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NATURE VS NURTURE: ROLE OF GENETICS & UPBRINGING IN PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS

Rohin Gupta
9 min readMay 17, 2024

Exploring Role Of Genetics & Upbringing In Psychological Developments, Based On Latest Studies

INTRODUCTION

The debate between nature and nurture in human psychological development has been ongoing for centuries. While the significance of heredity was widely accepted in the past, the rapid societal changes brought about by the Industrial and IT revolutions have led many to question the role of genetics in brain development, giving more weight to upbringing or nurture. Prominent among societal changes are variations in income, profession, locations, & lifestyle changes have been huge, just in a generation.

Examples like the differing success of Mukesh and Anil Ambani, or the failures of some Bollywood actors and politicians despite having successful parents, are often cited to argue for the primacy of nurture. Further shutting down any discussion in favor of nature are the racist theories that promote superiority of certain races, as espoused by Hitler’s followers.

RECENT STUDIES

Agreed, some human races being superior to others was a hasty application of Darwin’s theory of evolution, and should be rightly discredited. Studies and inferences by neurogeneticist Dr. Kevin Mitchell in his book Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are however look more relevant, and shed new light on the topic.

Most significant is the study of identical twins(monozygotic), fraternal twins(dizygotic), siblings, and population in general. Psychological traits of individuals in the study involve IQ and Behavioral traits : extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience. These traits are accepted as mutually exclusive, and offer insights into how individuals interact with the world around them, including their social, emotional, and cognitive tendencies. Elaborating further, Extroversion is the urge to be with people, Neuroticism is different levels of anxiety among individuals in similar situations, Consciousness is level of systematic behavior by the individual, Agreeableness is the level of friendliness, and openness to new experience can map into risk taking potentiality. (I will further add one more psychological trait to these, the level of Abstraction at which the person thinks by default. At a more folksy level, it would involve checking if the person is a verbal thinker or a visual thinker — That is whether person’s thoughts generally include words or images? Though it's possible that this trait may be derived from combination of the current Five and IQ).

The repeatability of measurements in the study was 90% for IQ tests, and behavioral traits showing around a 70% consistency on average. That is, if same individual took the similar behavioral test again, his or her score was 70% same as before, on an average. The scores were most matching for identical twins, then fraternal twins or siblings, and then strangers. Further, there was no significant difference between identical twins raised in same family or in different families. Most importantly, difference between siblings where one of the person was adopted, was equivalent to difference among strangers. This indicates a strong genetic influence, as identical twins, who share the same genetic makeup, showed the highest similarity in traits, even when raised in different families.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

My personal journey also reflects the impact of genetics on psychology. Despite dedicating over a decade to improving my soft skills, such as verbal communication and decision-making, I’ve seen sub-optimal results. This suggests that genetics play a significant role in our psychological makeup, even in areas where we actively seek self-improvement.

The take away however is not that one should stop self-improvement through self-effort. It is to highlight that role of genetics even in self-help needs to be considered and understood. In the context of Free Will, it does not mean humans do not have Free Will. Instead, it implies that hypothetically if two humans want to make same psychological change in same situation, they will require different Will Power. It also means that person requiring more Will Power might have lesser energy for other mental activities.

PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIATIONS BETWEEN GENDERS

Dr. Mitchell’s book highlights differences in male and female psychology. For us, relevant among these are sociability and emotional stability. Females tend to excel in sociability and males in emotional stability, on an average. Further, to reinforce this point, we can consider implications of human brain having evolved in mostly hunter environment. [200,000 years as hunters against 10,000 years as farmers and 300 years in industry. Plus, evolution of ancestors like Homo Erectus and others over a few million years]. Human children requiring significant care after birth, and significant risks during pregnancy compared to other mammals are the key factors in the variation of psychologies across genders.

Lack of requirement to hunt made females less aggressive on an average compared to males. Female dependency on male partner, extended family, & tribe made evolution of neural wiring with social traits more advantageous for them. In summary, human brain evolved largely in a hunter-gatherer environment, where females, due to the demands of pregnancy and child-rearing, developed social traits that aided in cooperation and group survival.

Extrapolating hunter mindset further, men are good at spatial tasks, focused work requiring deep and long-term thought(tunnel vision), and their modern versions like mathematics and engineering. Similarly, women are better at multi-tasking in activities not requiring deep thought.

Emphasizing these differences may seem like a digression, but point here is to highlight that genders have differences in genetic, spatial, and social adoption, which in turn impacts their psychology.

IMPLICATION OF THE STUDY

Key to successful navigation in life is person’s mind. Education plays an important role in this. Role of genetics however was further undermined by the arguments like — If criminals are not controlled by their upbringing and their choices, then why should someone be punished for crimes? (Initial arguments are in the introduction). More realistically, such arguments can be refuted when we realize that genetics is not the only factor in psychological traits, but a primary factor.

That is, I am not trying to undermine self-improvement through awareness of self, surroundings, and society. I am implying that acknowledgment of the significant role of genetics can make self-help more effective.

For e.g. we have someone like Steve Jobs who has high score in Extroversion & Neuroticism. If we accept Freudian literature and assume that these traits come mainly through childhood experience, then they can be improved by looking at causes and reversing them through Will Power based improvements. Practically, this would mean that one should list down causes of anxiety(due to Neuroticism), and try to prevent oneself from going in situations which have caused anxiety in past. Or perhaps make a mental note not to be too anxious, before one goes into such situations.

However, if the cause is genetic, then suppressing or planning with known causes will only result in new sources turning up. Instead, better approach might be to visualize self in potentially anxious situations, and prepare techniques to minimize or eliminate responses which will have negative outcome. (Avoidance or planning for known situations which can potentially lead to a negative outcome may still be applied, but preparation through visualization should be considered primary).

Overall, understanding the interplay between genetics and upbringing is crucial for personal development. While genetics may predispose us to certain traits, it doesn’t negate the role of self-improvement through awareness and effort. Acknowledging the genetic underpinnings of our behavior can enhance our self-help strategies, allowing us to tailor our approaches based on our inherent traits.

SPECIFIC SELF-IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES

Self-improvement after acknowledging primacy of genetics means that we should spend significant thought in learning from experience of father or brothers or uncles or even grandfather and his family. One of the significant challenges in life is to understand what exactly are real likes and dislikes of self, and how should one react in unfamiliar situations? If we ignore the role of genetics, then trial and error, literature, and experiences of self and people we know (like friends and colleagues) are the only sources to understand self. (We can add family members also to the list of people we know, but without considering the role of heredity, their role in understanding self I think is insufficient). However, greater emphasis on learning from experiences of father, brothers, & ancestors is more efficient, if we acknowledge and apply role of heredity in development of self.

In case you are wondering why am I focusing on male self-help instead of involving females also? First of all, as I mentioned, emphasis in psychological traits for females are different, on an average. Me being male, I have a better understanding of achieving goals which originate and execute in male psychology. Further however, as we also saw that social traits impact female psychology and survival more; it looks like females are more capable of changing based on social situations, especially after marriage. I have seen greater diversity in the behaviors of female siblings than male siblings. Perhaps greater social impact in female psychology on an average, might be the reason.

SIDE NOTE ON THE STUDIES

The study involving high psychological similarity among identical twins forms a key component in the foundation of this article. However, question arises, if the original genome is same in this case, why are there any differences at all among this type of siblings? The book explains by considering life as a chain organic reaction, which begins with fetus. Starting from this first cell, we have various stages of embryo, baby, toddler, child, teenager and so on. The final and intermediate products in this chain reaction depend not just on initial state(genetic blueprint of fetus that is), but also conditions in which the chain reactions happen. Conditions like concentration of different biochemicals, temperature, pressure, and perhaps few more factors. Therefore, the final two babies are not exactly same even in case of identical twins. The variation of course increases for fraternal twins, normal siblings, and strangers.

The book further minimizes the role of upbringing in family and even school. It argues that some traits which might seem like they are originating because of parents’ guidance to child, might also be rooted in genetics. Since genetics of parents, father in particular, are similar to genetics of child, son in particular; therefore, family environment and practices which build child’s psychological traits are also significantly driven by corresponding genetic structure.

With regards to teacher’s behavior with child impacting the traits, it has been observed that teachers often treat child based on his or her overall behavior and temperament. Same teacher will likely respond to aggressive child differently, compared to a friendly one. And therefore, to some extent, teachers’ impact is also determined by child’s genetics.

CONTINUING SPECIFIC SELF-IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES

Why genetics based introspection, and why introspection in general?

I think there are three types of things one needs to consider for navigating various life situations. The environment in which the navigation is happening, tools and machines available with self for this, and understanding of self. The environment can be geographical environment if one is navigating rainy day or a hot day. Tools can be umbrella, or suitable clothes, or air conditioning. Self-awareness can involve one’s capability in dealing with corresponding environment. For e.g. my native is in a cold region, and therefore it is much easier for me to navigate winters in Bangalore compared to people with natives in warmer regions.

Similarly for navigating professional situations, environment is the market in which the profession is needed. Tools can be machines like computers and cars, and intellectual tools like management and communication techniques. Self-awareness in such situations however will involve psychological traits like degree of extroversion or introversion, agreeableness or more independent evaluation, conservative or more open to new experience and so on.

I think if someone is open to evaluation of self based on heredity of family, he is in a better position to navigate through various life challenges. Ideology or nurture becomes more fundamental only at a very large scale or on top of the profession. For most circumstances however, I think genetics should be given more consideration than is usual these days.

Same logic I think can be applied in personal relationships as well.

CONCLUSION

The effectiveness of evaluating psychological traits from heredity was derived from experience of our forefathers with domestication of animals, dogs in particular. They however went overboard beyond reason with rigid caste system, or feudal system, or slavery. Later we might have over-corrected in past few decades, with primary emphasis on nurture.

While the debate between nature and nurture continues, recent studies suggest a more nuanced view. Latest psychological inferences like those by Dr. Mitchell, I think can help us to introspect better and improve better, even if precise quantification is not possible even today, for the attributes in human mind.

Genetics play a significant role in shaping our psychological traits, but this doesn’t discount the importance of upbringing and environment. Visualization and preparation of self for unfamiliar situations, managed through the lens of genetics and rational ideas, seems like a good option. By understanding and accepting our genetic predispositions, we can navigate life’s challenges more effectively, leveraging our strengths and mitigating our weaknesses.

REFERENCES

Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are

Psychology
Education
Self Help
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolution

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Rohin Gupta

Written by Rohin Gupta

10 Followers

Software Professional applying Objectivism, Philosophy of Ayn Rand

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