How Much Of Our Personality Do You Think Is Centered Around Our Biological Makeup Vs, Nurture?

Learning Objectives

• Explain biological approaches to understanding personality, including the findings of the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart, heritability, and temperament
• Discuss the early trait theories of Cattell and Eysenck
• Draw the Big Five factors and categorize someone who is high and low on each of the five traits
• Discuss personality differences of people from collectivist and individualist cultures and compare the cultural-comparative approach, the ethnic approach, and the combined approach to studying personality

Biological Approaches

How much of our personality is in-born and biological, and how much is influenced by the environment and civilization nosotros are raised in? Psychologists who favor the biological approach believe that inherited predispositions likewise equally physiological processes can be used to explicate differences in our personalities (Burger, 2008).

In the field of behavioral genetics, the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Autonomously—a well-known study of the genetic basis for personality—conducted inquiry with twins from 1979 to 1999. In studying 350 pairs of twins, including pairs of identical and congenial twins reared together and apart, researchers found that identical twins, whether raised together or apart, have very similar personalities (Bouchard, 1994; Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, Segal, & Tellegen, 1990; Segal, 2012). These findings suggest the heritability of some personality traits. Heritability refers to the proportion of difference amidst people that is attributed to genetics. Some of the traits that the study reported every bit having more than a 0.50 heritability ratio include leadership, obedience to dominance, a sense of well-being, alienation, resistance to stress, and fright. The implication is that some aspects of our personalities are largely controlled past genetics; however, it'due south important to point out that traits are not determined past a unmarried gene, just by a combination of many genes, besides as by epigenetic factors that control whether the genes are expressed.

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Temperament

Most gimmicky psychologists believe temperament has a biological ground due to its advent very early in our lives (Rothbart, 2011). As y'all learned when y'all studied lifespan development, Thomas and Chess (1977) found that babies could exist categorized into i of three temperaments: like shooting fish in a barrel, difficult, or slow to warm up. All the same, environmental factors (family interactions, for instance) and maturation tin affect the ways in which children's personalities are expressed (Carter et al., 2008).

Enquiry suggests that there are two dimensions of our temperament that are of import parts of our adult personality—reactivity and cocky-regulation (Rothbart, Ahadi, & Evans, 2000). Reactivity refers to how nosotros reply to new or challenging ecology stimuli; self-regulation refers to our power to control that response (Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981; Rothbart, Sheese, Rueda, & Posner, 2011). For example, one person may immediately respond to new stimuli with a high level of anxiety, while some other barely notices it.

Connect the Concepts: Trunk Type and Temperament

Is there an association between your body blazon and your temperament? The constitutional perspective, which examines the human relationship between the structure of the human body and beliefs, seeks to answer this question (Genovese, 2008). The start comprehensive system of constitutional psychology was proposed by American psychologist William H. Sheldon (1940, 1942). He believed that your body blazon tin can be linked to your personality. Sheldon'due south life's work was spent observing man bodies and temperaments. Based on his observations and interviews of hundreds of people, he proposed three body/personality types, which he called somatotypes.

The three somatotypes are ectomorphs, endomorphs, and mesomorphs (Figure ane). Ectomorphs are sparse with a small bone structure and very little fatty on their bodies. According to Sheldon, the ectomorph personality is anxious, self-witting, creative, thoughtful, tranquillity, and individual. They enjoy intellectual stimulation and experience uncomfortable in social situations. Actors Adrien Brody and Nicole Kidman would be characterized equally ectomorphs. Endomorphs are the opposite of ectomorphs. Endomorphs have narrow shoulders and wide hips, and bear extra fat on their round bodies. Sheldon described endomorphs as being relaxed, comfy, good-humored, fifty-fifty-tempered, sociable, and tolerant. Endomorphs enjoy amore and hate disapproval. Queen Latifah and Jack Black would exist considered endomorphs. The third somatotype is the mesomorph. This body type falls between the ectomorph and the endomorph. Mesomorphs have large os construction, well-defined muscles, broad shoulders, narrow waists, and bonny, strong bodies. According to Sheldon, mesomorphs are adventurous, assertive, competitive, and fearless. They are curious and enjoy trying new things, but tin can also exist obnoxious and ambitious. Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johannson would likely exist mesomorphs.

Figure i. Sheldon proposed 3 somatotypes: endomorphs, mesomorphs, and ectomorphs. Exercise you call back Sheldon's ideas about somatotypes are by and large authentic well-nigh nigh people?

Sheldon (1949) also conducted further research into somatotypes and misdeed. He measured the physical proportions of hundreds of juvenile delinquent boys in comparison to male higher students, and institute that problem youth were primarily mesomorphs. Why might this exist? Perhaps it's because they are quick to acrimony and don't have the restraint demonstrated by ectomorphs. Peradventure it's because a person with a mesomorphic body type reflects high levels of testosterone, which may lead to more aggressive beliefs. Can you think of other explanations for Sheldon's findings?

Sheldon's method of somatotyping is not without criticism, as it has been considered largely subjective (Carter & Heath, 1990; Cortés & Gatti, 1972; Parnell, 1958). More systematic and controlled enquiry methods did not support his findings (Eysenck, 1970). Consequently, information technology's not uncommon to see his theory labeled as pseudoscience, much similar Gall's theory of phrenology (Rafter, 2007; Rosenbaum, 1995). However, studies involving correlations betwixt somatotype, temperament, and children's school performance (Sanford et al., 1943; Parnell); somatotype and performance of pilots during wartime (Damon, 1955); and somatotype and temperament (Peterson, Liivamagi, & Koskel, 2006) did back up his theory.

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Think It Over

• Research suggests that many of our personality characteristics take a genetic component. What traits practice y'all think you inherited from your parents? Provide examples. How might modeling (environment) influenced your characteristics as well?

Trait Theories

Trait theorists believe personality can be understood via the approach that all people accept certain traits, or characteristic means of behaving. Practice you tend to be sociable or shy? Passive or aggressive? Optimistic or pessimistic? Moody or even-tempered? Early trait theorists tried to describe all human personality traits. For example, ane trait theorist, Gordon Allport (Allport & Odbert, 1936), found four,500 words in the English language language that could draw people. He organized these personality traits into three categories: cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits. A key trait is one that dominates your entire personality, and hence your life—such as Ebenezer Scrooge's greed and Female parent Theresa's altruism. Key traits are not very common: Few people have personalities dominated by a single trait. Instead, our personalities typically are composed of multiple traits. Central traits are those that make up our personalities (such every bit loyal, kind, amusing, friendly, sneaky, wild, and grouchy). Secondary traits are those that are non quite every bit obvious or as consistent as central traits. They are nowadays nether specific circumstances and include preferences and attitudes. For case, one person gets angry when people attempt to tickle him; another can merely sleep on the left side of the bed; and however some other always orders her salad dressing on the side. And y'all—although not ordinarily an broken-hearted person—feel nervous earlier making a spoken language in front of your English class.

In an effort to brand the list of traits more than manageable, Raymond Cattell (1946, 1957) narrowed down the list to about 171 traits. However, maxim that a trait is either present or absent does not accurately reflect a person's uniqueness, considering all of our personalities are really made upward of the aforementioned traits; we differ only in the degree to which each trait is expressed. Cattell (1957) identified 16 factors or dimensions of personality: warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, dominion-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to alter, self-reliance, perfectionism, and tension (Table one). He developed a personality assessment based on these sixteen factors, called the 16PF. Instead of a trait being nowadays or absent, each dimension is scored over a continuum, from high to low. For example, your level of warmth describes how warm, caring, and nice to others yous are. If you score low on this alphabetize, you tend to be more afar and cold. A high score on this index signifies y'all are supportive and comforting.

Table one. Personality Factors Measured by the 16PF Questionnaire

Factor	Low Score	High Score
Warmth	Reserved, detached	Outgoing, supportive
Intellect	Concrete thinker	Analytical
Emotional stability	Moody, irritable	Stable, calm
Aggressiveness	Docile, submissive	Controlling, dominant
Liveliness	Somber, prudent	Adventurous, spontaneous
Dutifulness	Unreliable	Conscientious
Social assertiveness	Shy, restrained	Uninhibited, bold
Sensitivity	Tough-minded	Sensitive, caring
Paranoia	Trusting	Suspicious
Abstractness	Conventional	Imaginative
Introversion	Open, straightforward	Private, shrewd
Anxiety	Confident	Apprehensive
Openmindedness	Closeminded, traditional	Curious, experimental
Independence	Outgoing, social	Self-sufficient
Perfectionism	Disorganized, casual	Organized, precise
Tension	Relaxed	Stressed

Figure two. Hans and Sybil Eysenck believed that our personality traits are influenced by our genetic inheritance. (credit: "Sirswindon"/Wikimedia Commons)

Psychologists Hans and Sybil Eysenck were personality theorists (Figure ii) who focused on temperament, the inborn, genetically based personality differences that you lot studied earlier in the module. They believed personality is largely governed by biology. The Eysencks (Eysenck, 1990, 1992; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1963) viewed people as having two specific personality dimensions: extroversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability.

According to their theory, people loftier on the trait of extroversion are sociable and approachable, and readily connect with others, whereas people high on the trait of introversion have a higher need to exist lonely, engage in solitary behaviors, and limit their interactions with others. In the neuroticism/stability dimension, people high on neuroticism tend to be anxious; they tend to have an overactive sympathetic nervous organization and, even with low stress, their bodies and emotional state tend to get into a flying-or-fight reaction. In contrast, people loftier on stability tend to need more stimulation to activate their flight-or-fight reaction and are considered more emotionally stable. Based on these two dimensions, the Eysencks' theory divides people into iv quadrants. These quadrants are sometimes compared with the four temperaments described by the Greeks: melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic, and sanguine (Figure 3).

Effigy iii. The Eysencks described two factors to business relationship for variations in our personalities: extroversion/introversion and emotional stability/instability.

Later, the Eysencks added a 3rd dimension: psychoticism versus superego control (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985). In this dimension, people who are high on psychoticism tend to exist independent thinkers, cold, nonconformists, impulsive, antisocial, and hostile, whereas people who are loftier on superego control tend to have loftier impulse command—they are more altruistic, empathetic, cooperative, and conventional (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985).

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The Big 5

While Cattell's xvi factors may exist as well broad, the Eysenck's 2-gene system has been criticized for existence likewise narrow. Another personality theory, called the Five Factor Model, effectively hits a middle ground, with its five factors referred to equally the Big Five personality traits. It is the most pop theory in personality psychology today and the well-nigh authentic approximation of the basic trait dimensions (Funder, 2001). The five traits are openness to feel, conscientiousness, extroversion, conjuration, and neuroticism (Figure 4). A helpful way to think the traits is by using the mnemonic Sea.

In the Five Factor Model, each person has each trait, only they occur along a spectrum. Openness to feel is characterized by imagination, feelings, actions, and ideas. People who score high on this trait tend to be curious and have a wide range of interests. Conscientiousness is characterized by competence, self-discipline, thoughtfulness, and achievement-striving (goal-directed behavior). People who score high on this trait are hardworking and dependable. Numerous studies have found a positive correlation betwixt conscientiousness and academic success (Akomolafe, 2013; Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2008; Conrad & Patry, 2012; Noftle & Robins, 2007; Wagerman & Funder, 2007). Extroversion is characterized past sociability, assertiveness, excitement-seeking, and emotional expression. People who score high on this trait are ordinarily described as approachable and warm. Not surprisingly, people who score high on both extroversion and openness are more likely to participate in adventure and risky sports due to their curious and excitement-seeking nature (Tok, 2011). The quaternary trait is agreeableness, which is the trend to be pleasant, cooperative, trustworthy, and good-natured. People who score low on conjuration tend to be described as rude and uncooperative, all the same one recent report reported that men who scored low on this trait really earned more money than men who were considered more agreeable (Gauge, Livingston, & Hurst, 2012). The last of the Big Five traits is neuroticism, which is the tendency to feel negative emotions. People loftier on neuroticism tend to experience emotional instability and are characterized every bit angry, impulsive, and hostile. Watson and Clark (1984) found that people reporting high levels of neuroticism also tend to report feeling anxious and unhappy. In contrast, people who score low in neuroticism tend to be calm and even-tempered.

Effigy iv. In the V Factor Model, each person has five traits, each scored on a continuum from high to low. In the eye cavalcade, notice that the first letter of the alphabet of each trait spells the mnemonic OCEAN.

The Big V personality factors each represent a range between two extremes. In reality, well-nigh of us tend to lie somewhere midway along the continuum of each factor, rather than at polar ends. It'due south important to note that the Big Five traits are relatively stable over our lifespan, with some tendency for the traits to increment or subtract slightly. Researchers have found that conscientiousness increases through young adulthood into center age, equally we become better able to manage our personal relationships and careers (Donnellan & Lucas, 2008). Conjuration also increases with historic period, peaking between 50 to seventy years (Terracciano, McCrae, Brant, & Costa, 2005). Neuroticism and extroversion tend to decline slightly with historic period (Donnellan & Lucas; Terracciano et al.). Additionally, The Big 5 traits accept been shown to be across ethnicities, cultures, and ages, and may accept substantial biological and genetic components (Jang, Livesley, & Vernon, 1996; Jang et al., 2006; McCrae & Costa, 1997; Schmitt et al., 2007).

Link to Learning

To find out about your personality and where you autumn on the Big Five traits, follow this link to have the Large Five personality exam.

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Retrieve It Over

• Review the Big 5 personality traits shown in Figure 4. On which areas would y'all expect you'd score high? In which areas does the low score more accurately describe you lot?

Cultural Understandings of Personality

As you accept learned in this module, personality is shaped by both genetic and ecology factors. The culture in which you live is one of the most important ecology factors that shapes your personality (Triandis & Suh, 2002). The term civilization refers to all of the beliefs, customs, art, and traditions of a item society. Culture is transmitted to people through language equally well every bit through the modeling of culturally adequate and nonacceptable behaviors that are either rewarded or punished (Triandis & Suh, 2002). With these ideas in mind, personality psychologists have get interested in the role of culture in understanding personality. They ask whether personality traits are the aforementioned across cultures or if in that location are variations. It appears that there are both universal and civilisation-specific aspects that account for variation in people'southward personalities.

Why might it exist important to consider cultural influences on personality? Western ideas about personality may not be applicable to other cultures (Benet-Martinez & Oishi, 2008). In fact, in that location is evidence that the forcefulness of personality traits varies across cultures. Let's take a look at some of the Big 5 factors (conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness, and extroversion) across cultures. As you lot will learn when you study social psychology, Asian cultures are more collectivist, and people in these cultures tend to be less extroverted. People in Central and South American cultures tend to score higher on openness to experience, whereas Europeans score higher on neuroticism (Benet-Martinez & Karakitapoglu-Aygun, 2003).

According to this study, there also seem to exist regional personality differences within the United States (Figure 5). Researchers analyzed responses from over 1.5 million individuals in the United States and found that there are three distinct regional personality clusters: Cluster 1, which is in the Upper Midwest and Deep Due south, is dominated by people who fall into the "friendly and conventional" personality; Cluster 2, which includes the West, is dominated by people who are more relaxed, emotionally stable, calm, and artistic; and Cluster 3, which includes the Northeast, has more people who are stressed, irritable, and depressed. People who live in Clusters 2 and iii are also generally more than open (Rentfrow et al., 2013).

Effigy 5. Researchers found three distinct regional personality clusters in the United States. People tend to be friendly and conventional in the Upper Midwest and Deep South; relaxed, emotionally stable, and creative in the West; and stressed, irritable, and depressed in the Northeast (Rentfrow et al., 2013).

One caption for the regional differences is selective migration (Rentfrow et al., 2013). Selective migration is the concept that people choose to move to places that are uniform with their personalities and needs. For case, a person high on the agreeable calibration would likely want to live near family and friends, and would cull to settle or remain in such an surface area. In contrast, someone high on openness would prefer to settle in a place that is recognized every bit diverse and innovative (such as California).

Personality in Individualist and Collectivist Cultures

Individualist cultures and collectivist cultures place emphasis on different basic values. People who live in individualist cultures tend to believe that independence, competition, and personal achievement are important. Individuals in Western nations such as the The states, England, and Australia score high on individualism (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmier, 2002). People who live in collectivist cultures value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs. Individuals who alive in countries in Asia, Africa, and South America score high on collectivism (Hofstede, 2001; Triandis, 1995). These values influence personality. For instance, Yang (2006) institute that people in individualist cultures displayed more personally oriented personality traits, whereas people in collectivist cultures displayed more socially oriented personality traits.

Approaches to Studying Personality in a Cultural Context

At that place are iii approaches that can be used to written report personality in a cultural context, the cultural-comparative approach; the indigenous approach; and the combined approach, which incorporates elements of both views. Since ideas about personality have a Western basis, the cultural-comparative approach seeks to test Western ideas almost personality in other cultures to determine whether they can be generalized and if they take cultural validity (Cheung van de Vijver, & Leong, 2011). For example, retrieve from the previous section on the trait perspective that researchers used the cultural-comparative approach to test the universality of McCrae and Costa'southward V Factor Model. They institute applicability in numerous cultures around the world, with the Big V traits beingness stable in many cultures (McCrae & Costa, 1997; McCrae et al., 2005). The ethnic approach came near in reaction to the dominance of Western approaches to the study of personality in non-Western settings (Cheung et al., 2011). Because Western-based personality assessments cannot fully capture the personality constructs of other cultures, the indigenous model has led to the evolution of personality assessment instruments that are based on constructs relevant to the culture existence studied (Cheung et al., 2011). The third approach to cross-cultural studies of personality is the combined approach, which serves every bit a bridge betwixt Western and ethnic psychology as a way of agreement both universal and cultural variations in personality (Cheung et al., 2011).

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Call back Information technology Over

• Co-ordinate to the work of Rentfrow and colleagues, personalities are non randomly distributed. Instead they fit into distinct geographic clusters. Based on where you alive, do you concur or disagree with the traits associated with yourself and the residents of your surface area of the country? Why or why not?

Glossary

culture:all of the behavior, customs, art, and traditions of a particular guild

5 Cistron Model:theory that personality is composed of five factors or traits, including openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

heritability:proportion of difference amongst people that is attributed to genetics

selective migration:concept that people cull to motility to places that are compatible with their personalities and needs

temperament:how a person reacts to the earth, including their activity level, starting when they are very young

traits:characteristic ways of behaving

Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-psychology/chapter/biological-approaches/

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