Nature vs. Nurture: Does Our Genes Effect Our Personalities?

When we think of genes and inherited traits we often think about the physical traits we inherit from our parents and ancestors. In every other facet of our lives we are taught to look beyond the physical and look at people for "who they are". Our personality, the way we act, react, and interact in situations and with other people, makes us who we are more than any physical attribute. Can personality traits be inherited similarly to physical traits, or are they based solely on how we are raised, and in the experiences we go through? The role of genetics in personality is at the center of the timeless nature vs. nurture debate. When it comes to personality the question is, have our genes determined our fate of who we will be long before we live out our lives, or does our environment, the way we are raised, and the experiences we go through, the most important influence in becoming ourselves?

Personality can be defined in many ways, depending on the realm it is being analyzed in, and in the context of the situation, often with conflicting theories. According to the New York Academy of Sciences, psychology defines personality as essentially one’s general profile, which can be best be defined as being dynamic, organized, and constant; it is a unique set of psychological character traits that refer to his or her unique nature; a pattern of thoughts, feelings, social adjustments, and behaviors consistently exhibited over time that strongly influences one’s expectations, self-perceptions, values, and attitudes. Although personality traits come in many forms, there is a general consensus that most variation in human behavior can be categorized by a few core dimensions. According to Emery and Rimoin’s Principles and Practice of Medical Gene...

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With the difficulty in finding candidate genes and the complexity of personality as such a variable trait, a definite answer has yet to be found. It seems as though, as of current progress in studying the genome along with psychological analysis, that our results are open to interpretation, and have thus been used by both sides in ways to support their own theories. While the answer may not be found anytime soon, or ever for that matter, there is a general consensus that both do have an influence, and therefore each should be recognized for being integral to making us who we are. As with most nature versus nurture debates, the general consensus is that nature and nurture both play a role in shaping our personality, both independently and by interaction of the two together. Our genes give us the general framework, with which and around our environment shapes us.