Introduction
The inspiration for my research was found in two articles: “Mapping the Bilingual Brain” by Chris Berube and “Can You Make Yourself Smarter?” by Dan Hurley. The interaction between Berube and a multilingual 5 year old in his blog inspired me to further my research away from the home environment of where things are originally learned, and into the foundation of the role of genetics in an individual’s personality and behavior. I thought it suffice to assume that the little girl must’ve learned multiple languages from her family, which made me think in the simplest terms: “What else do we inherit from our parents?” Dan Hurley’s article was the first stimulus article that brought up the topic of genetics and other factors that contribute …show more content…
A complex trait, as defined by Lisa Roundy, is “a trait that is easily influenced by many different genetic and environmental factors.” Personality traits are polygenic as well, meaning that “multiple genes are involved in determining a trait.” So in other words, there isn’t just one gene that establishes personality. Personality, being both complex and polygenic, makes the study of genetic personality extremely complicated and often draws in the ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate. Therefore most researchers have recognized that the genetic factors of our personality cannot be completely separated from our environmental influences (Roundy). But, the correlation between genetics and an individual’s personality and behavior carries great importance in understanding the role that genes play in determining who we are and how we …show more content…
The great debate is due to the inability to accurately separate nature and nurture. Although this paper includes more evidence to support the genetic viewpoint that does not mean it is more significant in its determination. In fact, the term “temperament” in psychology refers to the personality tendencies that we show at birth (biologically determined), but after birth, environmental factors like social circles and family interactions comes into play to shape personality (Genetics, the Brain, and Personality). My research is limited in the fact that there is no inclusion of research done on the relationship of adopted children between their biological and adoptive parents or how even children of the same family can act differently. This would have proved critical to examine because adopted children are raised in the same family but do not share heredity so it is assumed that there is a separate nature and nurture. At the moment it is impossible to determine the specific dominance of genes over environment, but the obvious conclusion that they both can be attributed to personality “because genetic influence never explains all of the variance for
The inspiration for my research was found in two articles: “Mapping the Bilingual Brain” by Chris Berube and “Can You Make Yourself Smarter?” by Dan Hurley. The interaction between Berube and a multilingual 5 year old in his blog inspired me to further my research away from the home environment of where things are originally learned, and into the foundation of the role of genetics in an individual’s personality and behavior. I thought it suffice to assume that the little girl must’ve learned multiple languages from her family, which made me think in the simplest terms: “What else do we inherit from our parents?” Dan Hurley’s article was the first stimulus article that brought up the topic of genetics and other factors that contribute …show more content…
A complex trait, as defined by Lisa Roundy, is “a trait that is easily influenced by many different genetic and environmental factors.” Personality traits are polygenic as well, meaning that “multiple genes are involved in determining a trait.” So in other words, there isn’t just one gene that establishes personality. Personality, being both complex and polygenic, makes the study of genetic personality extremely complicated and often draws in the ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate. Therefore most researchers have recognized that the genetic factors of our personality cannot be completely separated from our environmental influences (Roundy). But, the correlation between genetics and an individual’s personality and behavior carries great importance in understanding the role that genes play in determining who we are and how we …show more content…
The great debate is due to the inability to accurately separate nature and nurture. Although this paper includes more evidence to support the genetic viewpoint that does not mean it is more significant in its determination. In fact, the term “temperament” in psychology refers to the personality tendencies that we show at birth (biologically determined), but after birth, environmental factors like social circles and family interactions comes into play to shape personality (Genetics, the Brain, and Personality). My research is limited in the fact that there is no inclusion of research done on the relationship of adopted children between their biological and adoptive parents or how even children of the same family can act differently. This would have proved critical to examine because adopted children are raised in the same family but do not share heredity so it is assumed that there is a separate nature and nurture. At the moment it is impossible to determine the specific dominance of genes over environment, but the obvious conclusion that they both can be attributed to personality “because genetic influence never explains all of the variance for