Aristotle believed that human beings gain everything they know through personal experiences. He developed this idea of empiricism, which most people will refer to as the nurture side of the Nature vs. Nurture debate. Besides looking nearly identical to my mom, I also act a lot like her. We share the same interests, ranging from what type of movies we want to watch to our favorite types of food to our views about the world. I believe that I adapted these preferences because that’s what I grew up around the most. We almost have the same clothing style. We have the same sense of humor.  We are both very interested in health and nutrition. We both enjoy cooking. We have the same love for shopping. We have similar tastes in music too. There are so many learned behaviors that I now possess because of the time I have spent with my mom.

On the other side of the spectrum, Plato and Socrates gave us the idea that behaviors and thoughts are inborn. They described this as nativism, which was the nature side of the debate. I believe this also has a strong effect on people. I think the way I handle my emotions is incredibly similar to the way my mom handles situations. We very rarely get angry. If we do, we just end up crying because we get so stressed out. However, my sister and my dad are both incredibly short-tempered. They are definitely yellers when they get frustrated. The two of them have also had to deal with depression, while my mom and I have never had to go through that. I believe that the ways my sister and I handle our emotions were completely genetic.

Obviously, both nativism and empiricism come into play with developing a person’s behavior. It’s difficult to pinpoint which traits are learned and which traits are innate. People change their behaviors daily. We don’t change drastically, but we are all constantly trying to be the person we aspire to be. We observe the people around us, and we may begin to pick up their admirable traits as our own. We can never completely alter who we were born as though because, as we all know, some things just can’t change.