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in the percentage of influence the environment or biology may play in the development of the personality, behavior, and the mind of an individual. What percentage are innately "pre-wired" or "programmed" and to what percentage or degree can we deviate or modify from our genetic inheritance?
Nature, Nurture, Transcendence.7

Over the past 60 years, many studies have been used in order to help determine the effects and influence of both genetic and biological influence on cognitive growth, For example, several "twin studies" have been made involving identical (monozygotic or MZ, resulting from a fertilized egg that has divided in two) or fraternal (dizygotic or DZ, resulting from two fertilized eggs) twins. The most famous was the "Minnesota Twin Study Test" by Dr. Thomas J. Bouchard. Because MZ twins are genetically identical and both MZ and DZ twins have generally been reared in identical family environments, it is possible to compare both the similarities and differences within pairs to determine whether the genes or environment play the determining role (Johnson, 1999).

Through his studies, Dr. Bouchard came to the conclusion that the relative influence of hereditary, as opposed to environmentally acquired characteristics, indicates our genes are about three times as influential as that of environmental/social upbringing. Here is where the ideology of a "70/30 ratio," (70 percent genetic influence, 30 percent environmental) quantitatively captures the characteristics of a small population, but still sided us in our understandings of the methods in which nature and nurture interact to help build the framework of our lives (Wright, 1998). Though the 70/30 ratio attempts to quantitatively measure the degree of influence the two have on our lives, it contains several flaws. Both the twin studies and the 70/30 ratio are addressed later in this paper.

Nature, Nurture, Transcendence8
Chapter II
Genetics vs. Socio-Environmental Influences

Neuroscience over the past two decades has made remarkable strides, now allowing us to more precisely examine the role and functions of neurons, the synapse, dendrites, and neurotransmitters. Along these great strides, neuroscience has been to show that the nature/nurture argument operates around a false dichotomy. This is the assumption that biology, on one hand, and lived experience, on the other, affect us in essentially different ways. Research has shown that not only do nature and nurture each contribute (in disputable proportions)

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