Introduction

 There is a controversy whether an individual’s personality is a result of nature (biology) or nurture (culture). Whether or not both determine an individual character is important to understand when solving societal problems arising from different personalities. This paper, therefore, seeks to answer this question.

Nature or Nurture

Those who hold the view that personality is a result of nature are of the opinion that an individual’s personality is largely determined by that one’s genetic make-up.  Those of the contrary opinion who hold the nurture theory believe that an individual’s personality is shaped by experience. This group is an opinion that an individual’s personality is largely shaped by his or her environment. Culture, therefore, has a fundamental role to play in the development of a person’s character (Indiana.edu).

            The nativists conducted experiments to determine their theory. In this experiment, they wanted to find out how young animals, including humans, perceive things (Indiana.edu). They concluded that young animals could perceive some things even before they can learn anything. From these experiments, it could be argued that nature has a role to play in determining an individual’s character (Indiana.edu).

However, one can ask, what role does culture play in an individual’s life? The empiricists, those who are of the view that culture plays a role in determining a person’s perception of things also carried out their experiment. Their experiment was based on denying developing animals’ emotional stimulation. The result of their experiment was that this deprivation resulted in a deficit in perception. Their conclusion was, therefore, individual’s character is learned more than occurring naturally (Indiana.edu).

 It can, therefore, be concluded that a person is both a product of nature and nurture. Both have a significant role to play in determining the behavior of people.