Nature Vs Nurture

Notes

The concept of nature vs nurture asks a simple question, what affects us more? The education we received as children aka nurture, or our biology aka nature. On the one hand, it sounds like a question between our "software" - our ability to learn from our culture which grants us flexibility between generations, and our "hardware" - the genes we are born with that are fixed throughout our lives Fixed Mindset.

However, there is no sense of talking about "nature" and "nurture" as separated concepts, because both can be flexible and rigid, so this Binary Thinking is false.

1. How can genes be flexible - only a small subset of our genes are the actual behaviors that we tend to call as fixed, and most of our genes are instructions to when trigger a certain behavior depending on the environment and how we interact with it Genetic Switches. Meaning that Context is everything. These switches can be turned on or off depending on our habits, and some are even hereditary, meaning that the choices we make today can change not only how our DNA operates but also our children.
2. How culture can be rigid - We are not born with a Clean Slate, same as our genes, we are born into a specific Social Environment that shapes how we view the world. Some cultures have low tolerance for diversity, which means that we can't easily escape the norm and choose our own path. Despite it not being a hardcoded DNA, the forces of conformism can be as strong or even stronger than our DNA.

The bottom line in this debate is not which is more rigid or influential than the other, but rather can we be free ourselves from these influences? I believe so. Helplessness is not the right strategy. No matter your beliefs, you can change your destiny. While both culture and DNA are to an extent a measure of your Objectivity, you are also a spirit, a subject. you can escape the perceptions of your education and culture, and you can change your habits which will in reality change your genes. Life Embracing

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Overview

🔼Topic:: Human Nature (MOC) ◀Origin:: Behave (book) 🔗Link::