This is a short article I wrote in college for a Psychology class about the effects of Heredity and Environment on one’s growth:

Heredity and Environment are two different forces that determine the behavior of a person. But how large the difference between the two may be, they still meet at a common point. They are two interdependent forces. Heredity influences certain traits while environment influences others. Some traits are influenced by both. Thus, human behavior is determined by both his nature and nurture.

Heredity influences a person from the time the sperm cell fertilizes the egg cell—by which the chromosomes are passed on. It lays down the necessary foundations and establishes the initial traits of the individual. Physical traits like eye color, skin color, shape of nose and physical defects like color blindedness, nearsightedness and baldness are acquired through this way. The physical traits often look like exact duplicates of their parents’ or even a combination of both. Nonphysical influences of heredity are sometimes harder to detect. Some traits tend to appear later in one’s life and therefore may be attributed to his environment. Also, some supposed-to-be-hereditary traits like height and weight can now be traced to environmental factors like diet.

Environment plays an important role in determining one’s behavior. From the fluids that surround a fetus to the people a person interacts with, environment is everywhere. It often relies on what the five senses perceive and barely on what the parents have given. Environment is not automatic. It changes from one person to another. Hence, it holds that one’s behavior is a variable that changes as one’s environment changes. It is evident among siblings who have almost the same genetic structures but have different traits.

Apparently, it is useless to argue which one is more important in determining one’s behavior. On the contrary, it is more accurate and more accepted to say that they work hand in hand to mold a person. To conclude, human behavior is the product of a long and involved interplay between the forces of nature and nurture.

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