Nature verses Nurture

These two terms are banted about a bit in the media, yet do we really know what they are and how they interact?   Nature When we talk about nature in the field of behaviour we are not talking about someone's personality. So to say that someone has an angry nature, is a mixture of psychological terms that dose not make sense. But if a person is angry by nurture is a good use of the terminology. When talking about nature, we are talking about genotype, and phenotype. Nature is a hard thing for psychology to get a good grasp on. For instance there may well be a gene that dictates over anger, introversion, extraversion, consciousness, agreeableness, and openness. Though alas no scientific evidence for genes that control these traits.  The only scientific research that investigates the interaction of nature (ie. genes), within the environment are twin studies, where the twins live together and apart. In these types of researches, researchers can attempt to separate the impacts of the environment (ie. Nurture) from the influences of the genetic make up (Nature). Some have made statements that empathy is an innate behaviour that is governed by genes, and is bleach out of people through nurture.   Nurture Nurture refers to how one is raised and the environment, such as parents, peers, and teachers, also the media. Nurture is how we are nurtured in life. Thus if a person is shy by nature, it can be overcome by nurture. The next term is "Best fit" that creates the extremes. That means that if you have shy genes and live in an environment that promotes shyness, the outcome is an extremely shy person. Likewise aggression, cruelty, and all the personality you can think of will act the same way within the best fit combination. The vast majority of my postings talk mainly on nurture, because that is where change can happen.   Thus if there is a Nurture verses Nature argument occurs, one cannot have a full debate, because there is no real evidence for nature and an overwhelming evidence for nurture. As I was taught at UNI (University) it is a case of 100% Nurture and 100% Nature that is involved in personality creation.   Please have a look at older postings about what is considered to be innate behaviour.