily enough such a debate came up in my english literature A level over 20 years ago! We were studying the Tempest and the question came up about Caliban the deformed, bad tempered, despised prodgeny of the witch Sycorax, who could on the other hand be really quite nice! Might be worth looking at to add a little fuel to your fire!! lol

[Chickenlady]

I wrote this essay a zillion years ago when I did psychology A level. At the time I had no kids and agreed with the 80/20 nurture/nature argument - I truly believed that how you were brought up would have more impact than your genes.

Then I had children - 3 of them - and from the outset they had their own personalities and characteristics. I don't think their upbringing has been all that different, although obviously it is different - they don't have identical experiences and I don't respond to them in the same way, as they are different people. DD1 looks like neither of us and has a personality just like my older sister. DD2 is so like her dad in looks, character and general ability it is amazing. DD3 is rather like me (poor kid).

I am now convinced that genes account for at least 50% of who we become, if not more. So many of my children's traits I can see are inherited - I know I cannot say this for sure as they could have been learned, but how come they didn't all learn these?

[Merry]

I have twins - and their nurture was as similar as can be - but they are like chalk and cheese!
One academic, one non-exam.
One laconic, one chatty.
One supercool, one uber-emotional.
One atheist, one Christian.

And they are estranged - in that they don`t even swap Birthday cards.

I love them both very much indeed and just hope they don`t fall out at my funeral one day.

Although, by the nature of them, one would fall out and the other would give a dry chuckle!

[Wombat]

Likewise our two girls, not twins but very different even though less than 2 years apart. Same upbringing - two different shielas!

Nev

[Thomzo]

Personally, I don't think you can generalise and say 80% this or 50% that. Some children, by their very nature, will respond more to nurture than others.

The author Paul Britton discusses this in his book about the psycology of serial killers "Picking up the pieces". He asks why, when so many children are badly abused by their parents, do so few of them turn out evil themselves?

Adopted children can provide a great insight into this question. How do their beliefs differ from those of their adopted parents?

Cheers
Zoe

[hamster]

I'm sure those of you who have actually studied this properly will know more about this, but wasn't there a study published quite recently that birth order has quite a significant effect as well? I'll see if I can dig out the newspaper articles on it.

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

birth order, diet, socio economic factors, environmental factors, parental involvement there are lots of aspects cited as influencing intelligence, most text books seem to forget self will - self determination to overcome both nurture and nature and 'suceed' - this will form the basis of my conclusion - all the theories are crap as they don't take into consideration self will !!

[Stonehead]

I'd shorten it down to...

all the theories are crap

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

they often tut tut me in a lecture because I rip into these absurd ideas that are responsible for shaping schooling and social policy - I think they will be glad to see the back of me

[mrsflibble]

I would prefer to think of myself more as a product of nurture than nature. my mum does not come from good genetic stock so to speak lol!!

Also, I like to think tht it's my influence that will inevitably shape sophie into a responsible, happy individual.

I have complimented Jim's parents on him before now; he's just an all round fabby bloke: gets his bodging skills from his dad and was domesticated by his mum lol!

[mauzi]

Welsh Girls Allotment - sounds like you have a good handle on this situation to me. Needs more like you out there.