Genetics plays a “key role” in the nature vs nurture” debate Biological psychologists focus their study on the human nervous system and how it affects behaviour Researchers aim to understand to what extent heredity & environment play a part in shaping personality.

In 1979, Thomas J. Bouchard began a long-term study of twins who were raised apart to try to determine just how much twins’ similarities are based on genetics. The Jim Twins: Jim Lewis and Jim Springer were separated at 4 months and reunited at 39 years of age. The similarities were eerie! Both had interests in carpentry, drove the same blue Chev, had dogs named “Toy”, chain-smoked the same brand of cigarettes, had married and divorced a woman named Linda and remarried a woman named Betty!

In the 1950’s, Stern designed an experiment to prove that the right environment could create a genius! He used his daughter Edith as the subject of his experiment He played classical music to her, engaged her in mathematics and showed her flash cards from infancy. By the time she was 5, she was able to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica … and at the age of 18, she had obtained a PhD at Michigan State University! Do you feel this is largely the result of environmental factors?

In reality, all biological and psychological characteristics are constructed during development  when genes interact with local environmental factors. DNA alone, is simply not sufficient to produce psychological or biological traits. Therefore, when it comes to understanding the development of a trait in a particular person, nature can never be separated from nurture. "Genes are devices for extracting information from the environment. Every minute, every second, the pattern of genes being expressed in your brain changes, often in direct or indirect response to events outside the body. Genes are the mechanisms of experience.“ Matt Ridley