Many scientists, mostly geneticists, have argued for years whether it is our genetics that determine our personality and development versus whether it is our environment that determines our personality and development. According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the issue of nature versus nurture can finally but be put to rest, because there is evidence to show that there is an interaction between biology and environment in early life that determines and greatly influences human development. According to Marla Sokolowski, a genetiscist from University of Toronto, biologists used to believe that our differences between each other are pre-programmed within our genes while psychologists believed that each person was born with a clean slate and over time, each experience molded us into the person we are today.
A study was done by Sokolowski and her colleagues to see how a stressor in early life can affect adult life. They did this study by taking fruit flies and giving them a malnourished diet and observed their behavior later on as they reached the adult stage.Their results showed that the malnourished fruit flies at an early stage had a great impact upon their adult stage. When they gave another group of fruit flies a well nourished diet at an early stage and observed their adult life, they realized the well nourished diet had a great impact upon their adult life. This is due to the fact that the foraging gene made an enzyme called PKG. When the fruit fly is malnourished, there is a low level of PKG produced, hence the not so health fruit flies that resulted. But when the fruit fly is well nourished, the PKG level is high. This proves that genes work hand in hand with the environment.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112721044/impact-adversity-early-life-development-102612/
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