Personality Characteristics from a Behavioral Genetics framework

Personality Characteristics from a Behavioral Genetics framework
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Personality Characteristics from a Behavioral Genetics framework
Personality characteristics are the patterns of people’s line of thoughts and behaviors over a long period. Personality characteristics of a child do not have to resemble the personality characteristics of the parent because they are subject to change depending on different factors such as the environment. There are five well-known personality traits which include: contagiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion (CANOE). All other personalities may revolve around these five points.
Happiness is one of the personality traits. For a person to inhibit happiness, there must be some genetic or environmental factors which lead to happiness. Happiness can be hereditary. Serotonin transport protein is the gene responsible for moving serotonin which is neurotransmitter which reduces the level of stress hormones. Most of the drugs which people take to be high are associated with interfering with serotonin.
An example is cocaine. Serotonin transport protein is in charge of controlling some parts of the human brain which react in different ways either through sending positive or negative emotions. The two feelings are also not the opposite of each other because if a person is not depressed, it doesn’t mean they are happy. According to a study by (Schaller, Simpson, & Kenrick, 2013), genetic variation can account for only 33% of a person’s happiness implies that the environment has a significant effect to the happiness of an individual.

Identical twins were used to study the effect of genes in one’s behavior and traits. The research on the hand proved that the genes had up to 50% of people personality traits. Identical twins were separated after birth and put on different environments to be studied found to have similar personality traits. For instance, they dressed in almost the same type of clothes and had similar haircuts. A character like being outgoing is listed as one of the common behaviors which are genetically inherited rather than controlled by the environment. Being charming is a personality that is more of the environment controlled than genetically inherited. That is why some people may be, but their children are not. This may be due to the situation that they have been brought up.

Some other studies suggest that trust can be inherited but distrust in not. According to (Schaller, Simpson, & Kenrick, 2013) trust and distrust are both influenced by the environment, but trust has some genetic link up while distrust is not linked up to genes. Distrust is environmentally gained. Trust can be inherited up to 30% while the environment contributes 19% of suspicion. Loyalty was found to be more of inherited genes than environmental. This is why dogs are so loyal to people because they inhibit childlike genes. There are contradicting studies about loyalty where another study states that loyalty is environmentally earned.
Compassionate is a personality trait which is genetic. This defines why a stranger can fight for a hostage who he doesn’t know. Oxytocin is the gene responsible for compassion, and it is mainly found in people who are trustworthy and caring. It has also been related to the environment where one was brought up. An example has been giving of a child who witnessed the murder of her parents by drug dealers. Although the child may inhibit the oxytocin, due to the nature of the environment he was exposed to this could change his inborn personality traits. In conclusion, both genetics and environmental factors contribute to the personality traits of individuals.
References
Schaller, M., Simpson, J., & Kenrick, T. (2013). Evolution and Social Psychology. Psychology Press