How much of an effect do you think genetics plays in personality?

Question

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Answer 1

It plays quite a bit, but mostly it's your childhood upbringings

Answer 2

oh gosh- tons!  my personality is nothing like my afamily at ALL.

if you knew me IRL, i'm actually rather funny and upbeat.  my afamily is much more serious.  never rubbed off on me, thank god.

Answer 3

I think it has alot to do with genetics.  The chemicals in your body, just like the physical features, come from your "biological" parents.

Environment also has a big effect, as well.  

My guess would be 50/50.

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Giddy:  I'm interested in what your opinion or point is, especially rearding the information you posted.  Thanks.

Answer 4

DD an I have surprisingly similar personalities but not for the reasons most adoptive parents may think.

DD and I are actually third cousins and her mom, grandmother, great grandmother...my mom and myself (along with other woman on that side of the family) have very similar personalities. We all agree we are cut from the same mold.

It's funny because had I not been related to her I may not understand her "quirky" traits. I think it is nice for her that I can say...oh you get that from your ngreat-grandma....or your ngrandmother likes that too.....or when your mom was little she did that. KWIM? (of course I do not uses the words ngrandma or ngreat-grandma to her I just call them by their titles).

I would say it begins at a 50/50 but as children grow there personalities manifest more and that can influence their enviroments. So it ends up being a 75% (genetics) vs. 25% (enviroment).

Answer 5

I definitely think it has an important role.  I remember sitting in 7th grade science, learning about genetics, and the debate about nature versus nurture.  I used to think that if the scientists would just come spend an afternoon at my house, they could easily find their answers.  Three non-related, adopted kids...all adopted as infants, raised by the same aparents in the same house at the same time...and we are all SOOO different.

For me, the debate is often misdirected in an attempt to decided which is more important, most influential.  I think the research and study should focus on how nature and nurture COMBINE.

Answer 6

Hi Gershon.

What's up with all of the name changes in your gang?

I think only 5% or less is the effect of genetics involving one's personality.

added: Happy Mom-Anna - Right there with you on the family thing! I did my best to nip that in the bud.

Gid/Ger: Thanks for the thumbs down, for old times sake. Yep, here in TX, we do say "giddy up" and lots of other cute little old "thangs", too. Have to admit the hat does much more for you than the green mohawk. Hasta la vista...

Answer 7

Oh nature versus nurture! I love this one, I have always been interested in it, I'm an adoptee. I look like my adopted mom, almost exactly it's strange!  But for the personality I think it is more nurture than nature.  I'm not sure how or why but I believe I am who I am because of my adopted mom, not my birth mom.  My adopted mom and I are very much alike in personalities! Sorry to rant I love this topic but I have a hard time applying it to personal experiences because I don't know my birth parents.

Answer 8

I think genetics plays a significant role in personality, but one cannot also overlook the role of the environment.  A person may have a genetic predisposition to some behavior, but unless the right environmental stimulus happens, that trait may not ever be expressed.  Example: Would Beethoven have been a genuis composer if he never touched a piano?  Would Shakespere have been the greatest author in the history of the planet if he never learned to read?

Personality falls along the same lines, I believe.  How many people react a certain way to a situation (positive or negative) then declare later that they never thought they'd be capable of doing what they did?  

It's an interesting study, but I certainly don't think it is a black-and-white answer.  Our experiences shape us, as well as our blueprints.

Answer 9

Ah the old "Nature" V "Nurture" debate..

I love these :P

Well having met one of my biological cousins, and hearing about how exactly alike I am to the entire family....and seeing her behavior and my behavior I am now convinced more than ever that its Genetics....

WITH a Bit of Nurture rolled in...because I also have some of my Amothers quirks....

And the rest of my personality, you know the screwed up bit that turns people away from me, comes simply from being adopted .....

Answer 10

Well, I am a student of psychology working on my PhD at the present time so I feel that I can answer this question with some authority. Actually, genetics plays a significant part in determining personality. However, think of it as a range which the environment will then determine where on the range the personality will eventually fall. So a person say like Hitler could've ended up a leader still but one that lead a church in good deeds and charitable acts. Twin studies where adoptees were separated (yes, I hate those as much as you do) found the twins were much the same in personality regardless of the personality of the adoptive mothers. (One was warm, open, loving, easy to laugh and the other was strict, controlling, and over protective-both adopted girls were shy and quiet.)  In short, a little of both but a little more of genetics.

Answer 11

I think it's different for each person.  For a LONG time, I was a big "nurture" person, but I was focused mainly on gender issues at that time, and it really bugs me that people start brand spankin' new babies out on the "you're a girl, you must have THIS personality; you're a boy, you must have THAT personality".  I still feel very strongly about gender roles not being forced on children, but looking at things from the pov of adoption, my feelings about the nature vs. nurture debate have changed.  When it comes to gender roles, I firmly believe it is personal choice...women can be stronger than men want us to be, and men can be softer than society wants them to be.  But PERSONALITY, I think is a lot more dependent on genetics.  Granted, a person can take on traits of those they are not genetically related to, but I think it really depends on the person how much of "nature" or "nurture" they take into themselves.

Answer 12

I personally think that genetics have more to do with personality then environment.  I know a lot of adopted people, including adoptive siblings who were adopted from differed families, and they are nothing alike, but all of the ones who have found their bio families were very much like their bio parents.

So I would say genetics play around 75% of a role in our personalities.  That isn't to say I think people are exactly like their parents, but something like stubborness could express itself as being driven and ambitious but it could also be just plain stubborn.

Answer 13

Big effect! My 2 oldest boys were adopted from my husbands brother. They do not have contact with him and only contact by phone with their Birth mom very occasionally. They make faces and gestures like their BP's even though they haven't seen them since they were 2 and 4. They were reunited with birthsiblings taken from the BM right from birth. My 2 are the oldest and there are 4 more in 3 different homes. They all met 2 years ago and have a lot of personality traits that are the same. They are all being rasied in very different settings. I am in the city, 2 are together on a huge farm. One is an only child and rich and the last is part of a big family and poor. I am a true believer that genetics makes up the most of  personality. Far more than the way they are raised.

Answer 14

Thank goodness not enough to make me like my family!!!!!

And when looking at my four children the one with a personality most like mine is an adopted child....  

I honestly think PERSONALITY is very unique...  I am so outgoing--a drama queen--public speaker--not a shy bone in my body.... My oldest son can hardly order off a menu he is so painfully shy....

Answer 15

Genetics have an enormous effect on personality.  The twins studies at the Univ. of MN clearly showed that (they brought together hundreds of identical twins in their 30s and 40s who had been separated by adoption).  

I would add that my son, whom I found last year, clearly has my personality which is extremely different from his a-parents and a-sister.

Answer 16

I VERY MUCH AGREE WITH THE LEARNING APPROACH

IN THAT WE LEARN EVERYTHING

THE ONLY PART OUR GENTICS PLAY IS PYHSICAL

*MOMMY 2 BABY JAY-KAE*

Answer 17

Well, my ideas on that have changed drastically over the years.  Back in college when I studied to become a teacher, I was totally convinced that genetics played a significant but far lesser part than envrionment.  With age, and observations, I have done a flip of my opinion about that.  Genetics plays a HUGE part.  We are left to work with the "genetic clay" we are given.  Certainly, environment can make all the difference.  I mean a person's whole destiny can depend on the way he/she is raised.  And the person has a part to play in that as well.  One person can overcome great difficulties in spite of everything, and have a successful life.  Another can travel down the road of dispair and self-destruction in spite of many things that have gone well for him/her.  There's no doubt about that.  But, there is no doubt in my mind that genetics plays the major role in who we are.  Sorry, Adoptive parents (I'm one of them).  That's the reality of things.  

And the weird thing is, that the adoptees know this already.  They've known ever since they were toddlers!  I'm serious.  There is just some weird thing about the way we are created (I prefer the word "designed"--it shows purpose).  I know of a teenager right now, who is certain she is adopted.  She has several bits of "evidence" to back up her feelings, but she has not been able to get her parents to admit it yet.

Answer 18

The article focused a lot on intellegence.  I'd be interested in other personality characteristics.  I've heard about other studies of identical twins raised apart.  They all tend to show dramatically that genetics is very determining.

From what I've studied about IQ, genetics determines the potential and environment determines the realization of that potential.  So genetics gives a person a "set" range of ability.  So, for instance a person's genetics allows them to have an IQ of 100---120.  So, in a fairly non-stimulating environment, the person would grow up to have an IQ of about 100, or in a very stimulating environment, the person would grow up to have an IQ of about 120.  Another person could be born with a "set" range of 90-110, or 80-100, etc.  So, that person with a set range of 80-100 if raised in the same family as the person with the set range of 100-120 will have about a 20 point lower IQ if the environment was the same.

Answer 19

When I met my first mom, it was so freaky because we sound alike, laugh alike and even use the same words when speaking.  Even her family noticed it.  Our personalities and interests are very similar.

I think genetics plays a huge role.  It only makes sense that if we inherit how we look from our parents, we'd also inherit our personality traits.

Answer 20

I think it has much more to do than the other answerers.  A child has strong likes, dislikes, quirks, etc. in the first year of life.  I think it's a fair amount of genetics, but an upbringing that surpresses what the child is can change it drastically.

Answer 21

More than most people would guess.

Beyond having the same face, hands and body type as my birthmother, we have the same interests, housekeeping styles, learning styles, and religious and political leanings.

I didn't meet her until I was 32.

Answer 22

Before meeting my bio-mother, i would have said none, all upbringing.  Now that I have met the family, I think it plays at least 40-50%  What all we have in common personality wise cannot be all coincidence.  My adoptive parents also play a huge role b/c that's all I have been around for soooo long.  I would like to consider myselp a nice mix :-)

Answer 23

more about experiences in adolescence than genetics.

Answer 24

I think that genetics plays a HUGE role in personality.....in fact, an almost exclusive role.   However, I would also say that the environment generally enhances the personality traits that are inborn in a person.

Answer 25

I tend to believe that personality for the most part is also a genetic trait. That does not mean that "all" children have certain personality traits that their parents do. As we all know, many outside forces tend to mold our personalities as well, family and friends.

Answer 26

Had you asked me this a year ago, I probably would have said "very little."

But visiting my first family a couple of months ago, I had a revelation.  After the first night in town, sitting up a few hours with my youngest brother and my mom, I realized something.  "These are MY people," I told my wife the next morning.  She had only seen them for about an hour before she had had to go to sleep.  But she nodded immediately.  She knew what I meant.  

These people, none of whom I had known, just FIT.  Not just interests.  But personality.  I saw myself in them.  And they in me.  Another brother wrote me after that visit: "It's funny to see some of the similarities between all of us."

Given how dissimilar I am and they are from my adoptive family, I'd have to say genetics plays a role.  And not a small one.

Answer 27

Well, I'll just say that science has found a lot of evidence to support a sizable role of genetics in personality.  I've done plenty of reading on the subject in scientific and medical journals over the years, particularly because of my former career as a social worker.  Of course, I've seen quite a bit of anecdotal evidence to support this, as well.  

A person is born with core portions to his/her personality that are in the DNA.  Life influences, but it can't influence what isn't there -- only what is there.  

People can look up articles on their own if they so choose.   ;-)

On a personal note, my natural maternal grandfather is amazed at how much like my natural mother I am.  The traits I share with my natural father have been well-noted by family members from all sides.

Of course, genetics is a bit tricky.  It doesn't automatically mean you will "be like mom" or "be like dad."  It's a bit more complicated than that.  It just turned out that way in my own case.

I may not be like my afamily, but it's about loving and accepting each other for who we all are, anyway -- even if were nothing much alike in personality.

Answer 28

None, you can't look to the parents to decide what the child will be like characteristically, it depends on how they were brought up.