The concept of nature versus nurture is something that has been argued in psychology for a very long time.  This idea of nature versus nurture questions whether people’s personalities have to do with the way they are raised and the environment that they have grown up in, or if everyone is born a certain way.  Many different psychologists have argued both sides and each side has different evidence that support them.  Several studies have been done to test the theories and the consensus that has been reached by both sides is that it’s neither nature of nurture that determine your personality, it’s a mixture of both.  One or the other could be dominant for certain people, but for the most part they both affect the way your personality develops.

I know in my life, both nature and nurture have played a part in the development of my personality.  My personality is definitely a good mix of both of my parents, but I share a lot of the same traits with my mother.   We are both very careful and put a lot of thought into things before we do something.  We both share the same ideas and opinions because we think very similarly.  On the other hand, my father and I share some traits as well.  We are both very much “game heads” and extremely competitive and driven.  We work hard in everything we do until we get what we want.  Me having similar personalities to my parents is definitely nature.  Both of their personalities were passed to me through genetics, which supports the concept of nature.

Supporting the nurture side of it, there are definitely different events in my life that have influenced my personality and who I am today.  Different things have created fears that wouldn’t have been fears if the events hadn’t happened.  I am scared of squirrels, but I am also scared of being left by someone I love.  These two things are extremely different, but are fears because of different events that occurred in my life.  I am afraid of squirrels because when I was taking a walk in the woods once and a squirrel fell out of a tree right in front of me.  It flipped over at least 5 times and landed on its feet and starred right at me.  It scared me so much I actually ran away screaming.  The reason I am afraid of being left by someone I love is because of my parents getting a divorce.  They got a divorce when I was a sophomore in high school, so I grew up having two parents that loved each other and that loved me.  All of sudden, one day, that all changed.  My dad left my mom, which completely flipped my world upside down.  This is obviously a much more significant event than the one with the squirrel, but they both had an affect on my personality and my fears.   This supports the nurture side of the argument and helps show that both nature and nurture have played a role in my life.