The
nature-nurture debate is an ongoing area of disagreement as to how much or ability and traits are inherited, and one that relates strongly to fiction characters: are they born that way, or the product of experience?
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Character traits are often key to Shakespeare's plays, such as Othello's honest
and trusting nature, and Iago's envy and manipulativeness. |
Twins and the 'nature' side
Twin studies are one way in which Psychology has studied the effect of nature, i.e. our genetic inheritance. Shields conducted IQ tests on twins who were brought up separately, finding them to have strongly correlated intelligence despite the different environments.
Observations
However, Hart and Risely (1995) looked into the effects of home experiences on children’s intellectual development. Using 1-hour tape recordings taken once a month for over two years, researchers identified various types of positive parenting, including using a wide vocabulary and high rates of approval, that let to higher verbal IQ.
Interaction
One way of looking at the effects of nature and nurture is to say that it is simply a mixture of both. However, advances in genetics have suggested that it may not be so simple. So rather than a blending of the two, environmental experiences may determine whether certain genes are expressed or not. Stress in childhood is one possible environmental influence which could determine whether a gene is expressed or not (Raj and van Oudenaarden, 2008).
The big five personality traits
Although there is still no strong conclusion to the nature-nurture debate, McCrae et al (2000) found strong evidence that personality tends to remain stable through life. Using the increasingly popular '
big five' personality test, they found little long-term change in personality in participants from a number of different cultures. If personality remains the same through life, it suggests that 'nurture' plays only a limited role in our fundamental character.
How do you handle the issue of character change in your writing? Do the characters retain their key abilities and traits despite their experiences?
References
Hart, B. and Risley, T. (1995).
Meaningful Differences in Everyday Parenting and Intellectual Development in Young American Children. Baltimore: Brookes.
Raj, A. and van Oudenaarden, A. (2008). Nature, nurture, or chance: Stochastic gene expression and its consequences.
Cell, 135, 216-226.
Shields, J. (1962).
Monozygotic Twins: Brought up Apart and Brought up Together. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
