Genetic and Social Factors in the Formation of Personality and Behavior - Essay Example

? Genetic and Psychosocial Factors in Personality Genetic and Psychosocial Factors in Personality Introduction Despite the fact that most of the individual differences can be attributed to the differences in the genetic makeup, psychosocial influences on personality differences should not be ignored (Davison and McCabe, 2006). Psychosocial factors such as the perception of an individual and the attitude towards life in general plays a leading role in the determination of one’s personality. Even though the power of genetics in the determination of the personality of a person is a strong determinant of personality as illustrated by the similarities which are observed between parents and their offspring, psychosocial factors define the direction of one’s behaviour in general. Psychological factors just like genetics influence the behaviour of an individual both in the physical and intellectual aspects. This paper discusses the role played by psychosocial factors in the differences exhibited among people while basing the argument on the fact that genes also play a significant role in the personality of any individual. Personality refers to the given characteristics that make each individual unique and special from others. The personality of a person is a product of various psychosocial and genetic factors which make everyone to portray special features which cannot be observed in other regardless of how close they may be in the family lineage (Njus and Johnson, 2008, p. 645). Psychosocial factors shape the attitudes, behaviour and the characteristic traits of a person. The diversity in the personality of people therefore is as a result of many factors within one’s environment. The ability of an individual to cope with life’s challenges is a psychological which defines personality (Foldes, Duehr and Ones 2008, p. 579). The psychosocial factors are important in the formation of individual differences as a person’s culture has a big impact on the development of a person. Human beings continue to grow and develop as a result of the way that they interact with the environment around them (Penke, Denissen and Miller, 2007). The different cultures place different emphasis on different values such as cooperation and independence. The psychosocial factors therefore affect the development of personality development in that they influence the ability of a person to interact with the environment and with others. This means that the social identity that an individual forms is dependent on the psychosocial factors that he interacts with. These factors also have an influence on the social role that the individual will take, and the expectations that he has of the roles that those around him will play (Bamber and Castka, 2006, p. 73). The differences in abilities among people and the roles they play in society are associated with the divergent personalities which are exhibited among individuals even among those who are genetically related. The observable traits of a person which describe his or her personality represent the phenotype of that individual and they vary among people due to the forces of genetics and psychological factors (Loehlin and Martin2011, p. 44). The self esteem of an individual defines the characteristic traits and behaviour which are exhibited by that person and therefore contributes towards the differences among people. During the development stages, people develop different abilities to cope with the challenges in life which stem from the differences in the manner in which individuals experience the psychosocial factors. Each person is different from the other in the way that they think, act, and relate to each other. There are several reasons that are given to account for these individual differences in the course of human growth and development. Human development refers to the stages of growth that people go through during life processes which include both physical and intellectual growth (Foldes, Duehr and Ones 2008, p. 579). While some argue that the individual differences are caused by a person’s genetic makeup; there are those who argue that the psychosocial factors are responsible for the differences among people within the society (McCrae, 2000, p. 10). However, it is important to note that both the genetic makeup and psychological factors contribute to the final personality of a person. Genes contain the specific codes and information which dictate the characteristics of a person and since these codes are different from one person to another, individual differences are inevitable. The offspring of parents portray a combination of characteristics which emanate from both parents but since psychological factors play a role in one’s personality, there are evident differences even between twins. There are differences among people in the manner in which they perceive stressful situations. The role of psychosocial factors is thus demonstrated that people behave differently to situations. For example, a situation which may cause depression in an individual may be handles perfectly well by another. The differences in the abilities of people in the manner in which difficulty situations such as terminal illnesses are handled illustrates the role of psychosocial factors in determining one’s personality (Loehlin and Martin2011, p. 44). The development of a person’s personality is said to begin from an early age and is said to be dependent on an interaction of a variety of factors which include psychosocial and genetic factors (Westerman and Simmons, 2007). Personality formation therefore refers to the organisation of the different structures and components that make up and individual are personality or character. The expression of personality is through observable attributes which could be expressed through the tone and temperament of that person. Additionally personality can be expressed though one’s point of view, expectations and the beliefs that a person holds. The interplay between the environment and social factors play on one’s psychological development and thus determine the ultimate traits or personality which characterizes the individual (Brummett et al., 2007, p. 73). It is undisputable and factual that genes are responsible for the formation of personality but the genome only contributes a given portion of one’s personality as the environment also has a role in creation of personal attributes (Bamber and Castka, 2006, p. 76). The ability or capacity to learn or the attitude of an individual is greatly determined by the interplay between social environment and one’s psychology. It is argued that the learning environment plays a leading role in the ability of people to learn and consolidate the ideas in their long term memory (McCrae, 2000, p. 13). This in turn means that the person’s genes establish the limits to which his personality can be developed through leaning and the environment has a role to play in creating personalities. However, it is important to note that genetics influence the intelligence of the given individual (Westerman and Simmons, 2007). Intelligence is one of the aspects of an individual’s personality but its diverse forms such as social intelligence is a factor of one’s environment. Psychological factors such as help seeking behaviour define how an individual reacts to a situation. There are differences among people in the manner of handling situations. Some people decide to achieve goals by themselves without external assistance while others are dependent on their family or friends. This demonstrates the role of psychosocial factors in personality development (Gibson, McKelvie and Man, 2008, p. 133). On the other hand, behaviour is also determined by the genetic makeup of that person but the social interaction during the socialization process also influences one’s personality through processes such as mentorship (Davison and McCabe, 2006). Studies have also indicated that the monozygotic or the identical twins are more similar than the fraternal twins in their personality (Westerman and Simmons, 2007). This is because the identical twins share all their genes as opposed to the fraternal twins who only share half of their genes. The influence of psychosocial factors in the behaviour of a person is seen in the way the personality of a persona changes during growth and interaction with the social environment (Davison and McCabe, 2006). In addition to the psychosocial factors, genetics also play a significant role in one’s personality and this is illustrated by mental disorders which are found to run within families. The gene that is said to be in charge of regulating serotonin is has been linked to the possibility of developing depression in an individual (Brummett et al., 2007, p. 75). The effects of the environment on the personality development are usually referred to as nurture while the effect of the genes is referred to as nature (Njus and Johnson, 2008, p. 647). Psychosocial factors can be said to be those factors that affect the social or psychological state of a person. Conclusion The personality of a person is a product of complex interactions between nature and nurture. During human development, the social environment and the psychology of a person interacts to influence the ability of that individual to cope with social life, the perceived stress and the general attitude towards life. These psychosocial factors define one’s personality and thus the apparent differences among people. Moreover, heredity or genetic factors also influence the personality of an individual but the power of genetics determine an individual’s personality as a result of the social environment that the person is exposed to. Hence psychosocial factors and genes of human beings play congruent roles in shaping one’s personality during the stages of growth and development. References Brummett, B. R., Wade, J. C., Ponterotto, J. G., Thombs, B., and Lewis, C. (2007). Psychosocial well-being and a multicultural personality disposition. Journal of Counseling and Development: JCD, 85(1), 73-81. Bamber, D., and Castka, P. (2006). Personality, organizational orientations and self-reported learning outcomes. Journal of Workplace Learning, 18(1), 73-92 Davison, T. E., and McCabe, M. P. (2006). Adolescent body image and psychosocial functioning. The Journal of Social Psychology, 146(1), 15-30 Foldes, H. 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