• Question: why do people behave the way they do?

    Asked by anon-21208 to Jemma, John, Lisa, Sam on 28 May 2012. This question was also asked by natrualme.
    • Photo: Jemma Ransom

      Jemma Ransom answered on 28 May 2012:

      Hi @11hew! how are you?

      that’s a very interesting question – I’m not sure I can answer that within the word allowance I have here, but I’ll certainly give it a go!

      There are lots of arguments about why people behave the way they do. The biggest one of course is the so-called nature vs nurture argument. Are we the way we are because of our genes, or because of the environment we grew up in?

      There’s no real answer to this one. The group of people who think we are what our genes are point at studies of identical twins. These people have exactly the same genetic make-up, and can offer insights into whether it is our genes that make us. However if you agree with the ‘nurture’ group you are likely to look at studies of children who have been mistreated to determine adult behaviour.

      To sum up (and I realise I’ve only really outlined the argument here!) There is no conensus in the scientific community on this one. We need bright sparks such as yourself to join in and make this the subject of your career to sort it out!

      Hope that sort of answers your question
      Jemma

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