The role of nature and nurture in shaping human behavior - Essay Example

What does research (both from the video, and from your book/lecture) suggest about the role of nature and nurture in shaping human behavior?  The fundamental fact of it is that parents will necessarily want to have the best for their children. To be able to afford for their children greater opportunities later on in life is not an all too bad of an idea. The debate over nature and nurture has been a long-standing one. It is an imperative, from Darwin himself, that genes do affect behavior and personality.

There still is the reality that each person will have different experiences which brings in the forefront personality traits which may not be mutually exclusive to the genetics of personality. Social encounters would develop a person into a natural process of social evolution in himself (Bouchard, Jr. 102). Genetic engineering may allow parents to choose a child with their preferred color of eyes or towering height or a high intelligence quotient but it’s still not going to determine all the other experiences the child will have in life. As Prof. Lee Silver himself said, “if people are willing to spend a hundred thousand dollars to get to Princeton, they’re going to be willing to spend $20,000 to give their children an increase chance at life at a genetic level.

” The main concern is that traits would be selected for purely trivial and aesthetic reasons. The possibility of designer babies suggests that physical and psychological characteristics of a child can be chosen through an elimination process beginning from conception. Super babies whose genetic make-up is specifically selected to ensure superiority could literally be bought by parents. 2-Should parents be given the opportunity to choose the specific physical and psychological characteristics of their children?

Why or why not?  To a certain extent yes, they could be allowed to choose. On a level of practicality and convenience, especially for health reasons, it is very reasonable to allow parents to want to have healthy and normal children. But there exists a fine line between what one wants and what one needs. Among the concerns raised by Dr. Silver is that there could be a social division between the genetically superior against all others who were unfortunate that their parents were not able to afford genetic enhancement.

This is a valid concern that is highly probable should such future be realized. 3-What, if any, specific guidelines or limits do you think should be placed on parents’ capacity to design their own babies? It must be limited to health reasons that are to be validly determined by concerned professionals. Ideally, a structured guideline enforced through a rigid foundation of ethical system must be in place before all of this should be legalized. The possibility that in the process of selection, the parents would require genetic characteristics which they themselves do not have is nothing short of genetic modification.

This is an absurd depiction of why designer babies can be a matter of capricious want of those who can afford and should never be allowed. In general, I do not adhere to the belief of a super baby because then it becomes a commodity and undermines the very brilliance of natural evolution. But it cannot also be denied that genetic engineering has its merits that could help those parents who are in dire need. Bibliography Bouchard Jr., Thomas. “Genes, Environment and Personality.” The Nature-Nurture Debate: The Essential Readings Blackwell. Ed. Ceci, Stephen J.

and Wendy M. Williams. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1999. 98-103. Print. “Designer Babies - Comments by Princeton Professor Lee Silver.” BBC Documentary. YouTube. 2006. Web. 14 June 2011.