The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

I would say that I'm more on the nature side. My environment was a stable family life that was middle class. I started drinking my own blood, (at least when I can remember), when I was 3 years old. At that time, my parents never let me watch any horror films or anything that wasn't PG. In addition, I was born hearing-impaired and caption was not invented so I couldn't understand anything in the media anyways. I did not learn about vampires until I was 9 or 10 years old. The type of music that was played around me was like New Kids on the Block. I feel that I was born the way I was because my environment was not set up to create or encourage a lifestyle as a creature of darkness.

I believe its what has happened in past lives, doesnt matter where you are on your lifes line you always tend to do/be the same ie a soldier, a hunter, a carer etc etc etc....the only difference is the people in your present life helps guide you so you learn more for your next life.....

i believe that the environment you were in has a lot to do with things.

My past, my lives history if you will, has been referenced in a few scholarly journals and many professors have made comment that I’d make a great case study for various subject areas. I’m no lab rat, thank you but I do feel I have ample ability to answer this.

My environment definitely HELPED shape me as I grew up but as an adult I know I have the ability to change any of those influences if I so choose to work on it.

My genetics also shaped HELPED shape me but sadly we all can’t really change our genetics, well not yet.

I’m in the school of thought that we are products of three things, Our Environment, Our Genetics, and most importantly Ourselves.

SO Sacred, what is you personal answer to your own question?

I am also of the mind thatseveral factors influence who you become.

Genetics or nature certainly cause your physical make up and can predispose you for illnesses or mental disorders that can influence how your life develops.

Your upbringing can expose you to influences that can cause you to take certain paths in life in lieu of others. It also affects you knowledge base and what predjuduces you may posses.

And, as Alchemist stated, your own "self" certainly has a great deal of influence. People can, and do "reinvent" themselves, either to get away from a lifestyle that they percieved as negative or limiting, or, sometimes, just for the hell of it!

I think there are no hard and fast rules over which of these factors has the majority inluence over who we bocome as "a whole". Each has some influence over every aspect of our being and the marvelous, mysterious result is what makes each of us unique.

KCRC - “Negative” and especially “limiting” are two very appropriate words to describe some of my choices but “just for the hell of it”, works well too. :)

It's always a combination of both, really. There are parts of your genetic makeup that effect your personality and determine the way you will respond to environmental factors. Then there are the environmental factors that shape who you are.

I don't think it's a matter of asking which you're a product of, nature or nurture... more as it is, just how much has your environment effected who you are?

I agree Birra. I also think though that the environment affects us more than we often know or give credit for. Things that influence us aren't always obvious or dramatic. I have been heavily influenced both negatively and positively by my peers, my family, the media, music and more. To be honest, everything you come into contact with will be an influence either because you appreciated it or because you didn't like it. However subtly, that will affect your future choices and actions.

My first influences in vampires were from my mother who had a book of the month club, so I read Dracula at a very young age (as well as All Quiet on the Western Front :) She had only a few records but from a wide variety of music so I learned to appreciate a variety of styles: Rock, Jazz, Country, Pop.

On an interesting note about subculture, I can specifically remember when my grandparents first saw someone in the goth/punk scene around 1980 and they asked me quite pointedly, "your not ever going to look like that are you?" and so the seed was planted...to their shock and dismay years later.

I believe that my environment shaped my ability to be what i would be, however it was always my nature that led me to the path that i now walk, boh nature and nurture are agressively linked to the psychological outcome of the human mind.

The environment of this world hasn't effected who i am but has some effect of what I believe in.

nature makes you wat you are, the enviroment makes ur beliefs

I think that the way I was brought up greatly affected the way I am today. The way you're raised shapes and molds the way you're going to be. I definately say nurture over nature. Sure your genetics play an almost equal role, but for some, the environment they're in makes the two just slightly unequal.

With me its more nature than nurture. I grew up with a loving mother and a supportive church family. I grew up on christian rock music (even then I perfered the dark kind). Was a boyscout. And by the time I was in middle school,was part of the church council. And yet I have always thought of the human race as little more than cattle. Less even.

I think I am a product of both nature and nurture. With my family magic and spiritual things have always been a part of my life. My mom never stopped us from doing what we thought we needed to do so our own nature was allowed to come out.

In my case it was my environment that has changed me. Moreover the people I have encountered that have taken me from the good-willed helpful person I was to the vengeful, hatred, thing I have become

I'd say it's nature and nurture in approximately equal parts. It's my experiences in life that determine everything I've ever seen or known, and therefore what my thoughts and opinions are, but it's my nature that interprets everything and results in those thoughts and opinions.

From what I've heard from my parents, I've always been a thoughtful kind of person and I've always questioned things, ever since I was just a little kid. If I hadn't always been asking questions and seeking knowledge, all the books in the world couldn't have made me any smarter.

None of my experiences would have mattered, because I'd take everything at face value or dismiss it out of hand like so many people I know do. Because of my nature, I've been able to take all the things that have happened in my life, and forge a relatively interesting and useful personality out of it.

I think that each and every one of us is a product of nature AND nurture and well as the effects of our past lives. Our parents gave us some qualities that there is not shaking. Growing up isolated or abused or a happy well rounded child can have different effects on us as adults as well. Our past lives may or may not have shown us things that will change our view of the world and people in it and oddly I am finding that there is no recipe to make people like us. We may have similar qualities but none of us a nearly identical. What has led us to this point in our lives is entirely unique.

hmm I had to think on this on for a bit but I think it was nature I was born this way.

Our nature is perfection... everything arround us clouds this. Even a positive nurturing experience can retard "buddahood." There is no good or bad, only experience; and all roads lead to the same destination. Welcome to our retarded world.

I think it's nature. My family members are not very religious and yet they believe in God as I do. But I'm still more gothic then anything else.

Ouch! This is a tough subject. I tend to believe we , or should I say, I am a creature of my environment. But if you have studied Sociology, you know they tend to say a bit of both, but the nurture is very important. I personally didn't get nurture, I got the belt!!! So, it wasn't good for me, but I swore I would never be my parents, and didn't beat my kids. I barely ever touched them, except lots of hugs and kisses! Thats nurture! Go figure!

Everyone is born with a particular Nature, which in itself, is a combination of both parents and their natures, which is a rhythm carried in your genetic make up.

Your environment simply adds to what your nature already is, however if you grow up in a hostile environment it doesn't necessarily mean that you will turn out hostile because your nature will dictate your deeds as will you WILL to do what is right or wrong or to be accepted by those around you with lesser will power.
Remembering that your nature is inherited and that your social envriorns can only tempt a side of your nature, your will to follow or lead or be seperate from.

I am going to have to say both. I was raised in a loving middle class American family. Allowed to watch what I wanted on T.V. I think goes along the lines of "It's all in how you look at it."

An excellent topic. To answer you, I can only say "both". I too was raised in a middle-class American family, never really wanting for anything. But then life kicks in after you move out and all the raising in the world can only be a beginning point for steering your way through the world. After that, your environment very much has a lot to do with who you ultimately become. I was that way, but I consider myself stronger for my experiences...

You become who you hang out with. That's a very true statement. If you want success, you hang out with the successful. If you hang out with losers, you'll eventually pick up on their habits instead.

I'm a bit of both, my rents raised me to be me and not give a fuck but sometimes the media and what people say do influence me.

Sacred... I like your threads ^smile^ they make me think.

I think I will start with a personal response then make it a bit more global, k? No confusion (or as little as possible).

I was raised to be whoever I wanted to be, I chose to become the person I am now. By nature, I am curious and calm (with outbursts of passion, but no bottled emotions, I express what I feel when I feel it). By nurture, I have learned the importance of honesty, kindness, and acceptance. My mother was never anything less than these three things, and she has taught me how to treat others.

To make it more geneeral, we are who we are through a combination of both. Nature develops the person we are to ourselves. Nature also affects emotions in how much power they have over our minds. Nurture/experience affects how we percieve and treat others, for good or bad. Holding this to be true, it is possible to then also say that sometimes nurture will override nature. This would explain why some people will feel seperated from themselves and unhappy. It is also possible to conclude that contentment and happiness comes from a balance between nature and nurture, and that niether one has more influence than the other.

So then, going off the last question (I forgot who posed it), it seems more logical to ask, how much balance is there between nature and nurture in your life?

We are born who we are born to be, but our environment influences the extent to which we achieve our potential.

I believe there is no way to escape outside influences. Everything anyone and anything says or does, be it nature, your friend, the wind, the climate in your area, the educators in your life, role models, everything in this world makes you who you are today.

Nature gives certain people strange [for lack of a better word] 'gifts', in which people have a greater tendency to be one thing or another, but the majority of us are not predisposed to be that.. in this respect it is a choice we make in our lives to become something we desire to be. This is the tug-of-war between our will and what influences us.

If one thinks about it, we can actually control our own influences. If we bias our influences, say to a certain ideology, we will thus create our own influence to that ideology. It's the whole balance thing here; we can tip it in our favour or we can let life tip it in its favour. Personally I like to tip it both ways for a little variety. I make choose my own influences, and other times I let life influence me.

Balance, the key to a good life, according to me. :)

Sacred, I see your point about the environment could be causing people to do the opposite. I'm going to revise my definition. I think that nature and nurture work together. Nature does about 80% of the work. The environment can only bring out or suppress what is in the person's nature. For example, I have the potential for schizophrenia but it never happened because my environment didn't nurture the genes.

Sacred - exactly my point...not every aspect of environmental influence is in good, nurturing parents or school. Sometimes, a thing can be brief... a mere blip on the radar of life and have a profound influence on us (either negatively or positively). Maybe a news broadcast, maybe a single day with a substitute teacher, maybe those early days spent with a friend or a single book...or even a single page in a book. Anything can leave an imperceptible mark in our lives that will influence future choices and create a completely different path from one prior to that mark.

Someone mentioned ripples in a pond...it's a great metaphor because the ripples grow ever larger just as a minor event can progressively influence us with greater and greater results as following choices reinforce it.

Nature of course has an aspect in our makeup, things like physical appearance will affect how others treat us and this in turn will direct how we grow in response. Physical sensitivity to certain things can reinforce habits for or against something. And yes, there are basic personality aspects that I feel can be seeds in our genetic makeup. However, I don't necessarily think that we are born more angry or kind or more likely to be bad than someone else anymore than I believe that 'certain breeds of dog are vicious." It's an argument that leads us to terrible consequences like breed bans and human eugenics.

personally i think its a little bit of both that made me who i am. my mom was crazy with the way she worried about me and was a lil overprotective and im sure that helped with the way i pulled away from my family but it also made me lucky adn fortunate. at the same time my mom raised me one way and the way i live is absolutely nothing like that. i was raised catholic and im a lesbian. so nature and nurture play large roles in everything with everyone. i think.

Wow.. interesting thread! Um I never really thought about it.. I was raised in a loving, middle class, two parent, christian home.. I was always a bit on the quirky side growing up and I was different than my sibs. I think as an adult I was drawn to people and environments that encouraged my personality and beliefs.. Then again a TON of less than desirable experiences probably altered my way of thinking as well.. so I still don't know! lol.. Then you could add a third factor in there ..predestination.."everything happens for a reason" hehe..

This thread has brought up a lot of very interesting points. All of which are in essence true. But we are all born what we are. Enviroment only shapes how it is expressed. A (and I use this term for lack of a better one) murderer is a murderer, but in the army he's a soldier. And I have no intentions of ill will towards any soldier of any nation. I'm just stating a fact.

A lion may be raised in a zoo, but should it ever end up in the wild. Its true Nature will either surface or it will die.

Liek I said ealier. I grew up in a church. Was accepted as a child to be equal to those who were members most of thier lives. But in the end my true nature is that of a predatory animal. My enviroment only made me fight it for so long. And guess what. Nature beat Nurture.

This is one of those eternal debates, and the bottom line is that we're a bit of both.

Our genetic make up determines certain things about us - certain aptitudes. For example - Lance Armstrong has certain physical advantages that make him a great distance biker. Some of these are genetic (heart size, limb size, etc.)

Our experiences, however, do play quite a role. The brain is largely unwired at birth and it is our experiences that create the associative pathways - and those pathways continue to be formed throughout life...

So at the end of the day, we're a product of both...

I would say nature. There is nothing from my childhood that would have brought me towards this future. Only my decisions and the already ingrained nature that has been with me since I was younger could have caused such changes in me. And those who have known me throughout those years agree that if my family and social life governed the way I am I never would know half of what I know now, nor would I care.

Thanks, I appreciate that!

Let's look at it quickly from the aspect of health. Both the medical and mental health fields have done countless studies using identical twins as subjects to try and discover the differences between nature vs. nurture. The nature in this case, being constant - identical twins have the same genetic makeup.

But the environments they exist in effects who they become - emotionally, mentally, health wise... no matter how much someone might want to deny the environment and events in our lives don't effect him/her, it definitely has an effect.

For example:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2984519.stm

Just food for thought.. no pun intended.

I agree with Birra and Felix. We are a product of both. While our environment shapes who we are, our mind is our own. Ever notice how when you hang out with one person for a long time, you start to talk or act like them? Of course thats going to happen, but nothing can change ones beliefs, morals, and ideals.

wow, i was just minding my own buisness looking @ the forum when i notice one of the oldest psychiatric debates in existance....lol.
i think a surprising amount of what a person is happens to be based off or nature and hereditary traits..... way more than i'd like to give credit to or admit in most cases, but i also beleive that your envirnment can often make or break you, and that personal choices are key to nearly everything about this topic, and free will is the wild card here.

Wait.. I can already speak Canadian when I'm oooot and aboooot.

And Tim Horton's is SOOO much better than Starbucks... but I digress.

See how much our environment effects us?

It is not ever purely nature or nurture. We are born with inherant tenencies that are either accuetuated or discouraged by our environment.

I am, for a fact, a mix of both my environment and my inner nature. It's hard to believe that someone's environment did not play some part in helping to shape who the person has become. Sure, nature could interfere, but it can only go so far. It can not shape a person wholly.

Very good questian!

I was fortunate to have been raised in different enviorments, ones that are total oposites of eachother. One , I was raised on a farm , a working farm......hard work was part of our lives, Then , second, the big city, Mesa ,Az, ...living off those profits of hard work , I might add! Two totally different worlds, ....have now gone back to my roots... I prefer the no-nonsence laid-back and honesty of country life . Simplicity and logic.....is just a part of it! You apperciate your neighbors and friends ,....and can count on them when in need......Living in town ,..... on the other hand is WAY different! You can live next to a person for 20 years and NOT even know there names!

Now , upbringing, ......nurture , vs , nature....I belive you are who you are from the get go , your a survivor or not.....you are delt a hand in life , and how you play that hand , is up to you! You cannot blame others or your parents! That is a total cop out , and nothing will convice me otherwise! When delt lemons , you make lemonade , lemon mariange, or you sell or trade the bastards for pomagranets! Whatever ! The point is , you work with what you got and go for it! Make it work , weather it be a life or a career ! Remember!..."There is a Five Dollar Fine For Whinning!"

I think it is a little bit of both. My friends and family have had an impact on my present self for sure, but I had the natural will to bend to my environment. Does that make sense?

I would say the enviroment. I wasn`t born a Vamp ,but i have always been intrested in them..

My father, God rest his soul, was the biggest influence in my life as far as my love for the supernatural and so forth-although I got my love of reading from both sides of the family in SPADES...lol
Saturday, after he had worked half a day at his practice, he would come home, make lunch for my brother and myself, put Steve down for a nap, and then the next few hours were ours- and they usually involved watching Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Star Trek, or something to that effect....Dark Shadows was a natural extension to that on the weekdays, when I would deliberately cut play dates short to go home and watch it. The rest, as they say, is history...lol

Not having been nurtured much in my life, I would have to say that Nature has pretty much shaped whatever personality I now possess! Morals were instilled in me from the get-go and I don't believe I could cheat, steal, or swindle anything out of anyone! I cannot conceive of having a relationship with a woman without loving her, nor loving someone without first being their friend! If these things are 'old fashioned' then so be it!
It is my 'Nature' to be what I am and have no pity for those who go against their 'Nature' just to get along better in Society!

Kglitterous I like the point you made but in "buddahood" as you put it the whole key to it is giving up the wants in life if you do that then everything else will follow and not seem retarded :)

I have to say that I, also, am more of a product of nature. I am one of six siblings, and we have all grown up more or less in the same way. However, we are all completely different in lifestyles, likes, dislikes, ect. I believe it's just because we were all born a certain way to become the people we are now.

Wow...for me I would have to say both Nature and Nurture...I always went toward the darker things even as a small child and my mother let me explore and learn the things I chose. She gave me the information for all things around me and then let me be me..also there are Wiccan ties in my familys past so all in all it just came very natrually to me from both points of view...

I was born the way I am, unfortunately my parents died when I was quite young.So I never had the opportunity to know them as adults and their belief systems.But always suspected my Mum was a vampire.And I suppose since I never had anyone pressuring me either way.I evolved naturally without external ideas or beliefs.I have been awakened for some time and before that I like so many, always knew I was a bit different than most.

free will was mentioned by someone (i forgot.. sorry!). I think that is a very interestig point.

We are born with an inherant Nature that helps to interpret our environment. Our natures percieve the nurture, and we use our free wills to decide how much we are affected by it.

Some people are born to be calm, and their life will look (and seem) hectic and out of control, but the person living it feels just fine and in control (most the time, at least). Their nature is calm, their nurture is busy, and they choose how much they will be moved to distraction by the environment.

I'd also like to use Classical Condition as an example of nature vs nurture. You can teach a child to hate soft things through the environment. This is a strong argument in the favor of nurture.

On there other hand, there are stories about twins that are seperated at birth, only to discover each other later in life. They go on to show that thye lived close to each other, had similar jobs, married similar people, had kids and named them in a similar manner, had similar pets, cars, etc. This is a strong argument for nature.

That being said, i'm cold and tired and hungry, so I bid this thread farewell for the time being.

in my case it was nature because i was far from brought up to think the way that i think although i was brought up to think for myself (from my father at least) but i have chosen my own way to live and my up bringing has had nothing at all to do with that

We Are All products of our enviorments but we still have our hidden natures.
We cannot explain why we do the things we do sometimes eccept by blamming our nature.
Look at the Mendez Brothers, They Came From Rich Background Yet Thier Greedy Nature Led To Them Murdering Thier Parents. Or The Family Pitbull That Lets The Baby Pull It's Ears and Tail. Fact Is We All Have Natures That Would Prove That We Are All Evil, It Is A choice If We Give Into It Or Not.

This is a good one... my family back ground I don’t feel has much to do with how I am and have always been... there mostly the opposite of me... I guess i'm the one that’s always branched out and been more open to different beliefs that they are!
I always feel a different connection than any of them... draw to thing that wasn't natural!
I have had dreams and premonitions since I was little! Why I don’t know.

well i think the way you are or your behaviour everything you develop in a space of time and that has to do a great deal with the environment you are living in.

i am most definitely a product of both nature and nurture. we all are. but i do believe that personality is most affected by nurture. all of my feelings and beliefs are influenced by my parents and family, my friends, and the society in which i grew up. I believe this is true of most people. My mother is the reason i am strong. My grandmother is the rason im a bit crazy. When siblings are seperated early on, they beomce noticibly diffrent people. It is their environment that molds them; they are not bound by their genetics. It is the definition of life that that organism reacts to its environment. Nurture is a greater influence on a person than nature (although the nature is certainly a part of it).

I Think It Is Up To The Person To Take Responsability For The Actions They Take, Society lets Us Blame Anyone We Want For The Things We Do.

For me, it was nature for sure. My family is very normal, strict lifestyle. I just kind of always felt an inkling that something was different about me.

But my environment too. I suppose, being drawn to people like me.

I don't know

I see it as both.
We are born as a set standard, determined by our genetical makeup. The way we act to our surroundings is determined by that.

But, on the other side, the way we think is determined by how we are able to react to those surroundings. Thus, learning who we are by watching how we react to situations.

The more I think about this, the more I might be nature. I rebelled against my environment, and I am the "strangest" one in my family. I've always have had a dark side, so I suppose that would be nature. Good topic!

I would have to say that although I would like to believe that I am not a product of my environment that would be a falsity. Everyone's surroundings play a role in the person that they develop into. However, I don't believe that it played a role in things such as vampyrism for me. I have never been around anyone else with the same beliefs or experiences until recently so it would be hard to have been influenced into these beliefs.

As far as myself...it was definatly nature. My parents are middle class Baptists. I was raised a southern baptist but I always knew that there was something missing. My maternal grandmother was full Cherokee and although she died when I was rather young, I still remember some of the things she taught me and those are the things that seemed to have influenced me more than anything else. I simply couldn't believe 100% in the Christianity and the things I'd been taught about it. So I began to study theological aspects from other cultures and landed on Wicca. I found that I was happy with most all of the belief structures, as they fit my own so perfectly.

for me I am a child of both.
I was born a vampire.. nothing can nor would i wish anyhting to change that.

My mothers family would not know a real vampire if it introduced itself.

my adopted fathers on the other hand were the ones that were aware f what the traits I was exibiting were and helped me to deal with them and learn all I needed to learn. I was very lucky in that. Now that being said.. as some will think that it was that influence that makes me believe I am a vampire.. the same family raised my two brothers and they have no vampiric tendicies.. or other gifts.. they are as almsot perfectaly normal as is possible lol.

So I think I am not one or the other but a nice even combo fo the two

for me my environment had nothing to do with it. i was born into a christian home. i think nature fits who and what i am the best way possible

its better to nurture your power, but nurturing your kids is something total different

I'm going to have to go with Nature, but from a different perspective than others here might view it.

I am who I am because I was born this way, yes. But I was born this way because of who my parents are. Regardless of where I grew up or who raised me (I didn't grow up around my mom and obviously she didn't raise me), as a very young adult (starting about 20), I exhibited many of her traits.

But, there are also aspects of ME that I get from neither of my parents, parts that are just ME. I don't necessarily consider them environmental, either. Contrary to what someone else stated above - you don't always become your friends. I've always held down a job, had a car, had a place to live, etc...my friends, not so much. We also, haven't always had the same taste in music.

My Lord created me just the way He wanted me and someday I will fulfill His purpose.

I would have to say nature much more than nurture as i have completely different beliefs than everyone in my family and am influenced more by what goes on outside of my bloodline.

I have to go with an answer similar to Jenova's.

I was raised fairly well. I made some mistakes but overall got into punk/metal in the 80's, and then gravitated toward goth/industrial in the 90's. My parents fit more the hippy stereotype when I was younger, and I was raised in a small town.

The darker/supernatural side kicked into really high gear after I left home and was free to do as I please without Mom asking all those pesky questions. Thats my nature.

But, plenty of others in my environment 'nurtured' me until I really came into my own.

I think I'm a product of a little bit of both. My parents were and still are hard core Christians Where I think I get my spirituality but I'm still my own person. I know they wouldn't agree with my lifestyle. I love them but they are at a distance.

I agree with you to the point that we are all slaves to our nature and nurture. But I believe that my upbringing is what caused me to become what I am. I was very sheltered and put down as a child so in response I grew up to be outgoing and openminded. That really stuck in my mom's craw... hehehehe!

this earth shapes us as we shape it.
its a full circle. and will run till the end of time

this is a hard question to answer because i live by the Ghetto and am one of the few "goth" here. i guess i am the way i am due to my fondness for the supernatural and my parents former fondness for it.