The heredity versus environment discussion has been a classic argument among experts for centuries. Currently, there is no clear conclusion to the argument; however, there are many theories. Researchers on both sides of this argument have been exploring this argument thoroughly. The purpose of this essay is to prove that the mental ability of a person is determined by his genetics, along with his environment, which affects it more.

The nature side of the dispute says that a person maintains his mental ability only based on what he is born with genetically. In order to defend this side of the debate wholly we would establish that a person's environment plays no role in determining his mental ability.

There are a couple of reasons for a person to think that genetics play a large part in a person's intelligence. When considering the biology of heredity, it is obvious that genes give humans their own physical equipment. Genes and chromosomes are passed on from each generation to the next. Thus, humans would have nothing to hand down biologically to their offspring without genetics and therefore the idea of genetics being meaningless is wrong.

Kagan and Haverman define operant conditioning as the process by which, through learning, free operant behavior becomes attached to a specific stimulus (578). John Watson conducted a substantial experiment in 1913 concerning behaviorism. He has become well- known as the psychologist who played a large role in the research of behaviorism, which is a division of operant conditioning. Watson used an 11-month-old boy to prove that a person could be conditioned to be afraid of something by which he was not previously affected. The baby used, Albert, was put into a room with no other human and no other distracters present. Watson placed a white rat in the room. Albert seemed to like the rat; he even showed affection towards it. Some time later, Watson would produce a very loud and displeasing noise every time Albert would reach out to touch the rat. As a result, the baby became terrified of every white and furry object in which he came in contact. This distinguished investigation became known as the "Albert experiment" (Kagan and Havemann 94). This established that humans could be taught certain feelings and fears through their environment, with which they were not born (Morris and Maisto 15). Experiments such as these ones prove that a person's environment can have a crucial effect on him and on his manner of thinking. Much research followed experiments like Watson's. Psychologists have always been enticed by factors, namely environment, that affect humans.

· Kagan, Jerome, and Earnest Havermann. Psychology: An Introduction. 4th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, Inc., 1980.

· Herrnstein, Richard J., and Charles Murray. The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. New York: The Free Press, 1994.

Much current research examines influences on intelligence. (Researchers) examine the extent to which children's surroundings influence their intellect. In a prior study, they found that children adopted before age 1 into high-income families displayed particularly large IQ gains by adolescence. The new(er) stud(ies) expanded on that (conception) (Bower 54-55).

· Wright, Karen, "Why Are You So Smart?" Discover October 1999. 24 October 2000 .

Adoption studies have also somewhat shown that a person's environment plays an important role in his mental ability. For example, a study done with adoptive children raised in the same house had very similar IQs. Granted this does not seem like considerable evidence; however, these children were in no way related genetically. Their environment growing up provided them with similar aptitudes for learning and for retaining information (Kagan and Havemann 39). "Fraternal twins (who share approximately half of their genes) present an informative contrast... (B)ecause they are raised in the same environment but are not genetically identical, they help us to see the influence of environmental factors"

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Approximate Word count = 1988
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)