In your opinion, what is the bigger contributor in how a person turns out--his or her upbringing and environment or the "nature" or personality that he or she is born with? In other words, are individuals born or made? Can experiences change people? Can people change themselves? Can a dysfunctional upbringing result in a stronger person? Do people sometimes fulfill others' perceptions of them without really thinking about who they, themselves, are or want to be?
24 comments:
Personaly, I think both are a factor. Your upbringing CAN have a significant role in your outcome but, as displayed by siblings, the way you are definately contributes. your personality is your own, and it shapes you into who you are. that's why you should never try to be like anyone else....because no matter how hard you try....you can't. BE YOURSELF
lev norav nor lev elnurael navraelv
I agree with shadowsamus. Personality shapes you. Experiences do change people, because i know someone,me. My uncle commited sucide, he was only 24 and it changed my life a lot. He died 2 years ago a few weeks before my birthday. It made me think about my life and appericate it. He took his life and it took me FOREVER to get over it. But, the thing is it made me stronger, and i know a lot of kids that have had someone close die or something tragic happen and many become stronger but some don't.It depends on your personality.
I think it's both, because you are born with your own personality but your upbringing can have a big impact on it. So i think in the end that is both nature and nurture that shape people into who they are.
I also think, in most cases, that those who've endured tragedy or hardship live more passionate lives. Some people have the strength to use their difficult upbringing as a springboard into hope, a challenge to do better but then others use it as an excuse to be a jerk or careless. I knew this kid who had a very terrible home-life and in school he would run away and throw things at teachers. He once stabbed a teacher with a pencil. He always came to school dirty and had no care about consequences. He was out of control. I felt sorry for him then, but one day this kid will be an adult and he will probably get in trouble with the law AND I will not feel sorry for him THEN. At what point is a person responsible for their actions? At what point do we expect a kid to "bounce back" and be "normal" before we start punishing him for how he/she is reacting to his/her environment? It's like that quote from Ever After - "If you suffer your people to be ill-educated and their manners corrupted from infancy ... then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them ... what else is to be concluded, Sire...but that you first make thieves and then punish them?"
They go hand in hand. People have been influenced as well as have a certain amount of ineptitude about them that may dictate how a person ends up acting. Although I don't believe in destiny. Your "nature" will pull you to do something with or without guidence. For instance, my parents tend to be a little strict sometimes and I see myself as a more strict parent in the future because of how they've raised me, but we do differ on some subjects. Then again some kids may end up the complete opposite to spite their parents, which is based on their "nature". So they may be intertwined, but a think a person's nature has a little more of a compelling factor.
Everyone is affected by their genes which predispose you to certain personality traits. In this way you are born with a certain range for characteristics, but that doesn't get very specific. There have been a few studies conducted on this subject. Don't get me wrong though; your experiences have a big part in shaping who you are. They affect your decisions and can change you all through your life. Whenever you make a decision you will always compare it to a precedent, and whenever you meet someone new you’ll act according to how people responded to you from previous encounters.
I think both are a big factor. Somethings you do is just natural and sometimes personal experencies can change you too. Things had happen to me and my family while growing up and I think that is why I am who I am now.
things change you and they define who you are. no matter what happens, you have to be strong and it may take awhile like I did.
In my opinion, I think that there has to be an equal balance of both nature and nurture. I think that you are pointed in a direction but you can always go off the path that you are pointed on to. I think that you have to be born a certain way and know how adapt by watch and lessen to grow up at birth. Then after that, I think that you are a blank book that only has a title and suggestion printed out in your head. My theory when a book is being written it has suggestion of how it wants to end but in the end when it is finished that it can be completely different. I think that the book of yourself can be changed by experiences and by themselves and I think that sometimes the book of your life can be changed just a little to fit the perceptions of others without really thinking about it. However, you do realize what you have done after a while. In the end I think that most of the time your nature shows just a little more than the upbringing in people, although you may think of it a little differently than you thought it would be.
i know that personal experinces make you change from my self
I feel that both have an effect on how you turn out. I think you are born with a personality but your upbringing has a major effect on your personality and a bigger effcet on how you turn out. I think individuals are made and experiences can change people. Dysfunctional upbringing can make a stronger peron but also a weaker perosn. People do try to fulfill others expectations but eventually relize who they are or want to be. They eventually find people who only care about who they are.
It seems to me, that so much of success has to do with self-esteem. In The Glass Castle, for example, even though Rex and Rosemary are, in many ways, awful parents, they somehow instill a good sense of self and self-esteem in Jeannette, so she is equipped with what she needs to become successful in the world.
You have your own personality when your born but it changes with what you grow up with. If there was a clone of yourself and your clone grew up somewhere completely different from you, you and your clone may look alike but you would not act the same at all. I also believe hard upbringings do make people a lot stronger. People who have experienced them and have had the ability to get over them tend to appreciate life for what it is. Others who have had a great life with no hardships seem to complain about the little things and they don't realize what they have.
I think that your upbringing has the most to do with how you will turn out and your personality, but I think both can be a factor. Even though you can have twins that grow up in seemingly the same way and turn out totally different, they still had different experiences that make them who they are, plus they could just have different personalities
I think everyone is born with a clean slate. Your surroundings and people around you influence you how to act and what to like. For example, if your father is very loud and outgoing, there's a good chance of you growing up to be that way too. I don't believe you're born programed to be who you are; things around you let you find yourself. If people were born into their personality and likes, that would mean it would be all be up to genetics. Basically saying that if your child grows up to be a serial killer and likes raping people, it's your fault because you gave birth to them and made them that way. Surroundings definitely determine yourself.
I agree because most kids are influenced by the parents actions and what the parents tell them through there actions most likley the child will try to learn from this
but i do not think that if the person became the serial killer or rapist that it would be the paernts fault because you would have to put somewhat genetics in place like what if that kid has mental problems even if it is minor and also the kids are only influenced by the parents the child still makes there own decisions
Mental illnesses are not all caused by genetics, but they can be. Under some circumstances I can see someone being born into it, but in my opinion it definitely relies on the person, their background, environment, experiences, influences, etc.
qwuertytang, it's good to see you responding to what other people said--and responding more than once. I guess my question is, how understanding should we be of someone who doesn't have the greatest upbringing? Students will always claim that teachers are playing favorites if the teachers let a behavior or late assignment slide because a person is having a rough time at home.
For example, last year, one of my student's was suffering from severe depression, and I allowed him to pass with a 'D' because he had done the reading and participated intelligently in class, but another student was very angry. She said I wasn't fair.
I think thats fair because in that state of mind, there's a certain absence of mind so thinking straight isn't exsactly...well easy. Last year my teacher allowed this girl to skip the ending of a book because she was afraid that she would get depressed again, and since she read the rest and participated in class, and did well on the quizes she felt she'd done enough work to equalize what she hadn't done.
I agree that it's fair to allow someone who is having hard times at home should be allowed to skip something or be given a little more time to do something, depending on how bad their home life is. I mean if you think its unfair then you need to put yourself into their shoes and just imagine how hard it would be to do school work and focus at school if you had something really terrible going on at home, you would probly ask for some kind of understanding too.
Mizuno I'm curious do you think that they should put in a fair amount of work before hand and not slack off or do you think that they can slack off and have a bad home life and still be exempt from the work? Just wondering.
I think people should be understanding of others if they are in a situation such as that one. It is not a question of the work they did but rather the work they did that they could do. If you are having a rough time at home and use that as an excuse to not do any work then that is not acceptable. In some cases the rules get in the way and are strictly enforced. That's not always acceptable either. People just need to meet each other halfway.
Post a Comment