Organisational Behaviour
Nature vs Nurture
Which determines our personality?
1. Introduction
Personality is the overall profile or combination of traits that characterise the unique nature of a person in which an individual reacts to each others. The nature/nurture debate, which has persisted and not yet been settled, is the argument over whether personality is determined by heredity or by the environment.
2. Nature
Nature refers to biological or physiological qualities or traits. It refers not only the abilities present at birth but also any ability determined by genes which appear through maturation. Heredity or genetic endowment comprises of those factors that are determined at conception, and includes physical characteristics and gender in addition to personality factors. Physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, energy level are examples of characteristics that are considered to be influenced by gene structure (Robbins et al. 2008). Heredity sets the limits on how much personality characteristics can be developed.
People in favour of the nature theory believe that people’s personality or behaviours are determined by individual’s gene or the structure of the genes (Wood et al. 2004). People were born to be, such as rich or athletic and nothing could change this fate. For example, Plato, the Greek philosopher, believed that all knowledge is present at birth and believed the environment did not teach people anything new, but it just reminds people of information they already knew (Maxis 2005). Although Plato’s views are not supported today, his work is the foundation for other researchers to follow. Moreover, evolutionary psychologists believe that personality is result of natural selection for survival which you behave as your genes dictate. They suggest that for example, fear of death, fear of injury, shyness, temperaments and cheating behaviours are examples of inheritable behaviours (Ateel 2007). However, there are criticisms on this view.
There are some researches that support that heredity or gene play contribute to determine the personality of an individual. One research is the studies of young children shows that traits such as fear, shyness, and aggression can be traced to inherited genetic personality. The study also shows that some personality characteristics may be built into the similar or same genetic code that affects factors such as hair colour or height (Robbins et al. 2008).
Another famous study is twin studies which try to prove that the genetics are the controlling factor in one’s personality. The study also found that a large component of the variation in IQ is caused by genetic factors (Maxis 2005). Twin studies researched on many sets of identical twins who were at birth separated and then grew or raised separately. Researchers found that they had a lot in common and similarities of their personality between the separated twins, which showed that heredity plays some part in determining personality and that some personalities turned out to be related with genetic influence. For example, twins who had been separated for almost 40 years and raised far apart from each other were noticed to have the same car model and colour, smoke similar or the same brand of cigarette, have dogs with the same name, and regularly having similar holiday activity (Robbins et al. 2008).
3. Nurture
4. Argument
5. Examples
6. Conclusion
There is no simple answer to the question whether an individual’s personality was the result of heredity or of environment, but personality appears to be a product or result of both hereditary and environmental factors.
7. References
Ateel S [2007], Nature VS Nurture Theories of Personality in the 21st Century, http://www.personality-and-aptitude-career-tests.com/nature-vs-nurture-theories.html, accessed 25 May 2010.
Maxis [2005], Nature versus Nurture Debate, http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=27567, accessed 25 May 2010.
Robbins S, Judge T, Millett B and Marsh T [2008], Organisational Behaviour, 5th edn, Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest.
Wood J, Wallace J, Zeffane R, Chapman J, Fromholtz M and Morrison V [2004], Organisational behaviour a global perspective, 3rd edn, John Wiley & Sons Australia, Milton.