What Is Nature-Nurture Debate?

Nature-nurture debate is one of the most important debates in current century, which is concerned with the development of an entity. Nativists see development as arising from inherited factors, genetic structuring for example, whereas, empiricists considers the environmental factors most important in development.

Nature-nurture debate has crossed a significant psychological journey by emphasizing their corresponding role in the development, whereas, a more acceptable theory is about, interactionists, who claim that, it is through interaction of gene and environment, the development is possible. As there is a very few factors which can solely isolated under the shade of any one of them. For examples, we can say language is predominantly nurture factor, whereas, blood type is predominantly nature factor, but more importantly, height is an interactional factor.

Therefore it is quite evident, that we can't ignore any one by emphasizing the impact of only the other one, rather it can be said that the two sources are interconnected, do not work as opposing alternatives ~ so the interactional part among them should be considered as the focal point of interest.

Nature argues that a human/creature is born with certain psychological characteristics hard-wired into their brain, such as personality traits or some basic brain functions (like comprehension of color or music).

Nurture, on the other hand, argues that these characteristics are taught intentionally or learned subconsciously throughout life.

It is time to stop framing this as a dichotomy or a debate. We know now that the relationship between nature (genetics) and nurture (environment) is interactional, where both can influence the other. It is almost impossible, in many cases, to tease apart which is which, since both factors tend to produce the outcome.  And the outcome is often not static. There are of course, limitations because of our genetics. Some people, no matter what they are offered, won't be mathematics geniuses. But, we do know what not to do with children to try to maximize their genetic potential.

This debate is about the big importance regarding about a person's individual inner qualities, against personal experiences in determining against the factors regarding physical and behavioral traits in humans. They say the development of human's character and personality can be influenced by external factors like environmental factors, like peer influence and what they see on television or read from the web, may affect their mindset.