Genes and Personality

Posted by Marlo Delara

Questions: Can changes in behavior change personality genes? In other words, can we through environment fight our biology?

Prediction: There are genes that predispose one to certain personality types. I believe it will be difficult to fight biology.

Source Validity: Both resources were sound sources and were evidence based. The forums are both academically respected and well cited.

Article 1:

Translational Psychiatry (2011) 1, e44; doi:10.1038/tp.2011.44
Published online 4 October 2011. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v1/n10/full/tp201144a.html

According to researchers at the University of Denver, children who have a gene that leans towards anxiety and depression can be effected by a positive parenting environments. The 5-HTTLPR gene generally appears in those who are more highly reactive and sensitive. Lower serotonin levels appear in those with this indicator. Even with the presence of these gene, children who are exposed to warm and nurturing environments can help these chronically moody children. The group that was exposed to negative did not show positive affect. The group exposed to more nurturing and responsive parenting responded well even with the genetic predisposition for more negative outlooks.

I was not surprised that we could in fact “battle our biology” what I found more interesting was that the results were overwhelmingly clear. Our life outlooks can be changed by changing our outside environments. This lit up further questions for me about genetic marker screening for children more susceptible to different behavioral challenges.

Article 2:

Society for Research in Child Development (2008, February 8). Genes And Environment Interact In First Graders To Predict Physical But Not Social Aggression. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2008/02/080207085626.htm

A team of researchers from University of Quebec at Montreal, Laval University, Concordia University, and the University of Montreal studied how aggression comes out in the behavior of children. They compared physical aggression and social aggression. Physical aggression appeared to surface in the presence of other children who were physically aggressive. This was different from social aggression. Social aggression was more clearly linked to the individual despite the presence of the aggressive gene. The physical aggression gene was more so lit up with the influence of others. Social aggression.

In the case of the aggressive gene, I was interested in the studies' approach in differentiating the social and aggressive aggression. The use of others to light up the gene made sense to me. In the presence of others, our ability to physically “own space“ can be clearly identified in animal populations. I was surprised that it was not similar in social aggression. The question I have is, as we become a culture more removed from physical presence, (interacting in more virtual ways and becoming more technology reliant in human interactions), will the physical need for aggression even be recognized? Will social aggression be more easily perceived?