Heredity Personality Development

James Bridges (1932) referred to personality as the quality or state of being a person, as well as, being that which constitutes or characterizes a human being. Whereas, the Encyclopedia of Psychology (2000) personality referred to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. Both definitions of personality act as an example to the evolutional psychological conception of personality. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One is understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability. The other aspect understands how the various parts of a person come together as a whole. Personality assessments have been developed over the past

Researchers have debated that very question for years. However, many experts would agree that the effects of an individuals heredity can not be separated from the influence of the environment. People are a product of the interaction between the two: heredity and environment. An individual’s hereditary traits affect their functioning with their environment, and their environment affects the development and expression of their inherited traits in terms of personality. For instance, consider a person’s appearance. Each person is born with various physical traits (heredity). The individual can modify their appearance to some degree with clothes and beauty enhancement products (environment). However, it is difficult for the individual to change their appearance beyond the limits of heredity. The example can be applied to personality development in adherence with the reciprocal relationship between heredity and

Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict, pioneers of Psychological Anthropology, studied the relationship between culture and personality. The research emphasized that culture was an important aspect of human personality and asserting the effect of culture to personality development was illustrated in that people who are born and raised in the same culture share common personality traits (Balée, 2012). The term culture refers to the shared beliefs, values and norms of a specific group of people (Myers, 2009). In other words, culture influences the manner in which individuals behave, feel, and think about themselves and the world around them. For instance, a being apart of a family system is one of the first exposures to cultural. Some families prefer not to engage in outward actions of affection, such as hugging or kissing, which is a norm for some cultures. Families from some cultures tend to place a high value on close and frequent interactions; much of their leisure time is spent in family oriented social events. In contrast, equally loving families, contact among family members may be less frequent. These examples demonstrate cultural aspects that influence an individual’s attitudes, beliefs, and understanding centered around closeness or connective relationships which are indicative