“Our first impressions are generated by our experiences and our environment, which means that we can change our first impressions by changing the experiences that comprise those impressions.” (Gladwell, 2005, p.97). We are, to a certain extent, the person we are, but the reality is that for reasons unknown to us, there are just certain people with which we do not “click.” It may be ground into our genes or it may have been structured into our thoughts and beliefs by the environment. The same goes for our own first impressions. We are naturally going to look a certain way or have a certain talent that gets people’s attention, but we still have the ability to change, at least partially, the first impression we show other people. There is no doubt that genetics determine a part of who we are as individuals, but nature is not the key component when considering who we become, since, as humans, we, through our social experiences and moral development, are constantly being shaped by the world in which we are surrounded.

Every person is born into this world an individual and it is those initial seconds and minutes after we are born that show the importance nature. Jensen (2005) states, “All humans are unique because of both prenatal differences and postnatal experiences” (p.113). Our prenatal differences are significant because they determine our genes and the way our brain and body form. For example, both my parents have blue eyes and I also have blue eyes. I was also not born with any diseases or addictions because my mother took good care of her body when she was pregnant with me. My dad and my siblings have been diagnosed with ADD in the last couple years. While I have not been diagnosed, I do believe that I have it as well, at least at a minimal level or at a level I’ve learned to control naturally over the years. All of these factors are things that I have no control over; they are what nature has put together for me in my biological make-up. Another biological factor that many people consider is intelligence. According to Gladwell (2008), some people are born with a high level of analytical intelligence which is the type of intelligence measured by I.Q. tests. Oddly, enough, “intelligence has a threshold” (Gladwell, 2008, p.80). Therefore, despite the amount of intelligence a person is born with, the rest of that person’s intelligence, the intelligence that allows us have things like “street smarts”, is actually learned; it is at this point that the value of nurture comes into play.

Nurture is critical when considering the person we each become. After all, our moral development and social experiences are interlinked and both impact the way things turn out for us and various points in our lives. According to Carol Gilligan and Lawrence Kohlberg, moral development happens in a variety of stages. The stage someone actually progresses to will then vary depending on the experiences and opportunities provided. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development has six stages and I feel that I am currently between level three and five on his scale, probably depending on