Nature - Nurture

A frequent but unanswered question is how much of patterns of thinking and acting is part of the nature of man and how much is learned (nurture). The first picture of the gallery on the left deals with that question and may be found in many textbooks (but I did not see a proper reference yet). The picture is clear by its simplification but also raises a series of questions. For instance, how universal is the nature of man? We do know that climate affects your bloodstream and even your taste; and certainly the nature of men and women are not the same. Hence, the picture may offer some understanding of the relationship between nature and nurture but should not be used in any strict, delineating way.

If you open the stack you may see two additional pictures, developed by Hofman. They use the idea in somewhat more detail. The second picture shows the overlap of three of these triangles, representing three different persons. The third picture adds details to each of the layers.