Character - What Should You Know?

Character refers to a person’s set of characteristics. A person’s qualities influence their cognitions and behaviors in various contexts. To explain personality and its development, various ideas have been proposed. Nature has been influenced not just by the physical environment, but also by the DNA of individuals. The research investigates the influence of genetics and biology in personality development.

Eysenck’s theory is one of the hypotheses used to describe character. His claims are founded on genetics and physiology. Temperament is the principal emphasis of Eysenck’s theories. As a result, his research is heavily influenced by nature. Extraversion/Introversion, Neuroticism/Stability, and Psychoticism/Socialization are the Eysenck personality types (The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, 2017).  Extraversion personalities exhibit traits such as being dominant, sociable, and active. The psychoticism exhibit features such as egocentric, masculine, aggressive and assertive. For the Neuroticism, their personality traits include being mood, guilt feeling, anxious and have a low self-esteem. From the Eysenck’s theory, I would say my personality lies in the stable extroverts. It is because among my qualities are sociable, responsive, lively and have demonstrated some leadership in life situations.

However, I would say this is not an accurate description of my personality. The models of personality are more than neurophysiological ones. Introvert and extrovert aspects do not accurately capture the differences in personality. It is because individuals can learn and unlearn behaviours. Conditioning processes could have more influence on the development of character compared to the psychology of external environment and internal attribute.

Gene and environment bring the question about nature and nurture and their influence on personality (Turkheimer, 2017). Getting to the root of whether nature or nurture changed character, there has to be a keen observation of the biological background and the environment. Some human behaviours could be attributed to genes, others environment and in other cases both could contribute to the development of individual personalities (Coll, Bearer and Lerner, 2014). Having a genetic influence means that an individual is born and exhibits certain characteristics because of their genes. Having an environmental control means that that the nurturing environment has contributed towards the development of individual components. For instance, I am sociable, outgoing and enjoy being in control. Those are attributes are genetic. My ability to have concern and respect for other people are traits that have been influenced by the social environment. Therefore, I have learnt them from the environment. However, in some instance, both gene and environment may combine to form a personality. In my case, I can play the violin. Some of the qualities are to have nimble fingers and perfect pitch. The traits are genetic. However, continuous practice and having a good coach that mentors me through and try to make me better constitute to the nature-nurture influence on my ability.

The human genome is a collection of genes in the cells of a person. The genes are made from the DNA (Polanská, Dobšáková, Dvořáčková, Fajkus and Štros, 2012). Genome help to understand the behaviour of a person. That is so because the human cells when cooperating, they form body tissues. The same corporation between tissues contributes to forming the body organs. In the end, man is influenced by the genetic traits that have helped to create the different parts of the body. Biology is relevant in shaping personality. It is so because it contributes to explain links between characters. Moreover, much of the emphasis is on physiological and genetic factors.

In conclusion, human personality can be explained through various angles. Both nature and nurture have an impact on personality. Additionally, an understanding of the human genome is essential to the study of personality traits.

References

Coll, C. G., Bearer, E. L., & Lerner, R. M. (Eds.). (2014). Nature and nurture: The complex interplay of genetic and environmental influences on human behaviour and development. Psychology Press.

Polanská, E., Dobšáková, Z., Dvořáčková, M., Fajkus, J., & Štros, M. (2012). HMGB1 gene knockout in mouse embryonic fibroblasts results in reduced telomerase activity and telomere dysfunction. Chromosoma, 121(4), 419-431.

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (2017) Thrans4mind: A Journey of Self Discovery: Retrieved from. https://trans4mind.com/personality/EPQ.html

Turkheimer, E. (2017). The nature-nurture question. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. DOI:nobaproject.com