Different factors can explain how people behave. However, environment and biological viewpoints are the most common ways that researchers use to understand how people differ regarding their behaviors and characteristics. Trait theory explains the traits or factors that can help in describing a person. The descriptive terms, such as out-going, short-tempered, generous, are all traits. Biological theory attempt to explain how genes play a part in people's characteristics. The famous Twin Gene theory or the genetic basis for personality research with twins from 1979 to 1999 was a significant milestone in the field of biology (Liu et al., 2019). It was a step towards revealing how biology can explain the similarity and differences in behaviors between people. Despite other factors such as environment or culture influence on traits, biological factors such as genes reveal the vastly how characteristics differ from one person next.
The Gene-Environment Interaction Influence Personality
Genetics and environmental factors can independently influence people's behaviors. However, they can also interact to produce different personalities in a person. The first way of how genes and environment define traits is the range of reactions ( Fragkaki et al., 2018). The genes determine the reaction, but the environment determines the range within which such reaction falls. For instance, people who have high intellectuals are likely to succeed when they are born in wealthy families where they get support than when such people are born in low-income families where they struggle for support.
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Genetic and environmental correlation is another way that genes and environment interact to influence personality. The genetic factors influence the environment, and the environment, in turn, affects the genetic expression. For instance, footballer's children get exposure to football at a tender age, which influences them to realize their talent. Also, it encourages kids to succeed in their football careers.
Culture a Factor in Personality Expression
Culture is another factor that researchers claim to influence the differences that people have regarding their personalities. Culture defines the way people relate, behave, their norms as well as the values within a specific place. Therefore, the way people are brought up has an impact on the nature of values they uphold and the type of behaviors they cherish during their lifetime ( Assary et al., 2020). Thus, people's personality depends on their culture and its influence on their lives.
In modern times, civilization has a significant influence on culture and how it defines people’s traits. As people travel from one place to another, they tend to assimilate the culture and, therefore, their behaviors (Liu et al., 2019). It makes it difficult to trace people's original culture and practices; however, in indigenous cultures, research studies have determined that the nature behaviors and personalities have a link to the culture where a person was born.
The Twin Study
The famous twin study research took place between the year 1979 to 1999. The twin study’s focus was on both identical and fraternal twins reared together. The study’s participants were 350 pairs of twins ( Assary et al., 2020). As part of the findings, the researchers established that identical twins, whether raised together or apart, have very similar personalities. The research implied that despite the environmental difference, people born of the same parents share some characters that stem from their genes. The study established that genetic inheritance had a significant influence on people’s behaviors. Heritability refers to the proportion of difference among people that attribute to genetics. Some of the traits that the study reported as having more than a 0.50 heritability ratio include leadership, obedience to authority, a sense of well-being, alienation, resistance to stress, and fearfulness.
Temperaments
Temperaments are a set of inborn traits that define how a child faces the world. Temperaments are critical in determining unique characteristics. They are either regulative or reactive. The reactive are traits that explain how people differ when they are subject to change ora new environment ( Assary et al., 2020). Regulative determine the differences in the ability to control the responses to the environment. Some traits of temperaments such as a nxiety or emotionality, friendliness, and openness, especially to new things, are constant, and they play a role in defining the attributes people acquire at adulthood (Liu et al., 2019). Although the nature of life affects such personalities, they are resistant and hard to change. For instance, some people are born stubborn than others, while others are more risk-taking while some are naïve. Such traits cannot be changed easily.
Are Characteristics Consistent Over the Situation and Overtime?
Some traits, mostly those inherited, cannot change while others, such as those defined by culture and environment can change from one situation to next. Take, for instance, a stressful environment (Liu et al., 2019). A person who inherits genetic traits of stress resistance can be able to cope in any stressful situation than those who probably acquire the characters due to environment or culture. Generally, the biological model explains how genes influence personalities in children. It also attempts to relate to the environment and genes and how they interact to determine personality. The model can be adopted by parents to encourage some specific traits such as talents in children. The five-factor theory establishes openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness and neuroticism as the pillars of individual personalities. These can be adopted mostly by human resource managers when they try to establish the type of characteristics they need from a potential employee. The temperamental model can be adopted to explain the reasons that make people flexible or inflexible to a specific situation or environment.
References
Assary, E., Vincent, J., Machlitt-Northen, S., Keers, R., &Pluess, M. (2020). The Role of Gene-Environment Interaction in Mental Health and Susceptibility to the Development of Psychiatric Disorders. Beyond Our Genes , 117–138. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-35213-4_7
Fragkaki, I., Cima, M., Verhagen, M., Maciejewski, D. F., Boks, M. P., Lier, P. A. C. V., …Meeus, W. H. J. (2018). Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) and Deviant Peer Affiliation: A Gene–Environment Interaction in Adolescent Antisocial Behavior. Journal of Youth and Adolescence , 48 (1), 86–101. doi: 10.1007/s10964-018-0939-x
Liu, C., Xu, L., Li, J., Zhou, F., Yang, X., Zheng, X., … Becker, B. (2019). Serotonin and childhood maltreatment interact to shape brain architecture and anxious avoidant behavior – a TPH2 imaging genetics approach. doi: 10.1101/685099
