Nature vs. Nurture
To any decently educated or aware person, the "nature versus nurture" argument is nothing new. Something else that is not new is the idea that while there are arguments for both, there always seems to be one idea that is more prevalent and "true" than the others. Such is the case with the microcosm of "nature versus nurture" that is in play when it comes to the work of Patricia Greenfield. Her initial statements in a recent article are very much a framing of a "nature versus nurture" argument and then she provides her version of the answer. While some might disagree with what Ms. Greenfield has to say, it is fairly clear that she is rather spot-on in her analysis and decision when it comes to the subject in question.
Analysis
The primary so-called battlefield of nature versus nurture that Ms. Greenfield approaches and talks about is the concept of whether ability and competency assessments can cross cultural lines. In other words,...
Ms. Greenfield points out that some people say yes and others no. However, Greenfield's verdict is that it is not true that skill inventories can just transfer over and it is entirely because of the fact that cultures are different and thus there is no notion that there is anything near a 1:1 transfer ratio when it comes to the shifting of skill sets from one culture or country to another. In other words, what serves well to get one by in Australia is not necessarily (and probably won't) work well (if at all) in other countries like Kenya or Libya, just to name two rather obvious ones. The reasons for this are explained by Ms. Greenfield are obvious and make sense and she absolutely proves the idea suggested in the title of the article, that being "you can't take it with you" (Greenfield, 1997).
Of course, there are some skills and traits that transfer well and there are plenty of cultures that are similar enough that the merging from one culture to another is not nearly as traumatic or "shocking" as would be the case with certain other pairs. Ms. Greenfield is not really presenting any new ideas but she absolutely shows the dichotomy of ideas…
