Nature Vs Nurture Essay: A Complete Guide

Nature vs. nurture is a debate that has been prevalent since the dawn of medical advancements. It is an argument between human psychology and biology. It presents both sides of the debate by giving argumentative points on nature as well as Nurture and who influences a person’s behavior.

In this article, you will learn about the meaning of both terms in detail and why it is such a significant topic in a person’s personal and academic life. This article will also teach you how to write an impressive Nature vs. nurture essay.

Explanation and background

Before you get into writing a nature vs. nurture, you must completely understand both sides around which the whole debate is built.

Nature: These are the aspects of our being that we do not pick by ourselves. These are mostly the physical and psychological factors of one’s body, which one inherits from their biological parents. These factors are built in our genes and are passed down in a person’s nature of being through their parents and ancestors.

Nurture: Nurture consists of all the behavioral aspects we acquire throughout life. It is a major evolutionary measure and is supported by many important theories, including Darwin’s theory of evolution. These factors may include the changes brought upon a person’s physical or behavior through their childhood experiences, upbringing, nourishment, social and cultural environment, etc.

Biology, psychology, behaviorism, and philosophy are the three main fields of academics that have had a major influence on the history of this debate. All of them try to put their statements of arguments in support of one of the two, i.e., Nature vs. Nurture. Some believe that the nature and pre-wiring of a person’s body play a major role in determining their physical and behavioral attributes. In contrast, some say that the genes and inheritance of a person have a lesser influence and that their choices and past experiences: voluntary or involuntary, are major in deciding a person’s physical and mental abilities.

Although it is not possible to determine where and how this debate started and came to be as a huge topic as we know it today. But some people believe that it has its roots set deep beginning in the ancient period as some great philosophers such as Descartes and Plato stated that few aspects of human beings do not influence their upbringing and environment over them. Whereas in the early 1900s, John Watson, who is regarded as the father of behaviorism by many, put forth the theory of behaviorism. This states that the behavioral characteristics of a human being are acquired through their conditioning. This theory prevailed in the beginning, but with time, discoveries and scientific evidence came to light, and many biologists and philosophers countered this theory.

Effects: To understand this better, let us discuss some features and influences of both nature and nurture.

Health and Diseases: Disease transfer is important in this debate. There are many diseases that a child or offspring inherits from its parents. These diseases or health issues are inbuilt into their genes and are present in at least one of the two parents. They are caused due to DNA abnormalities. These genetic issues include Down syndrome, Sickle cell anemia, Huntington’s disease, Patterned baldness, Thalassemia, Cystic Fibrosis, and many more.

Mental Health: Mental health is an issue that is influenced by both nature and nurture. But many studies have revealed that nurture has more part to play in conditioning a person’s mental well-being. For example, the various psychological issues caused by the surrounding environment and a person’s upbringing are Depression, Bipolar disorder, Anxiety Disorders, PTSD, ADHD, and Eating Disorders.

Parental Influence:

Temperament: A child’s temperament is significantly influenced by observing the people around them and their daily surroundings and environment. If a child is around arguments and shootings for a major part of their upbringing, this influences them in such a way that they have anger issues in their adolescence.

Behavioral Inheritance: We inherit some behavioral characteristics from our parents. To find more evidence on these studies have been performed on twin siblings. It was observed that if one of the siblings develops or acquires a certain trait or condition, there is a 50% probability that the other twin will also develop that trait.

Applications of Nature vs. Nurture

Through the years, as science and technology advanced, discoveries were being made continuously worldwide. This led to setting strong foundations on both sides of the debate. It has spread to such an extent that it is now a debate of whose theory is more correct. Nature vs. Nurture has become a technique of analysis using which we can determine and predict the behaviors of a being. All the conflicting fields have come together to utilize their knowledge and strong point to study and evaluate various aspects and issues and why they work as such.

The nature vs. nurture analysis approach can be applied to a topic or a subject to study how their behaviors came to being and how they are influenced. It gives an insight into how the particular issue came to being and using them, how we can predict future behaviors and act accordingly.

By making slight changes in our analysis approach, we study a different aspect of the subject with new results, allowing us to use this method of analysis in various fields of psychology as well as biology and philosophy. For example, most of the studies include both approaches in their study, whereas, in many cases of psychological therapies, different discoveries may be observed by adopting a more nurture-based analysis or nature-based approach.

Writing a nature vs. nurture essay

Now that you have understood what the whole debacle is all about. Now you can start to write your nature vs. nurture essay.

What sets this essay topic apart is that, despite being a debate, a nature vs. nurture essay can be categorized as both argumentative and persuasive. Depending upon the topic or subject of study and the findings of your analysis, the there format of the essay can be determined; either it will be in an argumentative essay style or a persuasive essay style. In both cases, the nature vs. nurture essay proves to be a great way to express your point of view on a particular topic and show off your analytical skills.

Tips to keep in mind

Here are a few tips you must keep in mind while writing a nature vs. nurture essay:

1. Select your Topic Carefully: The topic of your selection will determine the analysis you will perform. Pick a topic you are most comfortable with so that you have plenty of pre-existing knowledge. A good topic will ease your thought process, as ideas and questions will come to you rather than you finding questions through your research.
2. Finding reliable sources is very important as not all sources will give the correct information. Look for credible information and sources to support your claims more easily.
3. Include case studies: Including case studies and their results increases the conviction level of your essay. The main aspect of the nature vs nurture essay is persuasion; thus is very necessary to provide evidence that backs up your thesis or statements.
4. Support your Claims: While writing the essay in an argumentative style, pick a side that you think has more claim and support it throughout the essay.
5. Look for examples: Go through multiple examples of writings that are similar to your topic. This gives you an idea about how you should build the format of your essay.
6. Do thorough research: No matter which topic you choose, if it’s a known topic or if an unknown subject is assigned to you. You must always do thorough research to get all the information you will require in your essay. By doing prior research, you identify the points which need the most emphasis in the essay to support your claims and to follow a clear flow of thought.
7. Your analysis should be decisive and backed by references.
8. Keep your target audience in mind while writing the essay.

Structure of Nature vs. Nurture Essay

The nature vs. nurture essay’s main structure is the same as any other essay. It consists of an introduction, the body of the essay, and a conclusion.

1. Introduction- Introduce the topic to the reader. Explain the nature vs. nurture debate briefly and how you will use it to analyze your subject. Provide an intriguing thesis statement at the end of the introduction.
2. Body- This is where you go in-depth about the issue or the subject of your study. Use multiple paragraphs to explain your topics. Make sure you follow a single topic throughout the paragraph.
3. Conclusion- Mention the thesis statement in conclusion. Summarise all the ideas and points presented by you in the essay. Provide the results or findings of your analysis and suggest some outcomes. Give an ending statement which is the conclusion of the essay. This statement should intrigue the reader, so they have something to think about after completing the essay.