I appreciate your last three sentences.  Group processes summarized as theory, research findings, anecdotal observations across time... with the associated generalizations, are important but lose something-- individuality, choice and the responsibility of each individual for the same, all of which are impacted by the emotions generated by the results of one's chosen interactions with their environment across their history,  Each organism's individual body, mind and self, I believe, are a cumulative result of their choices and reactions to the same. 

Malleability can be perceived as manipulation by one's environment and one's associated plasticity, but more aptly, I think, should be viewed as an individual's ability to either stay or change course as a result of their 'mindful' attention to the results of their various efforts, which acknowledges the volitional nature of created beings.  

While I believe the process of selection as depicted by Darwin is inherently passive and does involve luck and random mutation, yet is not predicated upon it; the role of individual organisms is active and involves responsibility to oneself, one's proximal group as well as the overall community if that creature, their proximal and collective community are ultimately successful.  

It possibly sounds like I'm making a value judgment, but if you ponder my statements carefully, I'm just capturing reality of individuals in the context of a group.  We cannot exist in a vacuum.  This is a closed system ultimately predicated upon cooperation and collaboration at some level or we are misinterpreting the process of adaptational success as mindless, selfish, mechanistic consumption, satisfaction, reproduction etc. which to me is a frightening recipe for pathological narcissism in human beings.  We would not have survived this long...