It’s in my Nature…4-1-10
A.B.
The nature versus nurture debate has been long argued between scientists, and common people dating
back to Galileo’s time. Every time a new feral child is found, sparks fly regarding this topic; however,
neither side gains any ground. Both nature and nurture have their own valid arguments; however, most
evidence concerning twin studies, feral or wild children, and neurological studies point to nurture being
the biggest factor of the development of children.
Parents today often blame the nature of the child whenever the child displays bad behavior or strange
habits. The main source of evidence to prove or disprove this theory is through twin studies because
each of the twins has the exact same genetic material. This allows for any differences to arise to be
completely blamed on the nurturing of the child. Some use the fact that twins have been proven to have
similar personalities and intelligence scores to defend the idea that nature has more to do with the
outcome of the child than nature (Wikipedia); however, in recent studies this seems to prove the exact
opposite. All of the major differences observed in the twins help prove that the nurture of the child is in
fact to blame. Furthermore, a recent study has been conducted in Morocco that would more completely
conclude that genes have very little to do with how a person grows into adulthood (Certain Genes…).
This study done by the North Carolina State University prove that up to one third of the genes in the
human genome can be turned off and on according the person’s environment. This is breakthrough
because it shows that the very nature of humans can be changed through environmental conditions. The
scientists took 46 Moroccan Berbers from different areas of the country and studied the gene
expression of the white blood cells. They took Moroccans because they have very similar genetic
makeup as a result of the isolation from other races that these people have lived in. The scientists used
the most recent tools in order to characterize the sequence of 23,000 human genes and compared them
to one another (eurekalert). Their evidence supported the idea that distinct different ways of living
causes one to have a different nature than another of the similar genetic makeup.
Feral children are one of the strongest points that are brought up by those who support the nurture
over nature idea. This is not only because they provide the most extreme cases in lack of human contact,
but they often display both behavioral and physical attributes that separate them from the average
person. They show an interesting and controversial view of how humans act without the conditioning of
other humans. Both behavioral and physical attributes that are abnormal have been documented. These
files show not only when and where the feral children were found, but also how they were treated later
in attempts to disprove the Critical Period hypothesis. Documents show that the disposition of the
children often varied from aggressive and wolf-like to gentle and bird-like depending on the type of
animal that had been taking care of the child from a young age (10 Modern Cases…). The most studied
case would be that of Genie, who a movie was made out of called Mocking Bird Don’t Sing. Genie was a
girl who had experienced the most minimal human contact ever recorded in history. Since the age of
two until the age of fourteen she had been kept in a room with nothing but a potty chain and a straight
jacket/crib. She had not been taught to speak and could not thereafter, proving the Critical Period
theory. On top of that, she proved that when not nurtured, a child will return to a more animal-like
behavior as shown in her habit to bite and scratch herself whenever she became angry and inability to
learn basic house rules (The Case of Genie). This case above all proves the correlation of upbringing to a
child’s final personalities and behaviors in the most extreme way.
Neurological studies show that children are more affected by nurturing than human nature, shown in
both the person’s actions and reactions and observations of the their behaviors. It has been shown that
children have a Critical Period or a stage when they learn the most the fastest by observation. In this
time period, they not only adopt the actions and reactions of the caretaker, but also the language and
the physical attributes. One of the most recently documented cases is that of Shamdeo, a boy raised by
wolves. His skin color and density, finger nails, teeth, diet, and companionship with dogs were all
examples of his transformation (10 Modern Cases…). Unless the physical attribute is extremely different
from that of their original body structure, it is shown that children will quickly adapt that quality.
Otherwise, it may take them a couple of months or years to gain this trait. The case of Virgil, a man who
had major cataracts since his early childhood, shows the extent to which the conditions that one lives in
cause the person to act, react, and behave. In his case, he was not able to learn as quickly as he could
have before as a result of his disability. He had different neurological results than what most people
proved to have in that his mind reacted in particular ways in different situations. It was also shown that
he had certain times when he could see clearly as though he didn’t have the cataracts in the first place
(accessexcellence). This only seemed to occur when he felt he was under no stress illustrating that even
current environment can make a difference in the function and thought process of the person,
regardless of age.
There are several different reasons that people tend to drift towards the nature side. The traditional
“like father like son” is the most obvious of these. In this, it can be said that the child only observed
those characteristics from the parent and therefore gained these points in their personality. Another
point people bring up would be IQ, which is mostly correlated through the siblings at 0.6 and twins at
0.74 (Wikipedia). This number only includes twins within the same home. Psychologists have been
arguing that since twins are usually brought up in the exact same way as seen in the similar dress they
wear and names, this would cause them to have similar IQ’s because of the little differentiation
between the two. This sometimes occurs with regular siblings because they were also raised in the same
circumstances. Though it is true that there are some exceptions, studies show that children with abusive
parents are also much more likely to be abusive themselves (Hidden Bruises). This too can be traced
back to the parent’s influence. On top of that, people are now trying to blame their crimes on genes in
order to get out of judgment. This proves that the nature vs. nurture debate is not only moral, but
political as well (environmentalet).
Everything in the nature vs. nurture debate can be wrapped up in three different categories: genetic
information vs. developmental process, instinct vs. learning, and history vs. environment
(environmentalet). For all these reasons and more, people blame the nature of the child when any
rebellion shows; however when the child does something unusually good, they say that it was “from
their mother” or something similar. Doesn’t that seem hypocritical? With all this in mind, most of the
concrete facts point to nurture being the residing factor over the end result of the person.
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