Genetic Influences on Personality

John married in his early thirties and became a Christian soon after. He and his wife moved to North Carolina and had four children. The oldest, Elizabeth, was born in 1990. Growing up in a Christian home, Elizabeth had a completely different environment then John or Jennet. She had loving parents that set boundaries, but also explained why. Elizabeth’s parents gave her as much attention as possible without spoiling her. While her parents were not rich, Elizabeth, like her father, never suffered for material possessions. As a father, John tried to lead a good example for his children. He was seldom angry and always encouraging. Even though raised under different circumstances, Elizabeth’s personality eerily resembles that of Jennet and John. She was domineering, sarcastic, and often degrading toward others. Elizabeth liked to control the conversation and talk about others while sprinkling in sarcasm wherever possible. 

Even though raised in three completely different environments, Jennet, John, and Elizabeth all have similar personalities. Many people would attribute these personality similarities to a child imitating his or her parents. While a child may imitate his or her parents at an early age, studies show that many similarities between parents and children are genetic. When genetic similarities between family members are discussed, things like hair color and height are most often brought to mind. However, genes affect everything from mental illnesses to eye color, from level of intelligence to personality (Myers 66). In fact, according to research done by psychologist Thomas J. Bouchard Jr., between 40 and 50% of all characteristics are influenced by genes (Bouchard 149). Bouchard’s research consisted of testing the similarities of twins separated at or near birth (Bouchared 149). The personalities, attitudes, and fears of the twins Bouchard tested were always close; sometimes one twin would be mistaken for the other (Myers 69). In other studies on people adopted as children, the resemblance of the adopted person to their environmental parents is much less then the resemblance of the adopted person to their biological parents (Myers 70). It is apparent through extensive research that genes have an impact on traits such as personality.

  In the example given above, three people were raised in three environments, yet all three had similar personalities. The environment each was raised in does not seem to have affected his or her personality. For example, the amount of love shown each as a child did not seem to change his or her personality. Jennet and John were not shown much love as children, but Elizabeth was shown all the love she could ever want. Other things such as wealth of the family, religion, location of residence, and gender did not appear to alter the personality as it passed from one generation to the next.

While environments can affect a person’s personality, genes will affect a person’s traits and characteristics just as much if not more than environment. Through detailed research by men like Bouchard, new discoveries are being made about how genetics affect personalities and other traits. Genetic personalities can also be observed like the example above. Whatever the case, genes affect people’s personalities and characteristics.

Works Cited:

Bouchard, Thomas J., Jr. “Genetic Influence on Human Psychological Traits.” Current 

Directions in Psychological Science 13.4 (2004): 148-151. Print

Myers, David G. Exploring Psychology in Modules. New York: Worth Publishers, 2008. Print