History Main / NurtureOverNature

* The third and fourth ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' movies invoke this by Son Gokū denying his Saiyan heritage and calling himself an Earthling. It is particularly a major theme in the third movie, where Gokū's son Gohan is forced to transform into an Oozaru by Gokū's evil doppelgänger Tullece who tries to call upon Gohan's Saiyan nature, but ultimately Gohan's Earthling side causes his rampage to stop (although in Gohan's case, he's half-Saiyan, half-Earthling). In the fourth movie, Gokū's spontaneously transformation into a False Super Saiyan actually saves his life. In canon, however, Gokū denies his Saiyan heritage only at the beginning of the Saiyan Saga when his evil older brother Raditz confronts him with the truth, but after both of them die, Gokū has no problem declaring himself as a Saiyan.

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge3DawnOfTheDinosaurs'' has Sid take a trio of ''T. rex'' eggs, which promptly hatch and think he's their mother. However, their REAL mother soon comes looking for them, and of course is infuriated to find Sid stole them. The hatchlings convince her to let Sid live, but the two of them begin competing for their affection of their children. Ultimately, the ''T. rex'' mother wins, as she's the only one who can provide her children with real meat to eat, while Sid is unable to get the hatchlings to prefer vegetables.

* B.F. Skinner, known for his contributions to psychology and linguistics as well as several controversial theories on human nature, takes this UpToEleven in proposing that all positive and negative human behaviors are the result of environmental and cultural conditioning. He argued that a person at birth is a BlankSlate, and even characteristics attributed by many as intrinsic to human nature, such as love, altruism, violence, and greed, are the result of positive and negative reinforcement of those behaviors.

* Invoked by Fate in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. Her mother, Precia, was practically the poster child for abusive anime parents and her adoptive mother, Lindy, is [[GoodParents the exact opposite]]. Fate does everything in her power to be a good mother for her adoptive children (she even mentions in supplementary material that she deliberately based her behavior off of Lindy), because the idea of ending up like Preica ''[[IAmNotMyFather terrifies]]'' her.

Often applies to characters who are HappilyAdopted. Inversion of, but not mutually exclusive with, InTheBlood, which is what a lot of characters think having an evil parent does to someone. See also UpbringingMakesTheHero for cases where a down-to-earth home life give potentially evil-inclined characters and normal ones the moral grounding to excel.

* Disney's adaptation of ''Disney/{{Tarzan}}'' sees the main character almost depart with his newfound human companions for England, but a turn of events changes his mind and he eventually decides to stay in the jungle with the gorillas who raised him.

* The movie ''Film/{{Us}}'' has this as a core theme. [[spoiler: The TwistEnding, that Red is actually the real Adelaide and that the Adelaide we've been following is the copy, causes the entire idea that Tethered don't have "souls" to be put into question. Red was a [[FromNobodyToNightmare perfectly normal girl before being trapped underground among lifeless clones]], similarly, Adelaide was a CreepyChild and an EnfantTerrible before becoming a "normal" girl aboveground. Their children, too, are both half-human and half-tethered, meaning that all of the differences between them - and the fact that Umbrae and Pluto are completely animalistic "monsters" while Jason and Zora are well-adjusted and otherwise normal kids - are entirely the result of their different situations.]]

* To some extent, Film/{{Hellboy}} does this. When Hellboy is being pressured to accept his demonic nature and open the gate, Myers yells out "Remember who you are" and throws Bruttenholm's crucifix to HB ... who remembers how Bruttenholm raised him and fights for Team Humanity.

* Invoked by Fate in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. Her mother, Precia, was practically the poster child for abusive anime parents and her adoptive mother, Lindy, is [[GoodParents the exact opposite]]. She does everything in her power to be a good mother for her adoptive children (she even mentions in supplementary material that she deliberately based her behavior off of Lindy), because the idea of ending up like Preica ''terrifies'' her.

* The episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E21DragonQuest Dragon Quest]]" of [[{{WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic}} MLP:FIM]] could be an example -- Spike, a young dragon raised by ponies, never meets his parents, but after spending a day with his own species, he realizes that he prefers his extended "family," to the point of declaring himself an honorary pony.

** Another, more dramatic example, is Bart being adopted by Mr. Burns.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':

* if the clone(s) don't have implanted memories, and are raised separately than the source, then the choice can become source-nature vs. new-nurture, and new-nurture would be choosen.

!!Magical Generation (or some other Phlebotinum)
*

!!ArtificialIntelligence, Cyborgs, Robots and the like
* Do they follow their original programming (the nature, in this case) or what they have learned since then (nurture)?

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:Comic Books]]
* In one comic, the Eradicator's projection of Kem-El keeps badgering Superman (or Kal-El, as he calls him) to leave Earth and the pathetic humans who live there. Superman's response?

-->'''Superman''': My name is Clark Kent. Get out of my home. Get off of my planet.

[[AC:Disney]]
* Disney's adaptation of ''Disney/{{Tarzan}}'' sees the main character almost depart with his newfound human companions for England, but a turn of events changes his mind and he eventually decides to stay in the jungle with the gorillas who raised him.

[[AC:Franchise]]
* Son Goku in ''Franchise/DragonBall'' was originally sent to Earth to destroy it. He was a savage little baby up until the moment he took a blow to the head. He become sweeter after that, and the lessons taught by his adoptive grandfather and throughout his life made him into Earth's greatest defender instead.

[[AC:Film - Animated]]

[[AC:Film - Live Action]]
* To some extent, Film/{{Hellboy}} does this. When Hellboy is being pressured to accept his demonic nature and open the gate, Myers yells out "Remember who you are" and throws Bruttenholm's crucifix to HB ... who remembers how Bruttenholm raised him and fights for Team Humanity.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: In spite of everything, it's still his adoptive family and his adoptive society that Loki exclusively identifies with. He looks (albeit with a glamour), talks, and dresses like an Asgardian, covets the Asgardian throne, and uses magic which he had learned from his Asgardian mother as his primary power. He has no interest in his Jötunn heritage, and no desire to rule Jötunheim; in fact, he tries to impress his Asgardian father by destroying it. Loki consistently presents himself as an Asgardian and is regarded as such by everyone he meets.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''Literature/FireAndHemlock'', Polly feels more at home in her grandma's house than at the house of her parents, even before they got divorced. Afterwards, both of them neglect her to be with their new mates, and she becomes more and more estranged from her parents. Eventually, her grandmother adopts her, and they are both happy with the arrangement. Her grandmother states that she is ashamed of her son (Polly's father), as he left Polly alone in a strange city, where she was supposed to catch a train, but didn't have a ticket, and her mother thought she was moving in with her father, anyway, so there is nowhere to return to. Polly was picked up by her adult friend Tom, and his three friends who never met her before, and they threw their money together to buy a train ticket for Polly. Her grandmother remarks that Tom did a better job than her own son.
* In ''Literature/HortonHatchesTheEgg'' Horton (an elephant) sits on Mayzie's (a bird) egg while she is away. At the end of the story the egg hatches and has somehow turned into a [[MixAndMatchCritter birdephant]].
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' Rand very quickly decides that the couple who raised him are his real parents, though he's happy to learn more about his birth parents. The fact that the latter are dead simplifies things.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' had a growing conflict between Jor-El and Jonathan Kent.
** They cooperated at the end of the Season 2 to get Red Kryptonite Clark home.
** Jor-El was much more antagonistic at this point, even brainwashing Clark at the end of season 3. The constant fighting for Clark helped cost Jonathan his life.
** During seasons 5-8, Clark took up his father's position for himself, representing his father's Earthly teachings. While Jor-El became more of a strict, but loving, father, who wanted Clark to be the beacon of light for the planet as well as be more Kryptonian (which meant cutting him off from friends and family).
** This is ultimately resolved in the series finale, in which Clark chooses to embrace both sides in a happy marriage.
* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' has this in regard to Luke:
** Luke wasn't born so much as [[ArtificialHuman grown]] by The Bane. Bane Leader, Mrs. Wormwood, still considers him her son and is proud of his intelligence, considering him to be a successful experiment. Luke however, doesn't like being considered an experiment, and is HappilyAdopted by Sarah Jane (who he considers to be his "real" mother for all intended purposes). Sure he likes some of the perks being grown gave him (being the smartest guy in the room, having perfect health, etc) but he likes that Sarah Jane lets him be [[IJustWantToBeNormal more or less a normal kid]] (or as close as an alien hunting son of a former time traveler can be, anyways).
** One rather dark episode had it that Luke was actually not grown after all, but that The Bane had kidnapped him from a human family and simply altered him. This causes a ton of angst for Luke who does ''not'' want to go back to his family and never see Sarah Jane again. Sarah Jane meanwhile has to give up her son, knowing that it's the right thing to do, and that while she thought she was doing the right thing and loved him, his place is with his "real" family. His "real" family is very uncomfortable with Luke having forgotten about them and how during his amnesiac state with Sarah Jane; he forgot he was a football star (even claiming to hate the sport), became very shy and quiet, and really doesn't seem to like them very much. Granted it only last for about an episode [[spoiler:because it was all an elaborate revenge plot caused by [[AIIsACrapShoot Sarah Jane's supercomputer being evil]] and the Slitheen kid from an earlier episode]] but still damn.
* The episode "Cardassians" from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' might have an example. A Cardassian youth raised by Bajoran parents sees himself as Bajoran.
** To expand on that, the episode ends with him being sent home to his ''biological'' father because politics. The ''[=DS9=]'' novel ''The Never-Ending Sacrifice'' details what happens to him after that.

[[AC:Theater]]
* In ''Theatre/{{Honk}}'', Ugly meets a group of swans, but ultimately stays with Ida, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming saying she raised him and is therefore his real mother.]]


[[AC:VideoGames]]
* ''{{VideoGame/Contrast}}'' reveals that [[spoiler:Vincenzo]] is Didi's biological father, so she has to decide whether to follow him or stay with Johnny, who helped raise her.

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In the 2012 version of ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2012}}'', Oroku Saki adopts Hamato Yoshi's daughter. Him going after her, can be seen as him trying to get back what he lost. While he is shown to be a loving father to the turtles, she doesn't know about her true parentage (mutagent aside), so she is currently (unknowingly) choosing to stay with the Shredder.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* B.F. Skinner, known for his contributions to psychology and lingusitics as well as several controversial theories on human nature, takes this UpToEleven in proposing that all positive and negative human behaviors are the result of environmental and cultural conditioning. He argued that a person at birth is a BlankSlate, and even characteristics attributed by many as intrinsic to human nature, such as love, altruism, violence, and greed, are the result of positive and negative reinforcement of those behaviors.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: In spite of everything, it's still his adoptive family and his adoptive society that [[Characters/MCULoki Loki]] exclusively identifies with. He looks (albeit with a glamour), talks, and dresses like an Asgardian, covets the Asgardian throne, and uses magic which he had learned from his Asgardian mother as his primary power. He has no interest in his Jötunn heritage, and no desire to rule Jötunheim; in fact, he tries to impress his Asgardian father by destroying it. Loki consistently presents himself as an Asgardian and is regarded as such by everyone he meets.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: In spite of everything, it's still his adoptive family and his adoptive society that [[Characters/MCULoki Loki]] exclusively identifies with. He looks (albeit with a glamour), talks, and dresses like an Asgardian, covets the Asgardian throne, and uses magic which he learned from his Asgardian mother as his primary power. He has no interest in his Jötunn heritage, and no desire to rule Jötunheim; in fact, he tries to impress his Asgardian father by destroying it. Loki consistently presents himself as an Asgardian and is regarded as such by everyone he meets.

* Loki in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse looks, talks, and dresses like an Asgardian, covets the Asgardian throne, and uses magic (which he learned from his Asgardian mother) as his primary power. He has no interest in his Jotun heritage and no desire to rule Jotunheim; in fact, he tries to impress Odin by destroying it. [[InTheBlood The only thing he seems to have gotten from his biological parents]] is his [[AlwaysChaoticEvil streak of sociopathic megalomania]] -- and for all we know Loki might have been a bad egg even among Jotuns! His [[YoureNotMyFather attempts to disown his adopted family]] notwithstanding, he consistently identifies himself as Asgardian and is taken as such by everyone he meets.

** B.F. Skinner, known for his contributions to psychology and lingusitics as well as several controversial theories on human nature, takes this UpToEleven in proposing that all positive and negative human behaviors are the result of [[NurtureOverNature environmental and cultural conditioning]]. He argued that a person at birth is a BlankSlate, and even characteristics attributed by many as intrinsic to human nature, such as love, altruism, violence, and greed, are the result of positive and negative reinforcement of those behaviors.

** Another, more dramatic example, is Bart being adopted by Mr. Burns.

* In MarvelComics, there is Evan Sabanur aka Genesis - teenage genetic clone of Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} himself, who was deliberately raised in a positive Smallville-ish (although fake) world to become a [[{{FarmBoy}} kind and honest person]]. While he still remains an unquestionably nice guy, people around him are constantly expecting him to become as evil as his original - and make note, in ALL of glimpses of the future comic provided, ''he actually did''. It seems like whole universe itself is devoted [[{{BreakTheCutie}} to turn him to the dark side]], but this only means you just can't stop rooting for the poor kid. Even Comicbook/{{Deadpool}}, of all people, befriended him and actually referenced the trope while talking the boy out of temporary (involuntary) HeelFaceTurn - claiming that while Evan remains good, this means ''anyone'' can be good, no matter who they were before.

* In MarvelComics, there is Evan Sabanur aka Genesis - teenage genetic clone of Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} himself, who was deliberately raised in a positive Smallville-ish (although fake) world to become [[{{FarmBoy}} kind and honest person]]. While he still remains unquestionably nice guy, people around him are constantly expecting him to become as evil as his original - and make note, in ALL of glimpses of the future comic provided, ''he actually did''. It seems like whole universe itself is devoted [[{{BreakTheCutie}} to turn him to the dark side]], but this only means you just can't stop rooting for the poor kid. Even Comicbook/{{Deadpool}}, of all people, befriended him and actually referenced the trope while talking the boy out of temporary (involuntary) HeelFaceTurn - claiming that while Evan remains good, this means ''anyone'' can be good, no matter who they were before.