nature versus nurture
Genes or upbringing?
Nature versus nurture is the longstanding debate about whether human traits—intelligence, personality, behavior—are shaped primarily by genetics (nature) or by environment and upbringing (nurture).
The phrase frames these as opposing forces, though most contemporary thinking acknowledges both factors interact: The nature versus nurture question oversimplifies how genes and environment work together.
- behavioral geneticsStudy of inherited behavioral traits
- child developmentHow young people grow
- attachment theoryStudy of emotional bonds
- cognitive developmentAcquiring reasoning abilities over time
- twin studiesResearch comparing identical siblings
developmental psychology · heritability · debate · born this way · identity formation · tabula rasa · heredity · social psychology · environment · learned behavior · psychological traits · human development · biology · influence · genetic lottery · socialization · temperament · genetic predisposition
- Science Debatesclimate change, global warming, evolution debate, vaccine safety, creationism
- Family Resemblancespitting image, identical twins, look-alike, family resemblance, takes after
- false dilemmasfalse dilemma, false dichotomy, false choice, all or nothing, black-and-white thinking
- story tropesquest, hero's journey, plot twist, chosen one, red herring
- twinstwins, identical, fraternal, monozygotic, dizygotic
nature versus nurtureinteractionism
Theory of mutual social influence
epigenetics · nature and nurture · genetic determinism · nativism
nature versus nurturesystems thinking
Analyzing interconnected wholes
nature and nurture · contextualism · genetic determinism · false dichotomy · blank slate
nature, nurture, natural, naturally, unnatural, supernatural, naturalism, naturalist, naturalize