The Succinct Shrink Answers:

Nature or Nurture? It’s Epigenetics, Baby

Reader Question: “My grandmother was emotionally abusive to my mother, and I realize my mother has been emotionally abusive to me. I’ve tried hard not to walk in her footsteps, but I’m worried it may be out of my hands. Are the genes I’ve inherited my destiny?”

One of the oldest debates in psychology has been whether we are essentially the product of our genes, or the product of our environment. This has been referred to as the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate.

I was born with my mother’s red hair and my father’s light eyes; we’ve known for decades that those traits of biology are genetic (nature).

But what about my passion for reading and writing — something neither of my parents shared. Did I inherit a random gene for language arts that skipped my parents?

Nope. Not likely.

I was more fortunate than my parents in many ways; I had great early experiences with reading, easy access to a rich public library as a child, and teachers who encouraged my love of writing. I had a childhood environment which allowed those abilities to flourish (nurture). Was this positive environment solely responsible for my fluency in language arts?