Can Personality Traits Be Learnt And Developed Or Are They Solely Part Of Our Dna?

Environment can influence some personality traits, while others are genetic. The nature theory, heredity, determines such traits as eye and hair color, due to specific genes passed down from generation to generation. With the emergence of scientific studies of DNA, many scientists are finding more traits can also be associated with human cell encoding, such as intelligence, personality, aggression,

Research also shows indicates that the Big Five has distinct biological substrates thereby linking trait perspective with the biological perspective (DeYoung, Quilty & Peterson, 2007). However this convergence of perspectives is actually productive in that all perspectives by themselves have their disadvantages as well as their advantages. If all perspectives can coincide with one another, explanations of personality will become so much easier.

One of the most enduring debates in the field of psychology is the controversial idea of nature vs. nurture. Throughout the endless history of the debate, no clear conclusion has been met, only hypotheses have been formed. At the center of the debate, human behaviors, ideas, and feelings are being determined, whether they are learned or inherited. Determining physical traits, such as eye color or hair color, are simple because they are hereditary traits. The idea of having a certain personality, intelligence, or ability is under discussion because scientists cannot determine if these traits are learned, or predetermined by genes.

The nature vs nurture issue has been a controversial argument among psychologist for decades. This argument exposes two different views. One of them emphasizes that our personality depends solely on genetics (nature). On the other hand, the second view suggests that humans “develop through experience” (Myers 2013, SG 6) (nurture).

The article was written by Sharon Begley, who is a science writer. It published on December 1, 2008, and it has been illustrated by Harry Campbell for Newsweek. We always think our personality is related to our genes, which is stable or cannot be changed. However, Begley assume we can change our personality as we grow up. It depends on environment and our parents. They both play a great role in shaping our personality.

Funder discusses on how personality psychology formulates around numerous basic approaches. One approach Funder talks about is the biological approach, which addresses the mental process on our behavior including anatomy, physiology, genetics, and evolution. This approach analyses our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors through our mind. Another approach that Funder discusses is the trait approach, which is basically the study of human personality; the trait approach concentrates on the way an individual differs in emotion, thought, and behavior and how those differences are measured. These two approaches complement each other because the trait approach focuses on routine patterns of an individual that are behaviors, feelings, and thoughts which those

Dr. Robert Best’s lecture here at Winthrop was on the topic of genetics. The question at hand was, “Can your parent’s behavioral characteristics be passed down through genetics?” Genetics are essentially the blueprints to each and every one of us. Our characteristics are coded by our genes, however, do genes affect every aspect of us? When looking at the common book, The Glass Castle, it seems apparent that certain traits like intelligence and creativity can be passed through genes, but not necessarily affect behavior and personality.

Evolutionary/genetic perspectives do not generally account for the biological mechanisms between genes and personality.  Theorists use biological processes in an attempt to fill in the gap between personality and genetics by inferring, theorizing and researching biological links with behavior. Anatomical approach examines functions of various structures of brain.

The study of the relationship between behavior and genes by different psychologists shed light on the links that exist between personality

There have been and still are many debates about how a person’s genotype can be a significant factor in the development of your personality, but more relating to criminality. It is very hard to say that your genetic make-up is not a factor in who you become as a person, but I fully believe that the environment also is a factor as well. Having a genetic predisposition does not mean that you are automatically going to inherit whatever trait that was passed down from your parents. Everyone has a choice in who they become as individuals; it all just depends on the environment that you are raised in and the people that are around you when you are growing up. There has been a lot of research on this subject and it has concluded that it is more

Both nature and nurture interplay to determine personality characteristics. Nature is heredity and passed on at conception. Nurture is that which is environmentally developed. It is innate that a baby will crawl, but he needs the support of his environment (diet, etc.) if he is to ultimately survive. Our behaviour is the result of a combination of inborn traits and the situations in which we find ourselves. There are five categorise which help influence personality differences. Genetically, offspring tend to take on some of the characteristics of their parents. However, this could be due to long term exposure to the personalities of their parents rather than their genetic coding. Whether a person is male or female determines what gender role they take on. ‘Women are expected to be nurturing, attractive, emotional, weak, and subordinate to men; whereas, men are the strong, rational, objective, and financial providers’ (Loue and Sajatovic, 2007). Ones family experiences can also influence a person’s behaviour. Family experiences like: ‘family size, birth order, differential parental orientations towards children’ etc. will impact on the emergence of personality as well as a person’s suitability to leadership roles (Morley and Moore et al., 2004, pp. 28-52). Culture plays a very strong role in determining what is believed to be acceptable and unacceptable

Nature combines with nurture to form our personalities. Our genes may predispose us for certain inheritable traits such as diseases like cystic fibrosis or even just irritability, similar to our relatives, but the environment we are raised in has quite a bit to do with how visible certain aspects of our personality become. If a child is always around an environment where there is constant arguing and yelling going on, the child may naturally feel that is the proper thing to do when things do not go as they would like. Likewise, genetics play a role in determining a person's body type, thus you could get your eye color from your mom, and your height from your dad.

Human character and behaviour are not only shaped by the genes that encompass the individual’s genotype. Human character comprising mainly of personality, sexuality, morality and intelligence are the products of genetic determinism as well as external environmental factors. “Single genes can have surprisingly strong influences on particular aspects of behaviour.” (Frank., 2009)

The study of personality traits is beneficial in identifying the many variables that exist from human to human; the combinations of these variables provide us with a true level of individuality and uniqueness. In the field of psychology, trait theory is considered to be a key approach to the study of human personality (Crowne, 2007; Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2009). This paper aims to identify a number of significant contributors who have played crucial roles in both the development and application of trait theory. This paper then moves focus to these theorists, outlining their theory and analysing both the strengths and weaknesses of those theories. An illustration of the methods used in trait measurement is given and includes the

Some psychological models assert that a proportion of our personality is inborn and permanent (Hollander, 1971), that a psychological core at the center of our personality gives us enduring, inner characteristics. Hans Eysenck (1965) suggests that our motivation and emotion are related to biological differences in brain function and proposed that 75% of our personality is based on genetic influence and 25% on environmental influence. Research by Peter Whybrow (1999) on identical twins separated at birth examined how their different environments shaped their personalities. He found that around 40% of personality should be credited to genetics, with 60% determined by outside factors.