Are Personality Traits Caused by Genes or Environment

Are Personality Traits Caused by Genes or Environment Psychologists often talk about personality traits, but what exactly is a trait? How do mental health professionals define this term? It is our personalities that help make us unique individuals, but not everyone agrees on exactly how many different traits exist. Some break personality down into very narrow and specific traits, while others prefer to look at traits much more broadly. Lets take a closer look at how traits are defined, the different types of personality traits that exist, and the various influences that contribute to the development of personality traits. How Are Personality Traits Defined? Traits are typically defined as the different characteristics that make up an individuals personality. In the Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research, authors Roberts, Wood, and Caspi define personality traits as the relatively enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish individuals from one another. Trait theory  suggests that our personalities are made up of a number of different broad traits. Extroversion, for example, is a personality dimension that describes how people interact with the world. Some people are very extroverted and outgoing, for example, while others are more introverted and reserved. Until fairly recently, it was believed that personality traits changed very little over the course of a lifetime. Some newer longitudinal studies have revealed that traits are a bit more nuanced than previously believed and that some changes can and do occur over time. How Do Personality Trait Changes Take Place? When it comes to some of the broad, dominant traits, change tends to be difficult. When it does occur, these changes tend to be very subtle. A very extroverted person, for example, might become somewhat more reserved over time. This does not mean that they will transform into an introvert. It simply means that a subtle shift has occurred and the persons extroversion has been slightly modified. The individual is still outgoing and gregarious, but they might find that they also enjoy solitude or more quiet settings on occasion. An introvert, on the other hand, may find themselves becoming somewhat more extroverted as they grow older. This does not mean that the individual suddenly develops a desire to be the center of attention or to spend every Friday night at a large party. However, this person may find that they begin to enjoy social events a bit more and feel less exhausted and drained after they spend time socializing. In both of these examples, the individuals core personality trait has not changed altogether. Instead, changes over time, often the result of experiences, have led to subtle shifts in these central traits. The Principles of Personality Traits In their handbook of personality, Roberts and his colleagues describe a few basic principles that have been derived from personality research: The maturity principle: People tend to become more agreeable, emotionally stable, and socially dominant as they grow older.Identity development principle: People develop a stronger identity as they age and maturity brings a greater commitment to and maintenance of this sense of self. During the younger years of life, people are still exploring different roles and identities. As people age, they begin to feel stronger loyalty to the identity they have forged over the course of their life.Plasticity principle: While personality traits tend to be stable, they are not set in stone. They are subject to environmental influences at any stage of life.Role continuity principle: It is the consistency of roles that leads to continuity in personality traits rather than consistency in environments. Types What would you say if someone asked you to list the personality traits that best describe you? You might rattle off a variety of traits such as kind, aggressive, polite, shy, outgoing, or ambitious. If you were to make a list of every personality trait, it would probably include hundreds or even thousands of different terms used to describe different aspects of personality. Psychologist Gordon Allport once created a list of personality traits that included more than 4,000 terms. The question of just how many personality traits there is has been the subject of debate throughout much of psychologys history, but many psychologists today rely on what is known as the big five model of personality. According to the big five model, personality is composed of five broad dimensions. Individual personalities may be either high, low, or somewhere in between on each of the five core traits. The five traits that make up personality are: ExtroversionConscientiousnessAgreeablenessOpennessNeuroticism Most of the characteristics you might use to describe your own personality fall under one of these broad headings. Personality traits such as shy, outgoing, friendly, and sociable are aspects of extroversion while traits such as kind, thoughtful, organized and ambitious would be part of the conscientiousness spectrum. Each of these five traits represents a continuum. Some people are low in certain traits and high in others. In fact, many people are somewhere in the middle of many or most of these characteristics. Genes or Environment Causes What matters more when it comes to personality, nature or nurture? Just how much does your DNA influence your personality? Researchers have spent decades studying family, twins, adopted children and foster families to better understand how much of personality is genetic and how much is environmental. Both nature and nurture can play a role in personality, although a number of large-scale twin studies suggest that there is a strong genetic component. One well-known study in this area known as the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart studies 350 pairs of twins between 1979 and 1999. The participants included sets of both identical and fraternal twins who were either raised together or apart. The results revealed that the personalities of identical twins were very similar whether they were raised in the same household or raised apart, suggesting that at least some aspects of personality are largely influenced by genetics. This certainly does not mean that the environment does not play a role in shaping personality. Twin studies suggest that identical twins share approximately 50 percent of the same traits, while fraternal twins share only about 20 percent. Personality traits are complex and research suggests that our traits are shaped by both inheritance and environmental factors. These two forces interact in a wide variety of ways to form our individual personalities.

Vietnam War Themes in Books Wandering Souls and The Sorrow...

Themes of a Soldier’s War The Vietnam War was hard for the country to handle, let alone a single soldier. Many soldiers dealt with different personal and physiological effects of this war. This war in Vietnam was different than any of the other wars. This war was unconventional, when we first entered it was more about the fight against the spread of communism then slowly changed over the years. Going into Vietnam was different in all senses from battle conditions, weather, and heavy jungle environment. During the war some soldiers were willing to go and fight and others were not and opposed the war. The majority of the United States public did not oppose this war until it seemed like a battle that could never be won in the long run time†¦show more content†¦The average age of United States soldiers in Vietnam was nineteen and this was three years younger than the American men that served during World War II and the Korean War or so called conflict. After the Vietnam War ended many soldiers had been severely traumatized and for many of them it proved difficult to adjust to life back at home. With the soldiers being younger at the time they entered the war it affects their mental stableness. When they went into the war, they didn’t exactly know who they were and coming out of a war changed them mentally what they saw haunted them. The main theme in both books was very prominent and seemly different yet similar from the Vietnam soldiers and American soldiers. Many of the Vietnamese soldiers grew up around fighting and having a military background in their family. Many Americans in having a similar line of family background, but very different from the soldiers that fought in North Vietnam and grew up in the country. In the book Wandering Souls, Homer Steedleys had a mission and it turned into bringing the body of Hoang Ngoc Dam back to his home village outside of Hanoi many years later. When this event actually occurred, it was almost 40 years after he had killed Dam, during their encounter of each other in the war on a trial in the highlands. Wayne Karlins wrote this book for the readers to get a complete picture of two young men from opposite parts of the world,Show MoreRelated65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays 2nd Edition 147256 Words   |  190 Pagesrequire up-to-date materials and inspiration to match the current environment. While this book includes the latest application essays, which are updated regularly by the ad... missions committee, it retains several essaysfrom the first edition of the book because of their uniqueness as well as to reflect typical question topics that may reappear in future admissions applications. It is worth noting that this book is create d by The Harbus News Corporation, an independent nonprofit entity, not the Harvard

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Time Of The Past Free Essays

At the age of 25 I was one of the most treasured managers in a profitable company in my small village town. My repute had entangled the whole town and this is why everybody gazed at me every time I went down the streets doing my shopping like every body else. My life style was the most expensive you would envisage because every shoe and cloth I put on was imported. We will write a custom essay sample on Time Of The Past or any similar topic only for you Order Now At this time I did not mind so much about the future since I was single and had no one to care for except my parents who needed little of my financial help because they were already well of. My lucrative job was something that I cherished so much that I devoted most of my time in ensuring that I remained the top performing manager in the company. As a result I had several opportunities of attending sponsored conferences not only in my country but also outside the country. I was far much ahead of many friends I learnt with, and this gave me every reason to celebrate my life and achievements. Due to this, I had no option but to detach myself from many of my friends who would book appointments if they wanted to meet up with me. It seemed like the supply of riches by the creator had been directed towards my side because everything seemed elegant to me. The company had offered me with a number of company vehicles the rationale for which I have by no means been able to ascertain to this day. But I gape that the company was making super normal profits which made the president plan less and did not care about the unwarranted company expenditures. As a result, the company’s performance begun to dwindle but disproportionately to what the company gained at the end of the day. Little did any one of us notice that losing a single consumer was the commencement of a big down fall that awaited us. Decisions were made without a vision of expanding the operations of the company to make the company top its competitors. We thought that we had reached the sun only to comprehend later that we had not stepped in the moon. What followed will always remain in my mind as the most downbeat and hardest part of my life to this day. My pay was reduced by half because the company begun making massive losses and most of our customers lost confidence in the company. My job remained at stake because the marketing department that I headed was the key in sourcing for customers who kept the company flying high but in contradiction they were leaving. After a short while a letter of termination of my services knocked on my door and since I didn’t have any share in the company I had no option but to relinquish my duties. Huge loans that I had obtained from different institutions became a major headache because I had no other source of income. Auctioneers became my regular visitors as they frequently knocked on my door to take whatever was equivalent to the debts I had. A few months that followed found me in the streets dining with people I had all along thought I would never brush shoulders with. This time it was more degrading because people either laughed or sympathized with my situation. To this day I live yearning for those days when I was the head of marketing department at Hill Cage Company. Â   Â   How to cite Time Of The Past, Essays

whatever Essays - Business Cycle, Geoffrey H. Moore, Capitalism

BUSINESS CYCLE A business cycle is the periodic but irregular up and down movements in economic activity, measured by fluctuations in real GDP or gross domestic product and other macroeconomics variables. It is not a predictable or repeating phenomenon like the ticking of a second hand on a clock. Its timing is random and unpredictable. A business cycle describes the phases of growth and decline in an economy. A business cycle is a sequence of four: contraction, trough, expansion and peak. A contraction is a slowdown in the pace of economic activity, a trough is the lower turning point of a business cycle, usually a recession, where a contraction eventually turns into an expansion, expansion is a speedup in the pace of economic activity, and finally the peak which is the upper turning of a business cycle. ?The goal of economic policy is to keep the economy in a healthy growth rate ? fast enough to create jobs for everyone who wants one, but slow enough to avoid inflation. Unfortunately, life is com plex and many factors can cause an economy to spin out of control, or settle into a depression. The most important, factor is confidence ? that of investors, consumers, businesses and politicians. The economy grows when there is confidence in the future and in policymakers, and does the opposite when confidence drops?, states Kimberly Amadeo of Guide.com.

Free Essays on Bush Administration Travel Budget

The article that I chose for my current events paper came from the New York Times, on September 25, 2002. The title of the article is  ¡Ã‚ °Cheney ¡Ã‚ ¯s Travel Budget Raises Eyebrows ¡Ã‚ ±. It was written by Katherine Q. Seelye. Vice President Dick Cheney ¡Ã‚ ¯s staff is asking Congress for an additional $100, 000 for his travel budget this year. Administration officials say it is for  ¡Ã‚ °additional unplanned official trips ¡Ã‚ ± related to the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Democrats suggest the money is being used for political trips in this campaign season. Mr. Cheney is given $386,000 appropriated by Congress, for the fiscal year. He has already spent that sum, as well as an additional $50,000 Congress gives him for unanticipated travel. In 1994, the comparable year for President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore was allocated $164,000 and spent only $51,000 of that amount. When asked his opinion about the funds, David Sirota, spokesman for the Democrats on the House of Appropriations Committee, said,  ¡Ã‚ °This kind of disregard for other people ¡Ã‚ ¯s money may have worked at Halliburton, but it doesn ¡Ã‚ ¯t work with the American taxpayer. ¡Ã‚ ± According to the figures in the article, Vice President Cheney has spent $1194.52 per day for a full fiscal year. That is an outrageous amount of money for travel. I have an idea for a budget plan. If we cut all the politicians ¡Ã‚ ¯ travel money for the fiscal year in half, I think we would have quite a substantial amount for some worthwhile government spending (like maybe bailing out Amtrak). I do understand that politicians and government officials cannot travel by commercial flight, but there has to be a better system in place. I am appalled to think that I pay $0.30 out of every dollar I earn to pay for this kind of nonsense.... Free Essays on Bush Administration Travel Budget Free Essays on Bush Administration Travel Budget The article that I chose for my current events paper came from the New York Times, on September 25, 2002. The title of the article is  ¡Ã‚ °Cheney ¡Ã‚ ¯s Travel Budget Raises Eyebrows ¡Ã‚ ±. It was written by Katherine Q. Seelye. Vice President Dick Cheney ¡Ã‚ ¯s staff is asking Congress for an additional $100, 000 for his travel budget this year. Administration officials say it is for  ¡Ã‚ °additional unplanned official trips ¡Ã‚ ± related to the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Democrats suggest the money is being used for political trips in this campaign season. Mr. Cheney is given $386,000 appropriated by Congress, for the fiscal year. He has already spent that sum, as well as an additional $50,000 Congress gives him for unanticipated travel. In 1994, the comparable year for President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore was allocated $164,000 and spent only $51,000 of that amount. When asked his opinion about the funds, David Sirota, spokesman for the Democrats on the House of Appropriations Committee, said,  ¡Ã‚ °This kind of disregard for other people ¡Ã‚ ¯s money may have worked at Halliburton, but it doesn ¡Ã‚ ¯t work with the American taxpayer. ¡Ã‚ ± According to the figures in the article, Vice President Cheney has spent $1194.52 per day for a full fiscal year. That is an outrageous amount of money for travel. I have an idea for a budget plan. If we cut all the politicians ¡Ã‚ ¯ travel money for the fiscal year in half, I think we would have quite a substantial amount for some worthwhile government spending (like maybe bailing out Amtrak). I do understand that politicians and government officials cannot travel by commercial flight, but there has to be a better system in place. I am appalled to think that I pay $0.30 out of every dollar I earn to pay for this kind of nonsense....

Ornithocheirus - Facts and Figures

Ornithocheirus - Facts and Figures Name: Ornithocheirus (Greek for bird hand); pronounced OR-nith-oh-CARE-usHabitat: Shores of western Europe and South AmericaHistorical Period: Middle Cretaceous (100-95 million years ago)Size and Weight: Wingspans of 10-20 feet and weights of 50-100 poundsDiet: FishDistinguishing Characteristics: Large wingspan; long, thin snout with bony protuberance on end About Ornithocheirus Ornithocheirus wasnt the largest pterosaur ever to take to the skies during the Mesozoic Erathat honor belonged to the truly enormous Quetzalcoatlusbut it was certainly the biggest pterosaur of the middle Cretaceous period since Quetzalcoatlus didnt appear on the scene until shortly before the K/T Extinction Event. Aside from its 10- to 20-foot wingspan, what set Ornithocheirus apart from other pterosaurs was the bony keel on the end of its snout, which may have been used to crack open the shells of crustaceans, to intimidate other pterosaurs in search of the same prey, or to attract the opposite sex during mating season. Discovered in the early 19th century, Ornithocheirus occasioned its share of disputes among the famous paleontologists of the day. This pterosaur was officially named in 1870 by Harry Seeley, who chose its moniker (Greek for bird hand) because he assumed Ornithocheirus was ancestral to modern birds. He was wrongbirds actually descended from small theropod dinosaurs, probably multiple times during the later Mesozoic Erabut not as wrong as his rival Richard Owen, who at that time didnt accept the theory of evolution and thus didnt believe Ornithocheirus was ancestral to anything! The confusion Seeley generated over a century ago, no matter how well-meaning, persists today. At one time or another, there have been dozens of named Ornithocheirus species, most of them based on fragmentary and poorly preserved fossil specimens, of which only one, O. simus, remains in widespread use. Further complicating matters, the more recent discovery of large pterosaurs dating from late Cretaceous South Americasuch as Anhanguera and Tupuxuararaises the possibility that these genera should properly be assigned as Ornithocheirus species.