It has been long debated whether a person’s personality is determined more through nativism or empiricism, nature or nurture.  These terms date back to the ancient Greek philosophers:  Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  Socrates and Plato believed in nativism and Aristotle in empiricism.  Most early psychologists thought only one or the other to be the determiner of any person’s personality, but now we know that both play important roles in developing anyone’s character.  In most people, however, either nature or nurture seems to take a more overwhelming role in the creation of personality.

In my life, nurture seems to have been a stronger determiner of character than has nature.  I say this because I had a very different personality in my early childhood than I do now.  As a young boy I was very outgoing and always wanted to be the center of attention.  This gradually changed to until I became what I am today, someone who fixes to stay out of the spotlight and keep to himself.  My nature was to have a big personality, but through experiences in my childhood I was changed.

These changes occurred when, as a child, I went slightly too far in my openness, compared to the opinions of those around me.  I could say that my family taught me to be less outgoing, but none of these “teachings” were voluntary.  Usually the instances consisted of me saying something slightly offensive and my parents and siblings acting as if I had caused some sort of catastrophic disaster.  As a young and very impressionable child I took being outgoing to be bad behavior and thus slowly did away with it in my life.

Now I can look back and see that my parents were just embarrassed with my behavior and this embarrassment was then copied by my siblings, who then sought to share this humiliation with me in order to get me to stop.  The cessation however didn’t end with just one incident, it stopped my openness all together.