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The interactions of genes with environment, called gene–environment interactions, are another component of the nature–nurture debate. A classic example of gene–environment interaction is the ability of a diet low in the amino acid phenylalanine to partially suppress the genetic disease phenylketonuria .
Galton popularized the phrase nature and nurture, later often used to characterize the heated debate over whether genes or the environment determined human behaviour. Scientists such as behavioural geneticists now see it as obvious that both factors are essential, and that they are intertwined, especially through the mechanisms of epigenetics .
Biological determinism, sometimes called genetic determinism, is the idea that each of human behaviors, beliefs, and desires are fixed by human genetic nature. Behaviorism involves the idea that all behavior can be traced to specific causes—either environmental or reflexive.
The phrase "nature and nurture" refers to this complementary relationship. The phenotype of an organism depends on the interaction of genes and the environment. An interesting example is the coat coloration of the Siamese cat. In this case, the body temperature of the cat plays the role of the environment.
Behavior is categorized as being either unconscious, environmental or biological by various theories. [6] Heredity (nature) versus environment (nurture) – Personality is thought to be determined largely either by genetics and biology, or by environment and experiences. Contemporary research suggests that most personality traits are based on ...
Behavioral epigenetics is the field of study examining the role of epigenetics in shaping animal and human behavior. [1] It seeks to explain how nurture shapes nature, [2] where nature refers to biological heredity [3] and nurture refers to virtually everything that occurs during the life-span (e.g., social-experience, diet and nutrition, and exposure to toxins). [4]
Nurture is usually defined as the process of caring for an organism, as it grows, usually a human. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It is often used in debates as the opposite of "nature", [ a ] whereby nurture means the process of replicating learned cultural information from one mind to another, and nature means the replication of genetic non-learned behavior.
Content biases can result from genetic preferences, preferences determined by existing cultural traits, or a combination of the two. For example, food preferences can result from genetic preferences for sugary or fatty foods and socially-learned eating practices and taboos. [57] Content biases are sometimes called "direct biases." [55]