Question

There has long been debate about the importance of “nature vs. nurture”. Is how we turn out (successful or not, fit or not, addicted or not) determined entirely by our genes (genetic determinism) or is our environment more important (the nurture part of nature vs. nurture)? How does our genetic make-up interact with our environment? (In your answer you should include a discussion of epigenetics and how it is at the intersection of “nature vs. nurture”). This is NOT an opinion question. Back up what you say with facts, and examples. The gist of this question centers around epigenetics.

Answer 1

• Nature is what we 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, life experiences and learning on an individual.
• The nature-nurture debate is concerned with the relative contribution that both influences make to human behaviour, such as personality, cognitive traits, temperament and psychopathology.
• Overall, genetics has more important  than parents do on shaping our personality. Molecular genetics is the study of which genes are associated with which personality traits. The largely unknown environmental influences, known as the nonshared environmental effects, have the largest impact on personality
• genes can influence an individual’s response to environmental stress, genes may enhance an individual’s sensitivity to both favorable and adverse environments, inherited characteristics may better fit with some environments than with others, and inherited capabilities may only become manifest in challenging or responsive environments. Further progress depends on better recognition of patterns of gene environment interaction, improved methods of assessing the environment and its impact on genetic mechanisms, the use of appropriately designed laboratory studies, identification of heritable differences in an individual before environmental moderation occurs, and clarification of the timing of the impact of social and genetic moderation.
• The environment can affect morphological and physiological development; in turn behavior develops as a result of that animal's shape and internal workings.