1. Early Ideas - Galton and "Nature"

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)  was British Psychologist.  In 1865 he began to study heredity, partly brought on by reading his cousin, Charles Darwin's publication Origin of Species (Clayes, 2001). Galton soon discovered that his true passion was studying the variations in human ability. In particular, he was convinced that success was due to superior qualities passed down to offspring through heredity.  His ideas influenced Spearman and Terman, who published the revised Stanford-Binet intelligence test and the eugenics movement.... 

Although Galton is most highly recognized for his heredity studies and his proliferation of eugenics ideology, he also made many other highly notable contributions to the fields of biology, psychology, statistics, and education. Galton is recognized as the "father of behavioral genetics" for his ground laying twin studies where he looked at the differences between monozygotic and dizygotic twins. His observations and testing approaches led to findings examining the nature versus nurture elements of mental abilities. While he may have led claim to this still widely studied dichotomy, his beliefs weighed heavily on the genetic predisposition to abilities in general. from Dr. Jonathan Plucker (jplucker AT indiana.edu) http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eintell/galton.shtml.

Galton in his book "Englishmen of Science: Their Nature and Nurture" was the first one to coin the phrase Nature vs. Nurture. which was to become the debate over what controlled human behaviour.

Due to Galton, Binet and other early influences, ideas about abilities and chances for success, tended to gravitate towards a biological or genetic component.  In other words, one's nature ( or genes) controlled who and what a person became. Early studies with families and twin studies led to the discussion about the effect of one's environment and upbringing or nurture. 

Thus began the debate know as Nature vs Nurture.  Some views about this are extreme, leaning to one way or another.Â