HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT AS BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS.
Heredity is the biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next. Genetic information is found in the DNA contained inside chromosomes. Short segments of chromosomes are called genes, which are the units of hereditary information. Every person has two genes for each characteristic governed by heredity. When genes combine to determine our characteristics, some genes are dominant over others. This is the dominant-recessive gene principle, which states that if one gene of a pair is dominant and the other is recessive, the dominant gene exerts its effect, overriding the potential influence of the recessive gene. Often, the term "nature" is used to describe an organism's biological inheritance.
But although genes play an important role in the development of human behavior, they alone do not determine who we are. Genes exist within the context of a complex environment, which refers to all of the surrounding conditions and influences that affect the development of living things. It includes the food we eat, the city we live in, our relationships with the people around us, our interactions with the world, and the many other different physical and social contexts we experience. Hence, the term "nature" is often used to describe an organism's environmental experiences. .
The interaction of nature and nurture, heredity and environment, influences every aspect of the human mind and behavior to a certain degree. In sum, both genes and environment are necessary for a person to even exist.