There is debate surrounding the issues of nature and nurture and how these two affect life as a whole. Nature involves the inherited characteristics of a creature that they get from their parents while nurture is the influences of society of the creatures that are the ones that shape up individual characteristics (Dowling 165). It is against this backdrop, that a story is told of two identical twins, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein; who were separated at birth and reunited when they were thirty- five years of age. Their story, Separated at Birth is given in The Guardian and an account is given of how these two women, shared a lot in common even if they were separated for the better part of their lives.
These women have some frenetic energy about themselves as much as they share an inclination to analyze different situations in an almost similar manner. Their careers are similar and seem to be so alike in every aspect of their personalities. While looking at their personal attributes, nature seems to take a toll on the reason they are so much alike. They may have never met before, but their biological, psychological, as well as social inclinations, influenced their growth and development in a variety of ways (Newman & Newman 64). It is proven beyond reasonable doubt that all these factors play a very huge role in determining the personal attributes of a person throughout their lives.
The story of these two women shows how interwoven nature and nurture happen to be. Nature and nurture are part and parcel of several other factors that determine personal attributes of all people. More importantly, the two determine the causes of behavior, the values that people uphold as well as diseases, language and many more. The genetic composition of a person, therefore, greatly impacts their behavior more than their environment, as seen through the example of these twins.
Works Cited
Dowling, John, E. The Great Brain Debate: Nature Vs. Nurture. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2011
France, Louise. Separated at Birth. The Guardian. Web. Sunday 2nd December 2007. Retrieved on Monday 21st April 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/dec/02/women.familyandrelationships
Newman, Barbara & Newman, Philip. Development Through Life: A psychosocial Approach. Belmont: Cengage Learning 2012.
