It is interesting to think the we are all the product of 50 percent "nature" and 50 percent "nurture." That is, our personality, even our physical state, is influenced half by our predetermined, biological, genetic coding, and half by our environment and who influences that environment.
It is not as simple as how it sounds, 50/50. There are aspects of our personality or how our body works, I think of it like a switch, that can "turn on" given the right environment. This weeks article, Sense Of Self, talks about how some children have a gene for shyness. With a certain type of parenting, a child can outgrow shyness. This is a perfect example of how even though a person can have a gene for something and are predisposed to it, they won't necessarily show that trait their whole lives.
It can go the other way as well. Many of my family members struggle with anxiety and depression (which is VERY genetic). I never experienced any trouble with depression or anxiety until I was 18. When I was 18 I started taking birth control pills which had Estrogen in them (I know now that is a trigger for my depression). The extra hormones added onto my already raging teenage hormones caused me to spiral into a severely depressed state. I ended up being hospitalized for a week. During this week they took me off the birth control pills and In a few weeks (with the aid of antidepressants and and talk therapy) returned to "normal." The hormones I was taking chemically turned the "switch" on for my depression. Since then I have struggled with depression on and off but never as severely as when I was taking birth control pills.
I too find the nature vs. nurture debate fascinating. I do believe that we have a genetic predisposition towards certain personality traits but I also think we are more powerful in applying the nurture part than we give our selves credit for. When we are small and don t get what we need we form certain ideas about how the world is and who we are in relation to that world. Often we learn to live in self defense.But as we grow up and gain new experiences it is within our power to reassess what we believed as children we get to reassign weight to our childhood experiences. It gets only the power we assign it in our present. As for depression people forget that its a medical condition like diabetes or heart disease good for you that you acknowledge and address it. Dealing with depression takes courage.
ReplyDeleteI had never considered that the extra hormones in birth control could be a trigger for depression. I think that could potentially explain a lot.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that you can be born with some sort of trait, or are predisposed to it, yet can go your whole life without coming across something that will trigger it, or an environment that will feed it. Personalities are an interesting and confusing thing. I personally think we're mostly nature, and genes, but specific experiences and environments can either enhance these genes, or counteract them.
I think you bring up a great point about the environment being able to 'trigger' certain aspects of the genetic side to personality. My brother was always very shy, withdrawn, and antisocial at times. He was always a kind person, he just didn't enjoy the company of others very much. In the last year and half he has made some very large changes in his life and this has allowed him to essentially come out of his shell and be who he really is. He is still very much an introvert, but he enjoys spending time with friends, looking for new experiences, and is generally much happier. I feel this supports the theory of environment influencing genes. Had his environment not changed so drastically he may have continued down the antisocial path and allowed his genetics to dictate more about his personality than his environment.
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