• Question: If our environment determines our behaviour, what determines our taste in music, food, fave colour etc?

    Asked by graceblack666 to James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 23 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 23 Mar 2011:

      That is a really interesting question, and I’m afraid I have no idea!!
      I think you would have to ask a psycologist or behavioural scientist. Questions like that really get you thinking! My brother and I have quite similar tastes in music, but we are very different from what my Dad likes, but we all really like music so maybe I was programmed into liking it from parental influences and the fact that we came from home that always had music playing, but then we have somehow developed our own tastes,

      I;m really interested in what the other scientists have to say about this, they might be able to shed more light on it!

    • Photo: Jayne Charnock

      Jayne Charnock answered on 23 Mar 2011:

      Ace question grace

      Its actualyl not just our environment that determines our behaviour, but our genes do too! Scary thought hey?! (see my answer to your questio about brains and personality). But you’re right, individual taste is an interesting concept- i think our environment also plays a big part in this. I like certain types of music because I grew up listening to my older brother playing them, and I like certain colours because I associate them with certain things. For other people their influences will be different, so their tastes will be different. It is facinating though, Ive often wondered why I like rock music so much but hate R&B, but some of my closest friends are the other way round! We’ve grown up in a pretty similar environment, so i reckon there must be something else at play here too!

    • Photo: Kara Cerveny

      Kara Cerveny answered on 23 Mar 2011:

      Great question graceblack666. The evidence suggests that an interplay between the environment and our individual genetics determines our behavior and our personality…and don’t forget that every choice we make somehow influences the next choice that we’ll make. Several recent sociology and psychology studies suggest that we rely a lot on the reactions/interactions with our peer group when making decisions. Traits like taste in food and color definitely have a strong genetic component (think the biter taster genetic experiment (maybe you’ve done this in school?) while other things are more influenced by who you hang around with and what you friends and family like.

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