Nature v. Nurture
(This blog was adapted from a paper I wrote in 2021 for Graduate School)
Heredity and environment, or nature and nurture. This debate has been going on for millennia. However, it is not a discussion of this or that, but both/and (TEDx Talks, 2017). We are the sum of all our life experiences and genetics; a canvas of collaboration (TEDx Talks, 2017).
A relatively new development in neuropsychopharmacology and biological psychiatry is the study of epigenetics (Claere, Gadelrab, Juruena, & Young, 2020). Simply put, Epigenetics is a “non-genetic inheritance” (Claere, Gadelrab, Juruena, & Young, 2020, p. 1). What has been discovered is that stressful life experiences can alter the behavior of a specific gene, but not its structure (Van Der Kolk, 2014, p. 154). These genes can be triggered by stressful life experiences and passed on to children (Van Der Kolk, 2014, p. 154). “Advances in our knowledge of epigenetics in the context of early life stress and depression provide a new understanding of the genetic influence on psychopathology”, with the potential to lead to new intervention (Claere, Gadelrab, Juruena, & Young, 2020, p. 1).
In the current racial awakening/reckoning within our country and around the globe people are learning more about racial and ancestral trauma, and that we are far from equal. Starting with the Middle Passage, black and brown people were robbed of autonomy over their own bodies (Owens, 2020, p. 81). This loss of physical agency created transhistorical trauma and systematic racism allowed it to be inherited generationally (Owens, 2020, p. 81). To me, this is a prime example of how heredity and environment play a role in development. Additionally, how the study of epigenetics is proof that development is not just nature or nurture. It is both.
How did heredity have an impact on you as a child? Environment? What do you notice about yourself that comes directly from genetics?
Just the other day I had finished working out with my mother and was getting a smoothie at the café in the gym. The barista asked very charmingly if we were sisters. My mother laughed and proudly announced that she just turned 60. I am a carbon copy of my mom, we have the same nose, smile, and cheekbones. Although I am more than four inches taller than her now, we are both very tall and have very long legs.
I am six foot one inch; I have always been tall and slender. My maternal grandfather was over six foot four inches and had two sisters over six feet as well. Seeing a photo of my grandfather Charles in his coast guard uniform during WWII there is no doubt that he is my grandfather. He also had blue-gray eyes, I am the only person in my immediate family with the same almost hauntingly blue eyes. I grew so quickly in fact, that when I was younger I had a sonogram on my heart to make sure I did not have Marfan’s Syndrome, a gene that is not in my family lineage.
These are all things that are very obviously genetics. But not so obvious is that my whole family has Raynaud's, we all lose the sense of feeling in our fingers and toes when it’s very cold. However, our diets affect this as well. Another genetic thing for me to be wary of is Breast Cancer. My mother, maternal grandmother, and great aunt all had breast cancer. Thankfully my mom does not very the BRCA gene. The gene only points to part of a diagnosis, there are multiple factors that can lead to a cancer diagnosis (TEDx Talks, 2017). Her diagnosis has changed the way I take care of myself.
What about you is more so from the environment?
As I have gotten older I’ve become more aware of my privilege. I grew up in an affluent upper-middle-class neighborhood. I went to a private Christian high school and a private Christian college. For the longest time, I was surrounded by people who were like me and had the same opinions and morals as me. As I passed into Erikson’s Identity versus Role Confusion, I started to reevaluate the values I had been taught (Berk, 2018, p. 15). While I would no longer consider myself to be particularly religious, I am grateful for the values and morals the church instilled.
Additionally, another piece of my environment that dictated the choice of my vocation is the relationship I have with my father. He has been a Licensed Professional Counselor for nearly two decades. We have a very strong friendship and his guidance helped me through some of the most challenging stages of my life.
How do these factors play a positive and/or negative impact on your life?
I have not always enjoyed being tall but now I embrace it. With the recent diagnosis of my mom’s breast cancer, both of my parents opted for the BRACA gene testing. Thankfully neither one of them carry the genetic markers for breast cancer. While neither of them has the genetic markers, it has changed the way I take care of myself. I would say that overall this has been a positive impact on my life. While it’s something that’s kind of scary and intimidating, it will motivate me to take care of myself and be contentious about what I put in my body.
The environmental influences in my development, however, have been more impactful I would say, and not all of them for the better. One positive influence would be family; I am very grateful for the parenting I received. My parents were incredibly collaborative and always gave my brother and me the space to share our feelings. If we ever felt the ‘punishment didn’t fit the crime’, we had the opportunity to make a case and come up with a different discipline. They also never forced us to go to church if we didn’t want to.
Religion was incredibly influential in my development, for good and bad. I developed a strong sense of self-worth, being told I was fearfully and wonderfully made. However, growing up in an evangelical, post-reformation, fundamentalist culture there was never any room for curiosity or questioning. The world was very black and white and instilled an anxious attachment style. Labeled a non-works-based religion but I was told that if I did anything wrong my relationship with God would be cut off. This told me God’s love for me was conditional.
Discuss Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory as it relates to you.
Vygotsky’s believed that development was closely woven with culture (Berk, 2018, p. 22). My development was influenced by a socially mediated process, meaning that the help and encouragement I received from family, friends, teachers, etc. helped me become a well-rounded human (Berk, 2018, p. 22). These would be a microsystem, exosystem, and mesosystems (Berk, 2018, p. 24). The microsystem of my family and friends was incredibly helpful for me, my parents were always warm and attentive (Berk, 2018, p. 23). Mesosystems were the inner workings between microsystems (Berk, 2018, p. 24). While my parents got divorced after 30 years, they had a kind and caring relationship with each other and never involved my brother and I in their conflict (Berk, 2018, p. 57). Religion was a macrosystem that gave me a set of strong core values and morals. These are just a few examples of the ecological systems that affected my development (Berk, 2018, p. 23).
Berk, L. (2018). Development Through The Lifespan (7th Edition ed.). (T. Pauken, Ed.) Hoboken, New Jersey: Pearson Education.Claere, A., Gadelrab, R., Juruena, M., & Young, A. (2020, December 28). Epigenetics: A missing link between early life stress and depression. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 109(110231), 1-10.Owens, L. R. (2020). Love and Rage The Path of Liberation Through Anger. Berkley, California: North Atlantic Books.TEDx Talks. (2017, April 11). YouTube. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from The battle between nature and nurture | Irene Gallego Romero | TEDxNTU: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXIW_m0lo0UVan Der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps Score: Brain, Mind, and Body In The Healing Of Trauma. New York, New York: Penguin Books.