Global InformationNature versus nurture information
Nature versus nurture is a long-standing debate in biology and society about the relative influence on human beings of their genetic inheritance (nature) and the environmental conditions of their development (nurture). The alliterative expression "nature and nurture" in English has been in use since at least the Elizabethan period[1] and goes back to medieval French.[2] The complementary combination of the two concepts is an ancient concept (Ancient Greek: ἁπό φύσεως καὶ εὐτροφίας).[3] Nature is what people think of as pre-wiring and is influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological factors. Nurture is generally taken as the influence of external factors after conception e.g. the product of exposure, experience and learning on an individual.
The phrase in its modern sense was popularized by the Victorian polymath Francis Galton, the modern founder of eugenics and behavioral genetics when he was discussing the influence of heredity and environment on social advancement.[4][5][6] Galton was influenced by On the Origin of Species written by his half-cousin, the evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin.
The view that humans acquire all or almost all their behavioral traits from "nurture" was termed tabula rasa ('blank tablet, slate') by John Locke in 1690. A blank slate view (sometimes termed blank-slatism) in human developmental psychology, which assumes that human behavioral traits develop almost exclusively from environmental influences, was widely held during much of the 20th century. The debate between "blank-slate" denial of the influence of heritability, and the view admitting both environmental and heritable traits, has often been cast in terms of nature versus nurture. These two conflicting approaches to human development were at the core of an ideological dispute over research agendas throughout the second half of the 20th century. As both "nature" and "nurture" factors were found to contribute substantially, often in an inextricable manner, such views were seen as naive or outdated by most scholars of human development by the 21st century.[7][8][9][10][11]
The strong dichotomy of nature versus nurture has thus been claimed to have limited relevance in some fields of research. Close feedback loops have been found in which nature and nurture influence one another constantly, as seen in self-domestication. In ecology and behavioral genetics, researchers think nurture has an essential influence on the nature of an individual.[12][13] Similarly in other fields, the dividing line between an inherited and an acquired trait becomes unclear, as in epigenetics[14] or fetal development.[15]
- ^ In English at least since Shakespeare (The Tempest 4.1: a born devil, on whose nature nurture can never stick) and Richard Barnfield (Nature and nurture once together met / The soule and shape in decent order set.); in the 18th century used by Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (Roach v. Garvan, "I appointed therefore the mother guardian, who is properly so by nature and nurture, where there is no testamentary guardian.")
- ^ English usage is based on a tradition going back to medieval literature, where the opposition of nature ("instinct, inclination") norreture ("culture, adopted mores") is a common motif, famously in Chretien de Troyes' Perceval, where the hero's effort to suppress his natural impulse of compassion in favor of what he considers proper courtly behavior leads to catastrophe. Lacy, Norris J. (1980) The Craft of Chrétien de Troyes: An Essay on Narrative Art, Brill Archive, p. 5.
- ^ In Plato's Protagoras 351b; an opposition is made by Protagoras' character between art on one hand and constitution and fit nurture (nature and nurture) of the soul on the other, art (as well as rage and madness; ἀπὸ τέχνης ἀπὸ θυμοῦ γε καὶ ἀπὸ μανίας) contributing to boldness (θάρσος), but nature and nurture combine to contribute to courage (ἀνδρεία). "Protagoras, despite of the misgiving of Socrates, has no scruple in announcing himself a teacher of virtue, because virtue in the sense by him understood seems sufficiently secured by nature and nurture." Mackay, Robert W. 1869. "Introduction to the 'Meno' in comparison with the 'Protagoras'." Pp. 133–50 in Plato's Meno: A Dialogue on the Nature and Meaning of Education. London: Williams and Norgate. p. 138.
- ^ Galton, Francis (1875). "On Men of Science, their Nature and their Nurture". Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. 7: 227–236.
- ^ Galton, Francis (1895). English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture. D. Appleton. p. 9.
Nature versus nurture galton.
- ^ Moore, David (2003). The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of "Nature Vs. Nurture". Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 9780805072808.
- ^ Moore, David S. [2002] 2003. The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of 'Nature Vs. Nurture'. US: Henry Holt. ISBN 978-0805072808. ASIN 0805072802.
- ^ Esposito, E. A., E. L. Grigorenko, and Robert J. Sternberg. 2011. "The Nature–Nurture Issue (an Illustration Using Behaviour-Genetic Research on Cognitive Development)." In An Introduction to Developmental Psychology (2nd ed.), edited by A. Slater and G. Bremner. British Psychological Society Blackwell. p. 85.
- ^ Dusheck, Jennie (October 2002). "The Interpretation of Genes". Natural History. Vol. 111, no. 8. p. 52.
- ^ Carlson, N. R. et al. 2005. Psychology: the science of behaviour (3rd Canadian ed.). Pearson. ISBN 0-205-45769-X.
- ^ Ridley, M. 2003. Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, & What Makes Us Human. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-200663-4.
- ^ Powledge, Tabitha M. (August 2011). "Behavioral Epigenetics: How Nurture Shapes Nature". BioScience. 61 (8): 588–592. doi:10.1525/bio.2011.61.8.4.
- ^ Normile, Dennis (February 2016). "Nature From Nurture". Science. 351 (6276): 908–910. doi:10.1126/science.351.6276.908. PMID 26917750.
- ^ Moore, David S. (2015). The Developing Genome: An Introduction to Behavioral Epigenetics (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199922345.
- ^ Hannay, Timo. 2014. "Nature Versus Nurture | What Scientific Idea is Ready for Retirement?" Edge. Edge Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 21 June 2020.