English Explanatory Dictionary

nature versus nurture

English dictionary entry

Meanings

phrase
  1. Comparing how a person's characteristics are formed, either by innate biological factors such as genetics (nature), or by upbringing and life experience (nurture).

Word forms

nature versus nurture nature vs nurture nature vs. nurture

Etymology

The phrase was coined in the mid-1800s by the English Victorian polymath Francis Galton in discussion about the influence of heredity and environment on social advancement.

Related words

polygenic sociogenomics
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