DO YOU have your mother’s DIY skills, your father’s sense of humour or your granddad’s love of cooking? What or who is to blame for your short temper, your inability to draw or your hatred of radishes?
Whether the differences between people are down to nature or nurture, genes or environment, has long divided scientists and philosophers alike. Now, it appears we have all been overlooking a third factor: sheer chance.
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It turns out that random fluctuations of molecules inside our developing brain cells may play a role in their eventual wiring diagram, swaying developmental outcomes such as how extroverted, intelligent or resilient we are, as we report in our feature on page 36.
If this idea is accepted at large, it would be a welcome counterweight to the widely held notion that problematic parenting is to blame for personality and behavioural issues. Parent blaming is a profitable industry, as shown by the plethora of books, courses and websites on raising children that are available these days. Their conflicting advice on everyday things, such as food, discipline or screen time, can leave caregivers agonising over the minutiae of their decisions.
In fact, most well-conducted genetic studies already show that, other than in cases of abuse or neglect, parenting styles have little lasting impact, so this new research won’t be surprising to some. Nevertheless, it is fascinating that we are homing in on what is actually shaping us, outside of genes and environment – namely, a multitude of tiny inputs that are probably beyond parents’ control.
This latest view of child development is bad news for anyone who would seek to mould their offspring in their image, but cheering for those with a less deterministic view of human destiny. It is clear that the workings of the human brain are complex and chaotic beyond our current understanding. For now, at least, let’s hope this allows over-analysing caregivers a chance to take their foot off the gas and leave a few things up to luck.
