Personality as Influenced by Genetics and Environment

Running head: PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
Personality as Influenced by Genetics and Environment
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1PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
Executive Summary
The following report aims at elaborating how nature and nurture play key role in shaping one’s
personality. For this purpose, personality assessment tests along with various environmental
factors instrumental in forming one’s personality are taken into consideration. A comparative
analysis is done on these factors. From the analysis, the discussion concludes with the essence
that nature and nurture have interdependent impacts on an individual’s personality.

2PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................4
Understanding Personality Assessment.................................................................................4
Trait Analysis: Interplay of Nature and Nurture in Determining Personality........................5
Nature versus Nurture: Contribution in Personality Development........................................7
How Depression is Affected by Genetics and Environment..................................................8
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................12

3PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
Introduction
Personality is described as the sum total of those characteristics in an individual that
define them before the external environment. These characteristics are consistent with not only
the patterns of thinking, rationalising, perceiving, and the overall demeanour of the individuals
but it is also indicative of the differences he or she possesses in relation to other individuals
(Amstadter et al., 2016). Personality comprise of a broad spectrum of features which the
individual is not essentially born with but gradually develops throughout life. However, genetic
predisposition is an important determinant that gets triggered in presence of a related
environmental agent and eventually precipitates in the form of a personality pattern. Thus, it
can be propounded that personality is the product of both nature and nurture (Bleidorn et al.,
2012). There are instances when a situation is in dissonance with a particular trait of an
individual, collapsing his or her coping mechanism. Such situations include a major change in
life, occurrence of an event that provoke a repressed unfavourable memory like childhood
abuse, neglect in parenting styles and functional calamity. Under such circumstance,
disoriented behavioural patterns are elicited within the individual which are known as
personality disorder. Personality disorders interfere with the mental health and overall well-
being of the individual and affects his or her social skills. A few of such personality disorders
are Schizotypal Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality
Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anti-Social personality Disorder (Widiger,
2015). The following report aims at elucidating the impact of nature as well as nurture in
development of an individual’s personality and how the inadequacy and imbalance of these
genetic, biochemical, family and cultural factors trigger the predisposition of personality
disorders in the individual.