As an identical twin I can acknowledge that there is an impact on genetics and nature of some of how we develop, however also as a parent of adopted children I am also fully pushing for the impact of nurture as well.
Very good question! My data so far have been more in line with the nurture side of the debate, but both definitely play a part. I think because I used to study infants, there’s a lot of “pop psychology” trying to show that babies know absolutely everything from birth because it sounds cool, but in reality, I find it more cool that they’re little learning machines and are just absorbing everything around them all the time.
Well – it’s probably both but I suppose I would ask you, why is this a useful question to ask? Why does psychology seem to gravitate back to this question, frequently?
In my work I think I sometimes get variations of this question. If a child is experiencing difficulties, sometimes adults want to know why – is it because of their upbringing, their school experiences, their brain?!
I think that in my experience, it’s been more helpful for us to work out what a person’s strengths are, what they might struggle with, and think about what we can do or change to make things better e.g. improve friendships, improve learning, improve wellbeing.
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