All Nurture, No Nature. Written by Helena Biehn


The Nature verse Nurture debate has been around for years but can we really pit these two things against each other for much longer? I mean if we are to look at society or even ourselves and say “I look like this because of nature” or “I act like this because of nurture” then we are setting ourselves up for certain categories. The categories that we seem to create all have too high of standards and result in people not feeling good about themselves.  It’s almost as if the standards at which we set for ourselves become the stereotypes by which we live our life’s.  By placing others into stereotypes of how we want to see them, we are giving the nature of our actions the hold of what we see.   So can we say that it is just the nature of how people look at others too categorize and stereotype them to make ourselves well better? No, I don’t believe this to be true my theory is that every experience, action, event, feeling and attitude a person maybe have is based on nurture. The way that we stereotype others is based off of what we have experienced in our lives and we just make the assumption that the categories are the correct ones.  People are nurtured by their certain experiences they have had or experiences that have been perceived on by others.

My first example is that if a child is raised with all the right in settings and conditions of a loving and caring home with a parent or parents or even another family member the child is mostly likely to grow up also being a loving and caring person. Although if the child experiences something in their life that changes the family situation then the child’s experience can change the way they grow up and view certain situations. Now if a child were to be raised in a not so steady home environment then they might have a different experience that enables them to grow up and relive or repeat the same experiences that they had as a child. Unless there again is another experience that changes the child’s life for the better.

Our experiences in life shape and create who we become later on in life. It’s from my understanding that people are made, not born who they may become in life. A person is not born a leader but they can have experiences in their life that shape them into a leader.

My second example is that a person can be placed in certain circumstances in which that have to adapt to the new environment. Take Disney’s Tarzan, Tarzan was born with parents who were going to raise him in a society of other people just as they had been raised, but certain events and circumstances arose that hindered Tarzan from being raised with his parents. As Tarzan’s environment changed he became part of a family of gorillas who raised him as his own. Instead of going to school and learning about science and math, Tarzan learned how to climb trees and swing from vines. Tarzan’s experiences in his life shaped him to not only be “part” gorilla but also have the understanding of human actions.  Tarzan’s way of life was changed but he still was a human living in a different setting that allowed him to learn and be nurtured to adapt to the new environment.

An experience a person has provides the foundation for who they become in life. Those actions and events that shape a person can change based on different situations that they have.


2 thoughts on “All Nurture, No Nature. Written by Helena Biehn

  1. I think you presented a very good argument about a person’s construction of reality on the basis of their life experiences. However, I do not agree with your notion that every experience, event, action, feeling, and attitude derive from nurture. It is more so the interpretation and judgement of those things that constitute as nurture and vary by individual. Yet my statement can seem contradicting because my attitude and feeling about your blog post in it of itself can be based off of nurture.

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