Parents Matter, Don't They?"

Multitudes of research have been done to answer this seemingly simple question. The question is really quite basic; which has the most profound affect on a child's behavior and personality, nature or nurture (heredity vs. environment)? Behaviorists argue that the parents' actions and methods of child rearing have a direct bearing on the outcome. Environment definitely makes a difference. Some geneticists, however, strongly disagree. According to them, once the parent has donated his or her gene pool, their contributing influence on the development of an individual is complete (King). In fact, Sandra Scarr "asserts that genes are the primary determinant of developmental outcomes. Thus, once parents have passed on their genes to their children, the most important work is done" (King). Judith Harris continued in this vein with her book, The Nurture Assumption: Why Children turn Out the Way They Do. Then, there are those who...
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