The nature vs. nurture debate is a longstanding one and it has never been completely resolved. Every time a new research makes a revelation, the understanding of nature vs. nurture personality traits is revisited and a new dimension is often the outcome.
Nature is a person’s innate attributes or quality. It is referred to as nativism. Nurture is a person’s acquired attributes or qualities that have been developed through various circumstances, experiences and grooming. It is referred to as empiricism as well as behaviorism. In that sense, nature doesn’t have much to do with personality traits since they can all be developed. Behaviorism can be honed or influenced by circumstances, learning, socioeconomic and environmental factors, experiences and special initiatives.
However, as it turns out, nature and nurture both play a significant role in personality traits. Genes don’t typically play a role in personality traits. An outspoken father or mother may have an introvert son or daughter. Confident parents may have kids with low self esteem. There is a paradox of dominant and recessive genes but delving into that aspect will be futile since the argument will always hang in balance without any decisive resolution or understanding.
Personality traits are natural to an extent but they can be altered through nurture. A child can be unconfident, may be shy, introvert, socially secluded and might find others hard to trust. All such traits are natural. It is not always genes that play a role in these personality traits. At times, the child can have such traits without any genetic influence. It is just how they have grown up till the time when these traits become obvious. But nurture can attend to all these issues and can even resolve them if special care and attention is provided.
Personality traits that are by the virtue of nature are usually more robust and they tend to stick around for a longer period of time. Nurture, unless effective, will have very little impact. New traits can be developed with nurture quite conveniently. It is getting rid of old natural traits or replacing them that is hard. It is very easy for natural personality traits to recur or prevail over acquired traits or nurtured traits. It only takes a trigger or the absence of the nurturing environment for the natural personal traits to have dominance.
In the battle of nature vs. nurture personality traits, it is the willpower and conviction or the lack of it in the person concerned that always emerges as the winner.