Are we just products of our environment?

Question

Are we just products of our environment?

Answer 1

no, we are a combination of environment and genetics

Answer 2

no, we are products of the interplay of our environment and genetics.

take for example the genes for intelligence.  

given two possibilities (in actuality there are a broad spectrum of possibilities, but for simplicities sake, we'll limit our example to the two extremes) the best genes for intelligence and the worst, given equal stimulation, the better genes will produce a far more intelligent subject.  But if the subject with the worse genes is given a highly stimulating environment and the subject with the best genes is given an environment virtually devoid of stimulation, than the gap between the two subjects narrows and the subject with the worst genes may actually develop better intelligence than the subject with the best genes.  

Answer 3

In a sense, yes. One of the best things that set us aside in nature though is that we are able to create the environment around us to a large degree.

Answer 4

Well, the way most people use that sentence is as an excuse for their own behavior and failures. In a way, yes, the experiences we go through (from birth until present), good and bad, our parents, how we were raised, our neighbor hood, our schools, our friends (or lack of them), religious beliefs or the beliefs of our family, our own personality, and how we deal with and respond to each and every situation and conversation...they all together make us who we are today.

If our environment is what would form who we are and how we live we whouldn't be so different. A family of 10 kids can grow up in the same house, with the same 2 parents, go to the same schools (at different years of course) and still end up being totally different, or at least having a "black sheep" of the family.

We cannot learn from something we have not experienced, so what and who we encounter in life can effect us in a negative or positive way. However, we are not JUST products of our environment.  

Answer 5

Probably somewhat...but more importantly (right now) is that our environment is a product of us!

Answer 6

I agree with Vitki, nature and nurture are both important in determining our qualities.