Nature vs Nurture in Personality Development

RUNNING HEAD : NATURE VS . NURTURE 'S ROLE IN PERSONALITY

Nature vs . Nurture in the Development of Personality

[NAME OF CLIENT]

[UNIVERSITY] Nature vs . Nurture in the Development of Personality

Personality has been defined as the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environments (Allport , 1937 . The most popular view on personality is through a trait approach . This is due largely to consistency at the level of traits of behavioral aggregates . In the same way personality is conceptualized in terms of individual differences

in behavioral dispositions (Borkenau , Riemann , Spinath , Anglietner , 2006 The individual differences of persons as seen in the level of specific traits gives a window of opportunity for research in the variety of traits which individuals possess . Research may focus as well on the factors propelling change in personality traits of individuals

Personality research has , over the past years , focused on determinant factors in personality or trait development through a dichotomous lens The consistency of traits over the lifetime of an individual encourages the grounding of nature and nurture studies . Since personality is deemed constant , the determinant factors of the same may be limited in range thus also the reason why in most nature-nurture studies the focus has been the zygote and young children .The nature-nurture dichotomy has propelled research in both the hereditary and environmental influence field . However , as both ends progress in findings the wall delineating the dichotomy is worn thin . Personality may not be so easily explained as the consequence of mere genetics or even as the result of external influences , rather it may be the complex output of the interaction of these two supposedly opposing sides

Nature : The Genetic Inheritance

Behavioral geneticists have been concerned in the collection of evidence that personality traits rely on built-in morphological make-up They seek to show the comparative influence of genes and the environment and employ the concept of heritability of genes to quantify their work (Mullen , 2006 . Behavioral scientists on this side of the spectrum therefore see personality as a result of the biological make-up of a person and rely heavily on DNA codes to predict a person 's behavioral responses to stimuli . Variations in responses or changes in personality may then be attributed to inclinations for the same resulting from inherited traits

Behavioural genetics has been defined as the genetic study of behavior The methods employed by behavioral geneticists have included quantitative genetics , which deal with twin studies and adoption studies , as well as molecular genetics , which deal with DNA studies (Plomin , 2000 . Molecular genetics has considered not only the study of human but also of animal behavior . The method includes the recording of organism responses and the comparison of the same with responses measured in the brain through functional neuroimaging to self-report questionnaires (Plomin , 2000

While true that molecular biology holds the future of human genetics little of what is known regarding personality has resulted from the same . Most of what behavioral geneticists have learned have resulted...