Interaction of Nature and Nurture

Most psychologists today agree that not only does both heredity and the environment play a role in the development of personality, but also that these two interact to influence the development of personality.

A person's temperament is formed both by genes and environment. Researchers state that the continuity and discontinuity of temperament is resulted from the interaction between the inherited characteristics of the individual and the environment. They especially believe that in order to have a healthy development, there must be a goodness of fit between the individual's temperament and the home environment. When parents of a difficult child give him/her a happy, comfortable and stable home life, the child's negative behaviors will improve as he/she grows older.

Most behavioral traits are multifactorial, which means they depend on more than one genetic or environmental factor. Even from the moment of birth, biological factors and environmental factors are interacting to form a person's personality. Parents not only pass on their genes to their offspring, but also provides them with a home environment to live in, both of which are results of the parents' genes. There is a correlation between the child's inherited characteristics, which is called genotype, and the environment. Here is an example to illustrate. Intelligent parents will have a higher chance of giving birth to intelligent children. At the same time, intelligent parents will be more likely to provide their children with a good learning environment, one which is intellectually stimulating, by teaching their children themselves and giving them books, lessons, activities and so on.

Produced for Thinkquest Internet Challenge 2000.

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