Nature Vs Nurture Essay

French philosopher, René Descartes once said: "We all, as individual human beings, have certain innate ideas that enduringly underpin our approach to the world" (Joseph, 2001). Crime as it is known has been considered a social failure, a political nuisance, a spiritual condiment, and an economic dismay (Joseph, 2001). As the years progress, there has been great debate over what elements play a part in an individuals decision to commit crime. One largely discussed topic in the debate on what causes crime is nature versus nurture. The debate on Nature versus nurture is widely important due to its consideration in an individual’s biological make-up as well as their environment (Tehrani & Mednick, 2000). This debate has continued to be tested through the theories of twin, adoption, and family studies. One successful psychological theory used to test the idea of nature versus nurture is twin

Tehrani & Mednick (2000) expressed that many researchers consider that people conduct themselves in a manner in which they respond to their genetic tendency. This is the nature theory of human conduct. On the other hand, other researchers believe that individuals comprehend and perform based on what they have been exposed to. This is the nurture theory of human conduct (Tehrani & Mednick, 2000). There have been large disputes between scientists claiming that scientific research largely supports the concept of a heritable source to criminal behavior. Essential studies impelling scientific sentiments of nature versus nurture are studies conducted on correlating monozygotic to dizygotic twin pairs (Rhee & Waldman, 2002). Monozygotic twins are identical twin sets whereas, dizygotic are fraternal twin sets. Generally, these types of research studies are utilized to measure the parts genetic and environmental influences play on an