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Biological influence on personality
What are biological influences on personality
Nature/nurture debate
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Recommended: Biological influence on personality
I have been reading a lot about the Big Five Model of personality traits. It is a popular outlook on the 5 main traits human beings possess. These Traits are: Extroversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and openness. This is a long standing debate of whether who we are and how we act is a result of inner personalities are because of “genes” and “nature” or a result of situations and events in life or “nurture”. In one of the first articles I read, author Gregg Henriques of Theory of Knowledge, informed readers of a famous psychologist named Kurt Lewin. Kurt Lewin is famous for his theories on human personality and behavior. According to Henriques, Lewin thought personality is result of “The function of both the person and …show more content…
I figured that in the articles maybe trying to rule out the other would help the side they chose but I also thought why not analyze both sides. Our personalities are not based solely on environment just like it is not based solely on genetics. Whatever you are around at a young age CAN reflect in your personality whether it is good or bad.
In a “Psychology Today” article Dr. Michael W. Krauss asks if genes influence personality. He explains that genetic evidence suggests that we do not have genes for personality. He says” the conclusion that genes don’t influence personality is most certainly wrong”. This focuses more on genes having to do with personality. The result is that genes and personality are more than just a simple yes or no. A website called “Daily Mail” titled “Is Personality Determined by Nature or Nurture?” was spot on. Author Nicola Rowe talked about a study that resembled my initial outlook on the subject. Minus a few minor details I agreed. Apparently “scientists found foster parents have a greater impact on personality than directly inherited genes from parents. Researchers at University of Hamburg used Zebra Finches to study how personality is transferred between offspring and
In psychology, the nature versus nurture argument is a long-debated topic. With each new discovery, there are two famous questions, "Did genes make this happen or did one's environment cause it?" Torgersen (2009) confronts this battle by gathering data of the effects of the environment on the development of personality disorders, explaining that – due to research in Norway and other regions – the progression and endowment of personality disorders may actually boil down to genetic predisposition rather than environmental factors. In other words, it is suggested
Many psychologists throughout many years present theoretical approaches in an attempt to understand personality. Hans Eysenck’s approach of personality differed from that of Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytical theory of personality. Eysenck’s theory of personality relies on the scientific basis of biology in explaining human personality. Although Freud’s theories are intriguing to an open mind, Eysenck’s approach made measurable scientific sense. He relied on the use of trait and factor analysis, which is a statistical method. Freud relied on faith and his personal opinions based on observational research to reach the assumptions that set forth his theories (Feist & Feist, 2009). Eysenck and Freud did not agree on anything about understanding how and why the mind operates the way, it does.
A layman would define personality as an individual’s characteristics in terms of how they think and behave. Many theorists, however, interprets personality differently resulting in various personality theories. Personality is determined by traits which are behaviours displayed by a person in most given situations. How a person reacts to common circumstances may also be used to foresee future behaviours. Traits are then categorized into types that allow easier comparisons to be made between each individual’s attributes. The focus of this paper would be on the biological aspects of personality whereby traits are thought to be inheritable through genetics and associated with the central nervous system. Behavioural genetics are research that makes use of results from studies done on family, twins and adoptions. The findings of how both genes and environment influences personality from the studies will be discussed. Some researchers found possible issues with the representativeness of such studies. The outline of Eysenck’s biological model of personality and arousal, Gray’s BAS/BIS theory and Cloninger’s biological model of personality will further explain the biological effect on personality.
five factor theory is a fairly recent proposal and has its basis in earlier work,
Genes or life experiences? What determines who you truly are? The nature versus nurture debate is one of the most popular debates throughout history. It questions whether genetics are the thing that decide who you are, or whether it is the life experiences that influence your characteristics and qualities. Did you gain that good humour from your mother? Or is it simply there due to the influences in the environment you grew up in? A rather vast selection of traits have been discussed in this type of debate – personality, gay or straight, political orientation, intelligence, and even your likeliness to be involved in violence. On the “Nature” side of the argument, it is believed that everything about us is already in our genes, and in some cases it is obvious that it is entirely down to genetics such as physical features and hereditary health issues. In opposition to this we have the “Nurture” half, it does not include just the love and care children receive by the people they have been raised by, but in a modern day debate environmental factors –such as friends from someone’s youth, surrounding culture, occurrences with technology, and even experiences from in the womb- are included. In my own personal view I believe that there are certain aspects in both arguments that provide evidence for equality in both nature and nurture.
Nature, the more scientific theory of the two, is the belief that hereditary traits found in our genes make us who we are, believable but not very convincing when we consider the theory of nurture. Human beings learn new things everyday, as soon as we come in to the world, our learning process begins. As a newborn baby, we slowly learn and adapt in order to survive in a new environment which is unlike that of our mothers wombs, our first environment in which we first grew, adapted to and developed in. The home environment parents and siblings play a huge role in determining personality. Influences from outside the family are also very important to the development of ones personality. But everything starts at home.
What makes you who you are? is it the genes you inherited from your parents? Or the people you surrounded yourself with and the things you’ve been through? Nature versus Nurture is a question that is heavily debated. In “Nature and Nurture Debate”; Writer Sarah Mae Sincero briefly explains what “Nature” and “Nurture” essentially are, and how when it comes to shaping our personalities our enviroment trumps our genes. This argument has been ongoing for years now. I believe that nurture is the most vital factor in shaping our personalities, while nature is just the foundation block. Sarah Mae Sincero fails to effectively end the argument as her article lacks emotional and everyday evidence. In addition, her article was relatively
The Big Five Theory is a useful tool to create a personality profile for a particular individual. By analysing a person using The Big Five Traits of extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism one can determine an individual’s basic personality profile.
According to the findings of the Five Factor Model of personality, I have a relatively balanced score on a number of the key traits. For example, on the continuum of extroversion versus introversion, I scored moderately high in both categories, indicating that I am comfortable being around other people and also being alone. I also scored moderate on the quality of contentiousness, indicating I am always struggling between being organized and disorganized, which is also true. I scored extremely high on agreeableness, indicating that I am basically a trusting and friendly person. In general, I believe this speaks well of my mental health. But I scored high for the trait of neuroticism, which indicates that I can be emotional and insecure (i.e., I worry a great deal). I also ranked high on the trait of openness, on seeking out new experiences and being open-minded. This indicates that I am open to new ideas and enjoy creative and novel things.
Major contributors to the trait theory of personality include three prominent psychologists. Boeree (2006) states that American born psychologist Gordon Allport has been described as the founding father of personality trait theory. Allport’s distinguished career included him holding presidency of the American Psychological Association (APA) and receiving the Gold Medal Award and a Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the APA (Carducci, 2009, p. 260). After meeting with Sigmund Freud in 1922 and studying his interpretation of personality, Allport developed the opinion that psychoanalysis was too in-depth while behaviourism was far too shallow in the field of personality psychology. It was this insight that lead Allport to develop his own theory of personality (Ewen, 2003, p. 260). According to Ewen (2003), in 1936 Allport used just one dictio...
The second major theory is called the trait or five-factor model. Often referred to as the "Big 5". The five personality traits described by the theory are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. Beneath each proposed global factor, a number of correlated and more specific primary factors are claimed. One strength of the trait perspectives is their ability to categorize observable behaviors. In other words, observing the behaviors of an individual over time and in varying circumstances provides evidence for the personality traits categorized in trait theories. Another strength is that trait theories use
... have come to the conclusion that genetics is very important for the development of personality but even they have to determine how these genes are investigated for the purpose of determining a particular personality. “What scientists have found is that there does not appear to be a single gene for a particular trait, but that genes show their effects by working together in complex combinations. For example, there is no single gene for dancing or music. Whether a child will be musically inclined will be determined by the way that child's genes interact with one another. Some parents would like to believe that by creating an environment rich in music while the child is young will develop the child's talent towards music. However, despite assumptions like this, there is no evidence that shows long term effects of growing up in a particular environment” (Pinker, 2003).
Nature vs nurture debate is an old argument, I believe that nature and nurture both work together. Your genes are something that you are born with but your experiences and how you were raised also make you the person you are today. Experiences and opportunities help you develop your personality. It also provides a valuable training ground for later life. Human culture, behavior, and personality are cause primarily by nature and nurture not nature or
Have you ever wondered how you got the colors of your eyes from your mother, and the freckles from your father? And where did you get your diligent personality and talent for singing? Did you learn those from your surroundings, or was it predetermined by your genes given from your parents? While it’s clear to us that physical traits are inheritance from the past generation, the genetic parts get a bit more sophisticated when it comes to intelligence, personality, and an individual's behavior. Throughout ages, the arguments of nature vs nurture has been brought up probably more than the number of hairs on our head, but neither side have yet to prove that one is strong than of another. We do not know how much of what we are is determined by our genetic information and how much by our life experience. Some scientists think that people act as they do according to genetic predisposition or even "animal instincts," known as the nature theory of human behavior, while scientists believe that people think and behave in certain wa...
Nurture has a more stronger influence on your personality than nature does. They both have a huge role in contributing to your personality development, it is a proven fact. Identical twins have a lot of differences, but also many similarities. Your personality can keep changing while you're growing up. Studies have shown that your personality is based off your surroundings and how you have been raised. From now on when you watch how people act, be sure to remember this debate and think about what their personality is based