Motivation and emotion in human behavior

¶ … personality has been influenced both by nature and by nurture, considering that I have come to identify in it a series of factors that originate in my genetic background and that come from the environment that I grew up in. Even with the fact that I would prefer to consider myself as being a unique individual, I am well aware that there are numerous individuals who think and behave relatively similar to me. There are a lot of traits in me that I observe to be similar to the same traits in my parents, thus meaning that I have genetically inherited their behavior.

While most people would prefer to believe that their personalities are only shaped by themselves, I know that genetics and the surrounding environment both played an important role in my upbringing and in developing my personal identity.

My self-esteem has been significantly influenced by nurture, taking into account that my father's family has a history of optimism, especially during the adolescence period. The fact that I did not spend a lot of time with my father during my childhood because he was constantly working also contributes to me thinking that he did not personally have an influence on me. Instead, genetics made it possible for me to associate self-esteem with optimism and to express a general form of reluctance regarding any kind of activities that could damage my confidence in myself. It is not necessarily that I did not live in an environment providing me with the feeling that I need to respect myself, but when considering my half-brother's attitude regarding life and his low self-esteem, I came to have the impression that genetics played an essential role when considering my self-esteem.

B. 1. The nature vs. nurture debate has been present in society ever since the beginning of time, considering that people have always had trouble trying to determine whether they are more severely influenced by genetics or by the environment that they live in. Even with the fact that I have seen numerous examples pointing toward the belief that nature does, indeed, have a very strong influence on how people's thinking and behavior are shaped, I consider that the environment that a person lives in plays a decisive role in shaping the respective individual's personal identity. Someone can have a genetic background that would provide him or her with things like a superior form of intelligence and a great amount of self-esteem, but he or she is likely to experience significant problems throughout his or her life if the environment that he or she lives in prevents him or her from putting these attributes to work. Such an environment can limit an individual and can make it impossible for him or her to have success. The same thing applies in the situation of a person who comes from a family known to have problems as a result of low levels of intelligence and self-esteem. He or she can be especially successful as long as the environment that he or she lives in assists him or her greatly.