Personality as Influenced by Genetics and Environment

This report discusses how nature and nurture play a key role in shaping an individual's personality. It covers personality assessment tests, trait analysis, and the impact of genetics and environment on personality development. It also explores how depression is affected 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

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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.

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Discussion
Understanding Personality Assessment
As observed by (Bleidorn et al., 2010), the differences in personality originates from
individual traits which are both physical, psychological, overt and covert in nature, like
weight, skin complexion, attitude, response pattern, habits, interest, mental capability and
sociability. These traits, in turn are determined by the specific social group, cultural group,
peer group, family circle and geographical area the individual belongs to. Most of it imbibes
from the degree and quality of interaction between the individual and these groups. An
individual’s personality is moulded on the basis of the sum total of these factors (Kandler,
2014.)
As opined by (Daw, Guo & Harris, 2015), an individual undergoes assessment of his or
her personality in light of two broad aspects: either to diagnose the cause which is affecting
their day to day functions or to gather an insight about their hidden potentials which can guide
them towards a fulfilling professional life. Personality assessment is usually carried out by
administering a standardized application form such as a questionnaire and then interpreting it
with the aid of empirically derived data (Robinson, 2015). It provides an organized and
structured information about the assessee’s behavioural traits and is often accompanied by
clinical diagnoses and necessary psychological intervention, depending on the degree of the
issue. Therefore it is essential for the assessment to be monitored by a proficient professional.
Personality assessment is often utilised to study the hidden pathologies in an individual.
These affective disorders are embedded within the primary emotional system and depend
partly on the child rearing practices the individual was exposed to. Hence, administration of a
well designed questionnaire helps in bringing out disorders such as ADHD or Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder and Depression. Both these psychopathologies are linked to imbalances

5PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
in psychological development during childhood (Patterson et al., 2017). Further researches on
this domain have brought forth how knowledgeable and observant child rearing practices help
in infusing sensitivity in a child from a very young age (Knafo & Spinath, 2011). Such children
exhibit superior levels of adaptivity across several psychological domains. Personality
assessment only helps to evaluate the degree to which these superior traits are genetically
driven or influenced under certain environmental context.
Trait Analysis: Interplay of Nature and Nurture in Determining Personality
Traits can be described as patterns of an individual’s behaviour that are characterised
by their unique nature and their stability over time. Traits help an individual to comprehend his
or her surrounding environment and to act as per its requirements. Therefore, as suggested by
(Montag et al., 2016), traits can be considered as the building blocks of an individual’s
personality. Personality being an assimilation of the beliefs held, knowledge possessed,
attitudes and reflections about the outer world, falls in a continuum. This continuum constitutes
five broad dimensions that largely justifies why separate individuals act in their own separate
unique ways. These dimensions or traits are: Extroversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness,
Openness and Neuroticism (Yildirim, 2014). An individual can secure any level of these core
traits in the continuum. Based on the level secured, that is low, medium or high, their
personality can be defined. Both heredity and Environment play major roles in determining the
levels.
Heredity refers to the intrinsic biological rhythms that an individual is born with. It is
ingrained within the chromosomes in the form of molecular structure of their genes. The
genetic encoding is believed to have been imported from their parents or immediate family
members (Converse et al., 2012). Heredity is considered to be a contributing factor in the
personality make up of an individual. It explains the diversity that individuals have with

6PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
respect to physical reflexes, intelligence, motivation and temperament. Personality traits are
complex in nature. Heredity influences in shaping up the physical attributes through which it
makes its transition in behavioural context. Cross-Sectional studies have indicated the fact that
the impact of genetic underpinnings depends on the order of the traits. Higher order traits have
demonstrated clear heritability than those of lower order. However, a strong contradiction was
produced through researches that studied siblings with non-shared environmental
characteristics (Tabb, 2015). Such studies blatantly implied that heredity alone cannot
determine an individual’s personality. If it was true, then, siblings with close similarity in their
genetic make-up would have exhibited similar personality patterns. But that was not the case.
The difference in the environmental surrounding shared by each contributed to the disparity in
their personality.
Environment is a broad domain that comprises of elements like family and culture. As
opined in (The development of a child's personality: nature or nurture?, 2011), in the growing
years, a child is in close proximity of his or her parents or immediate family members.
Therefore, the kind of influence the family will have on the child will go about to develop
certain core traits within them. These influences are both at basic and advanced levels. Basic
levels constitute food habit, toilet training, language one speaks, attitude towards elders and
strangers. Advanced levels comprise of higher cognition with respect to one’s consciousness
like what motivates them to choose a particular career path, the kind of outfit one wears, the
people one likes as companions, their interest in extracurricular (Wyld, 2011). The personality
pattern an individual exhibits in the advanced level is also products of peer influences and
culture. Often, it is the culture of the community one belongs to that attributes in development
of core personality traits. Culture plays a major role in infusing value education and gender
roles in an individual. However, it must be noted that culture does not influence one’s
behaviour uniformly. The individual imbibes culture-specific roles along with unique

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ingredients of their own comprehension of the environment. This renders personality traits as
an amalgamation of both nature and nurture. The concept can be understood with the following
example: in a study conducted to find the correlation between 403 genetic variants and the
tendencies towards youth delinquency, it was observed that genetical contribution towards
higher risk of youth violence was associated with low social control. Key evidences suggested
that the quality of the social environment an individual, with this anomalous gene, was exposed
to greatly amplified or moderated his or her affinities. This study interposed methodological
insights into the formation of complex human traits as combined infliction of genetics an
environment (Kandler, 2012).
Nature versus Nurture: Contribution in Personality Development
Studies conducted on Twins have provided sufficient empirical evidences that suggest
how behavioural traits are not always influenced by heredity but on the environment in which
the individual is reared (Yildirim, 2014). However, insufficient progress have been made in
relation to expatiating these evidences. The surrounding environment works on reinforcing an
ability, positive or negative depending on its nature; in the individual till it find itself unified
with their personality. However, the fact that the individual becomes aware of the presence of
that ability and intends to make it a part of his or her character depends, to a considerable
extent, on the linkages or associations of the chromosomal patterns. Therefore it is observed
that behavioural characteristics are often heritable, rather than genetically driven, that strives to
find a commonplace in the surrounding environment in order to prosper (Hager & Brudney, 2011).
Personality, when discussed from a biological point of view, sheds light on the
molecular and chemical bases of the genetic anatomy. It investigates the fundamental
manifestations of alterations in DNA and assigns them as origins of a trait. Along with that it
also links the activities of the brain in relation to the molecular genetics through brain-imaging.

8PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
It must be noted that not all genes are equally expressed. There are dominant traits as well as
recessive ones. It depends on the particular sequential combination of genes for a personality
trait to be evident. Along with that, the possibility of a DNA makeup to react to an
environmental stimulus is also unique in case of every individual. This uniqueness in their
response confers the likelihood of the existence of a particular personality trait (Winkler &
Jolly 2012).
The predictor of one’s personality also comes with the skills and abilities one acquires
in their lifetime. The interplay of hormones and neurotransmitters provide an individual with
an initial level of awareness. However, the fact that makes his or her personality more cohesive
depends on how genetics leads an individual to respond to their environment. Correlation
studies between these two elements have even provided useful information regarding the
hidden psychopathologies in an individual, for example, schizophrenia (Bleidorn et al., 2010).
The environment exclusively determines the overt responses of an individual to its surrounding
stimuli. These responses are guided by the expectations of the cultural community to which the
individual belongs. There is always a possibility for few of these responses to address certain
non-heritable factors. This refutes the idea that genetics always play a leading role in
determining the core traits of an individual, on the basis of which they respond to their
environment. A culture seeks to recognize the overt responses within its members that define
their community. In doing so, it would only try to reinforce the characteristics unique to the
community but not always to the individual who is a part of that community. Hence,
personality or behavioural traits acquired under the influence of a culture are not always
coherent with one’s hereditary biases.
How Depression is Affected by Genetics and Environment
Studies conducted to find precipitating causes of depression have ventured into both
genetics and environmental considerations. One such study revealed that gene 5-HTT is

9PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
instrumental in balancing the levels of serotonin in human brain (Shapiro, 2017). Serotonin
controls the various forms of mood changes. Related researches in this area indicated that
individuals who possessed 2 short versions of this gene and have faced some kind of traumatic
events, are more likely to suffer from depressive disorder. However, the result came as
negative for those who had two long copies each of this gene and they were also found less
susceptible to dramatic alterations in their lives. Another determinant of depression for the
people with short form of gene 5-HTT was the parenting style they were exposed to in their
childhood (Patterson et al., 2017). Probabilities indicated that their parents were cold and
unresponsive towards their needs in their childhood. Thus their coping mechanisms were also
confounded and underdeveloped which eventually catalyzed their predisposition of depressive
syndrome. As stated by the Five-Factor Model of Negative Trait Scale of the DSM-5, the
maladaption of an individual is characterized by the levels on each of these five factors
consisting of: Affectivity, Detachment, Antagonism, Disinhibition and Psychoticism. It is also
referred to as the Big Five Model and it provides a detailed description of the various
personality disorders in an individual (Winkler & Jolly, 2012).
Hereditary factors influencing depression can be examined through family history. If an
individual’s mother suffers from depression, it lends high chances for the individual to
succumb to depression in the later stages of life. A malfunctioning gene which is linked to
associated symptoms of depression like social anxiety and fear also contributes to the
occurrence of disorder (Daw, Guo & Harris, 2015). The effects become more obvious when he
or she is faced with a substantial amount of environmental strain. It aggravates their
predisposing susceptibility and worsens their mental health status. The individual, at times,
becomes conditioned to this negative impact to such an extent that they fall victims of this
disorder at the slightest indication of imbalances in their surrounding environment. Often, due
to this fact they develop characteristics attributing to social phobias.

10PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
Environmental attributes accounting for depression comes in the form of childhood
trauma like sexual abuse or verbal abuse. Such early experiences become ingrained in one’s
personality and scar them for life. Relevant studies in this area have suggested that an
individual who exhibited shy personality with low self esteem and extreme low reactivity to
normal sensations were often faced with catastrophic verbal abuse or threatening on behalf of
their parents (Amstadter et al., 2016). Toxic peer relationships also happen to negatively
influence an individual’s personality and drive them to depression.
Conclusion
To conclude the above report it can be emphasized that the impact of nature and nurture
on an individual’s personality is interdependent on each other. Personality, as it has been
elaborated in the discussion, comes into being from a combination of traits. Such traits can be
assessed, under proper monitoring of a competent professional. Assessment enlightens one’s
knowledge about their suppressed abilities and potentials and they can make use of the
environmental resources to propagate that potential. However, it has also been pointed out that
the environmental agents may not always be congenial for enhancement of one’s personality
and it might act to hinder the development altogether. Under such circumstance, the individual
may exhibit certain pathological dispositions in his or her personality which is termed as
psychological disorders. These negative personality traits are a result of interaction between
genetic malfunctions and abusive family or cultural connotations. The psychological disorders
are measured on a popular scale called the Big Five Model which explains the levels of
anomalous dispositions. Based on the empirical deduction from such scales and the relative
condition surrounding an individual’s day to day life, it can be concluded that both positive and
negative personality is formed as a result of the combined action of nature and nurture.

11PERSONALITY AS INFLUENCED BY GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT
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