Theories of Personality

Studying the ongoing issues of personality there are so many to choose from. However the two that were very interesting to this learner are genetics and environment.

Genetics: The study of genetics is very important in the development of personality. There are so many things that can be said about genetics. It is important to note that there is no single gene for intelligence, personality traits behavior or even height (Reiss, 1997). Family studies show, children share 50 percent of their genes with each parent (Reiss, 1997). Therefore, for genes to be influential whatsoever, the trait in question must run in families. This learner is really interested in knowing how the genes can be a determining factor in a person's personality. In addition how can children born to a set of parents have so many different personalities?

Environment: The study of the environment is the second issue that this learner finds important in personality. Shared is the environment that is shared by siblings reared in the same family. This includes such variables as socioeconomic status and parent education. Non- shared environment is the environment unique to the individual (Harris 1997). In this learner's view she has a sibling that grew up in the same household with the same socioeconomic status, and same parents. She excelled in high school and college. This sibling went on to pursue a PHD in biology, and went on to disown her family. This learner's wants to know if environment had anything to do with her disowning her family or was it genetics. This can be tossed around for years just as nature vs. nurture but the question is what really influences our personality?

Reference:

Harris, J. Rich. "Where Is the Child's Environment? Revived from Psychological Review

Reiss, D. (1997). Mechanisms linking genetic and social influences in adolescent's development: Beginning a collaborative search. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 6, 100-1005