Nature vs. nurture remains one of the most compelling debates in the field of psychology. Most likely, human beings are a product of both nature and nurture. Our genes determine a lot of who we are, including our physical appearance and our psychological makeup. In fact, our physical appearance can sometimes affect how people react to us. Physical traits may affect who our friends are and in some cases, whether discrimination will become a part of our lives.

On the other hand, how we are raised and in what environment also has a strong bearing on what kind of human being we become. As Walt Whitman suggests in his poem "There was a Child went Forth," parents give their children not just their DNA. Parents give "more of themselves" than that, because children learn through observation and can pick up emotions. Children absorb verbal and nonverbal communications and internalize the stimuli in their environments. The child in Whitman's poem absorbs his total surroundings and not just his parents. A personal identity is constructed of the social norms, beliefs, and aesthetic values in the society. Moreover, traumatic and pleasurable memories alike become part of who we are as adults. How a person deals with stress, and what stressors enter their world, are also determined in part by nature and in part by nurture.

It is impossible to escape either DNA or experiences. Both leave indelible marks on human beings. A person can have plastic surgery to change his or her appearance but can never change the underlying cellular structures in their bodies. Similarly, a person can undergo psychological counseling to work on childhood trauma issues but can never extricate the memory from consciousness. The ways nature and nurture interact in the human being does not stop after childhood, either. Even as adults, people continue to absorb their environmental stimuli. Their genes may even determine how well they live and when they will die.