Are we the product of our environment or are we born this way?
Answer:
Nature vs. Nurture. the most profound debate yet!
I think it is a little of both. I believe we get our morals and values from our parents when we are young, then our peers as we get older. So nurture does have some to do with our personality traits. Nature, well I have to say that I do believe that it has some to do with how we function. Having a certain type of genetic makeup, which is inherited from both parents, does have some influence on how we develop physically, which can then have an impact on how we view ourselves, thus creating part of our personality.
I don't think this debate on which is the most dominate, or which is right will ever be wrong. In some instances that I have witnessed, one does sway more than the other...or vice versa.
Very interesting question by the way!! :)
the bible says adam/eve were man and they were the first humans so we are born this way
Product of environment definitely.
both. genetics is only a predisposition. environment further shapes the outcome.
I believe it's both. Genetics certainly are a factor, as is the socio-economic environment we are reared in.
we are most definitely a product of our environment. i saw this show on tv a while back- this abandoned child (like 3 yrs. old or so) in the city slums depended on the pack of stray dogs. he ended up behaving like a dog and had to be taught to act like a human some years later. and i think the saying "like mother, like daughter" has great truth in it as well. good question.
I think it's a combination of the two. Certain genes are passed down that have an effect on how one lives their life. However, if you are brought up under certain circumstances it also influences your behavior out in the world. We are a product of both nature and nurture.
a little bit of both. genetics. continuous variation can be affected by environmental factors. this continous variation includes height. however discontinuous variation cannot be affected by the environment. This include the ability to roll the tongue.
I don't see how we can help being a product of our environment when it is so narrow and limited.
I watched "An Inconvenient Truth", where Al Gore explained that our atmosphere is as wide as a layer of varnish painted on a globe.
We are a product of the environment interacting with our genes, this is why people around the world look so different. Same with all animal species. On one island in South America there are 64 variations of a species of bat, they have all adapted to different parts of the island and have different features. Same with Darwin's Galapagos Finches.
What happens is a mutation occurs in our genetics, and if you are successful in your environment, you will pass on the genes that made you so successful, or in other words, Natural Selection. What makes you successful is the ability to reproduce, gather food and stay away from predators. We are all a product of our environment. If trees weren't tall, do you think a giraffes neck would be so long? If deserts weren't here, do you think camels would be the same?
We start with what we're given (genetics).
We are shaped by what happens next (environment).
But if you believe that you are merely the product of either or both of those, then you beleive that you are already fixed and formulated! You can then pretend, "I am not responsible for any of my actions! It's my genes, it was the way my parents raised me!"
This self-deception is a convenient excuse for many people who do not want to accept responsibility for the decisons they make or the consequences of those decisions.
Grown-ups can act like three year olds, or hit their three year old, and say, "It's your fault, I can't help myself!"
Parents can act like stroppy teenagers and scream at their stroppy teenagers for being teenagers! And the parents say, at the top of their voice, "I am not responsible for my feelings YOU ARE! I can't help the way I behave, but YOU should be able to. I can't help it because it's the way my parents raised me; but your behaviour is not the result of the way I'm raising you!"
Nature? Yes!
Nurture? Yes?
Now? Yes!
Right NOW: each of us has some responsibility and some power to make decisions that shape our future because, no matter how painful, difficult, awful it might have been, our past is not our potential!
Right here, right now, we decide what to focus our attention on, we decide what meaning to give it [this is a problem / this is an opportunity!] , and we decide what action to take.
Live your life as if that is not the case and you will always live 'at the effect' of genetics or upbringing.
Live your life as if you really do have some power, really can make things happen, really can learn from the past and shape your future (and deal with the hard luck and the hard knocks that will come your way) - ah, then you will live life to the full!
Yes, people could believe they are a "product" but then that belief wouldn't be stemming from their past it would be their present excepted belief. I don't like the idea of calling people "products"...if we are products I'm not finished yet and I know a whole lot of people that would say the same. I don't think anyone is finished until they die but can choose to turn their environment all negative past, present, and future by choice or live a balanced life.
"born this way".see what I mean - born what way? We are all born babies and different. Are you asking if we were born without free will /ability to think/choose/learn? It's possible for one to be born with a physical handicap but I've seen people with handicaps do great things including love others. I have good memories of a handicap person who would almost do you in trying to give you a hug and thoroughly enjoyed socializing with people - he had severe cerebral palsy and grew up in an extremely strict home. Where, mind you there would be no defiance tolerated by parentals. When he was born his mother was told to leave the hospital and that he would pass within three days or so.she took him home. Despite all his health problems he coped with his challenges, learned, loved, and adapted to *his* life and a world that wasn't the same as his. The hospital was wrong.
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