Nature and Nurture in Personality Development: The Case of Neuroticism

The author focuses attention to an individual’s early development stages in the article. Kandler compares the qualities of a child to those of an adolescent and says that the distinctions are due to the person’s genetic composition. He also claims that qualities are held in DNA and are passed down from parents to children, manifesting as the child grows into adolescents and continuing to expand as they become young adults and eventually adults. The continuity of the trait across the stages of life confirms that personality development depends on the genetic make of a person because they influence factors such as preferences, intellect abilities and social engagements.

This article is a research based analysis of the personality development in relation to the nature of the person. The role of genetic factors and personality continuity and change is the point of focus in this article. The author seeks to shed light on the correlation of these factors. He demonstrates that genes play a crucial role in development child characters that continue to change as a child progresses in life in terms of age. Given the trait is the same they become advanced as years go by.

The article sheds significant light on the relationship between personality development and nature by looking into the changes that occur in both character and genes of a person as they grow from infancy to adulthood. It concludes that the two factors are linked and they continue to advance as an individual grows.

Lliades, Chris. Mental Illness May Be In Your Genes. Everyday Health, 2013

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Lliades in his article tackles the relation between mental health and nature. He looks into this subject as mental health influences the personality development of individuals. According to the author, persons whose parents have psychiatric challenges are 40-50% prone to developing the same conditions be it schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. He explains that this phenomenon is caused by an abnormal gene that is transferred from parent to child. He further asserts that the generations of a family increase the risk of inheriting the mental health issue is increased. Liades also explains that there has been a study done on the genome of over 50,000 people with mental illness to establish their relation to genes. The results reveal that the genes responsible for hereditary mental illness are about 11. Individuals with parents or one parent with mental illness inherit these genes and hence they are susceptible to acquiring the illness.

This article offers an insight into the genetic influence on an individual’s personality from a mental health point of view. The author focuses on the issue of mental health to depict that traits presented by individuals are connected to their genes and they are pass on from one person of the family to another. The use of evidence from research done on the subject affirms to notion presented that the nature of a person affects their personality. They are unique in society because of the genomes. The article points out that common gene variations lead to mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Lliades’ article highlights the idea that nature is the basis of personality traits of individuals as his findings can be used to explain reasons behind mental illness in a family. His study confirms that the nature of a person in terms of the mental status depending on the genes they acquired from their parents determines their personality development. The article gives the basics on the influence of genes on personality development sighting that it contributes roughly 40-50% of the personality traits that an individual develops as they grow.

Lewis, Tanya. Twins Separated at Birth Reveal Staggering Influence of Genetics. Live Science,

2014.

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Lewis looks at personality as a genetically inherited trait that can be shared among family members especially tins. His study includes twins that are identical and those that are fraternal. The findings from the investigation reveal that genomes of individuals affect their mannerisms as depicted in the twins he studied, that although they were apart for 39 years they had similar personalities. This is a confirmation that genes do contribute to the development of a persons’ character. This revelation gives insight into the family tree mannerisms that tend to be similar to individuals of the same family.

Lewis’s study is based on researches done on different occasions on different sets of subjects. For instance the twins that reunite after about 39 years discover that they enjoyed same activities from physical habits such as nail biting to social affairs such as vacationing on the same beach. This is a finding that cannot be ignored as it allows the world of psychology to explain phenomenon such as inherited characteristics that are common in a given family.

These findings can be used to ascertain the relationship between family members and how their genomes affect their personality development. The articles’ focus on the twins is crucial as it narrows down the study making it easy for scholars to understand the genetic influence over personality traits. This research can be used to understand the similarity or difference in personality traits in identical and fraternal twins respectively. The author also offers an insight into social attitudes that are influenced by genetic make of individuals giving an example of twins separated when young exhibiting similar social likings.

McLeod, Saul. Nature versus Nurture in Psychology. Simply Psychology, 2007

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McLeod addresses the debate on nature versus nurture in psychology his main point being focused on the genetic characteristics and behavioral characteristics of a person. He analyses the biological factors that influence a person’s personality in terms of appearance and how that develops over time positing that each individual has a biological clock that allows them to develop unique mannerism as they move from one stage to another. He considers the wiring of individuals and suggests that people are wired before they are born to develop characteristics that are similar to their parents and such characteristics inherited are intellectual capabilities and mental composition.

In his article, McLeod asserts that the development of personality is credited to nature as the individual naturally obtains characteristics that influence their mannerism in terms of how they relate to people and their environment. He gives an example of the Bowlby’s Theory of attachment which infants have towards their mother. He continues to elaborate that the question of child development which was first asked in the 1900s has been studied and confirmed that children with high intellectual capacity have parents that are intellectually capable. This confirms that nature greatly influences the personality development of an individual.

Throughout McLeod’s article, he expresses an understanding of the subject that is the debate between nature and nurture and how nature influences personality development. He considers studies done by other scholars such as Bowlby that developed a theory of attachment to explain mannerisms of children that are expressed during infancy. This arcticle would be an effective tool in helping understand why individual from the same environment would project different personality. It confirms that nature defines the personality of a person hence regardless of the nurturing; they would have unique personalities compared to others nurtured in the same manner o environment.

Niemiec, Ryan. The Nature and Nurture of Our Character Strengths: Putting Our Genes and

Environment To Practical Use. Psychology Today, 2014

Retrieved from

The author looks at nature in terms of genetic composition of an individual explaining that individual have two precepts of genetics. The precepts are known as genotype or phenotype. Genotype is the genetic composition of the gene while the phenotype is the physical expression of the genes. The article further expresses that the genes of a person carry the 24 character strengths of individuals display. Niemiec elaborates that different people will have different facial expression for a similar reaction. For instance when an individual is happy, the expression on their face will not be similar to another person. This was affirmed by a study conducted on over 336 twins in which monozygotic twins expressed their characters in the same way and dizygot twins had unique reaction each.

In the article, the author has given the step by step explanation of the manner in which genes are responsible for personality development. The genotype and phenotype of a person’s genes caries the strongest characters they have which are displayed as personality traits. The strength of these characters is determined by the genetic makeup of the persona as described using the research on identical and fraternal twins.

Niemiec demonstrates that personality development is dependent on the genetic makeup of a person. The depiction of the traits is expressed in what the author termed as the 24 character strengths that comprise of traits such as creativity, intellectual quotient and social attitudes. Personality development is therefore based on nature.

In summary, personality development is a gradual process that is manifested in the mannerisms of an individual. The nature of a person which is expressed in terms of genes contributes immensely to the development of character and this is proven by studies conducted on fraternal and identical twins. The studies conclude that a person’s character is shaped by their genetic makeup as it influences their preferences, intellectual prowess and social relations. Genes also affect the mental health of a person and therefore, influencing the personality development of the affected party by approximately 40-50%.

There are about 11 genes that are responsible for mental illness in individuals whose parents suffer from the illness. This makes the prone to mental health illness which then influences their personality. Personality is also influenced by gene make of an individual such that individuals will have different facial expressions when reacting to the same situation except for identical twins. These explanations are crucial psychological revelations that help scholars understand the differences in personality of persons that are raised in the same environment.