While certain branches of philosophy and psychology such as empiricism and behaviorism denounce the question of the origin of an individual’s personality as being completely irrelevant, most people find it to be the key to understanding the origins of basic human nature.
Historically, there have been two distinctly different schools of thought about the origin of individual personalities, with one side believing that a person’s thoughts and feelings are determined by the environment and experiences that they are exposed to during childhood. The other side firmly believes that human nature is inherited from our direct ancestors as a kind of deterministic form of psychological evolution.
For much of the history of modern psychology, the prevailing notion was that a human being’s personality was simply a collection of habits that were a direct response to his environment and experiences as he matured. This nurture point of view is most commonly associated with the tabula rasa concept. Tabula rasa is a Latin term that means blank slate and captures perfectly what adherents to the nurture perspective on personality believe about a humans wiring at birth; people are born without any natural personality and simply obtain an identity through learning a series of positive and negative reactions to the world around them.
At the polar opposite of tabula rosa proscribers are those who believe that humans are born with a personality slate that it is far from blank. The strongest proponents of the nature perspective of human development hold that a person’s personality actually has virtually nothing to do with the experiences that he has gone through or the environment in which he was raised.
Instead, they believe that a person is wired from birth with a personality that is set develop in a prescribed direction as he matures. Although opinions differ as to the origins of this prenatal wiring, most believe that personal behavior is a result of evolution at work. The theory is that an individual is genetically wired to copy the personality traits of his direct ancestors as part of the trial and error that fuels evolution.
Of course, most modern psychologists and philosophers hold a much more nuanced view on what individual personalities tell us about human nature. On the other hand, humans are clearly wired to have certain instinctive characteristics such as learning a language. Studies of genetic twins have provided startling evidence at the role that genetics seems to play in personality,with each twin sharing certain traits. However, virtually no one can deny the crucial role that an individuals social background, education, environment and experiences play in the development of a personality, especially during childhood and early adolescence.
The current prevailing notions of personality development and human nature are aptly summarized by noted psychologist Donald Hebb’s response when asked about whether it is nurture or nature that provides the primary influence that determines an individual’s identity. He answered the question with a question of his own:
“Which contributes more to the area of a rectangle: its length or its width?”
