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Why Nature vs. Nurture is a Dead Argument
Modern understanding of epigenetics tells us they’re inseparable
Monozygotic twins share the same genetic makeup and are usually reared in the same environment. But they often present drastically different phenotypes, especially later in life (Powledge, 2011).
Phenomena such as these should give pause when we consider the influence of “nature” and “nurture” on the course of development. Researchers in the emerging field of behavioral epigenetics and related areas are seeking to clarify this relationship, although their efforts are unlikely to yield dichotomous conclusions. Rather, it seems to me that further inquiry in these realms will reveal that an attempt to separate nature and nurture when discussing phenotypic development is futile.
I believe that the gene-environment relationship is completely reciprocal and interdependent. For example, an infant who inherits a lower-efficiency monoamine oxidase (MAO-A) polymorphism from his or her parents may be more likely to engage in reward-seeking or aggressive behavior and thus enter into environments that a child without the polymorphism might not (Hohmann et al., 2016). Upon entering these environments, the child may encounter factors that influence the expression of his or genes via epigenetic phenomena. The child, for instance…
