Evidence that heredity plays a significant role in personality development is compelling, and it must be considered in any biological explanation of individual variations. According to Carver and Scheier (2017), a complex biological entity produces human behavior. For example, some of my personality traits are similar to those of my family members. Familial similarity can be attributed to environmental and inherited factors since relatives usually live in the same surroundings and have identical genes. In other words, siblings may share a fraction of the ecological impact, making them comparable to each other.
Babies can show strong personality traits from a young age, far too early for biological theories to account for these qualities. For example, I have witnessed a two-month-old baby develop control over his body. He could hold his head a little more steadily while resting on his stomach or held upright. The baby’s sucking reflex remained robust throughout the second month of life. I noticed that the infant preferred to suck on a fist or a few fingers.
Various factors other than biology influences the personality of most people. The forces (usually environmental) operate primarily at an individual level (Carver & Scheier, 2017). Environment plays a significant role in turning genes on and off, determining whether they will code for specific proteins responsible for the traits or not. However, separating the impacts of the genes from those of the surroundings and finally determining which ones affect people’s behavior becomes extremely difficult.
In brief, biology influences various characteristics expressed by people. As a result, we are destined to act, think, and feel a certain way. Children with desirable traits like compassion, discipline, optimism and integrity can establish similar routines throughout their lives. Therefore, altering the behavioral responses over time is one approach for an individual to change personality because habits can be learned. It can help a person break out of undesirable features, especially if they are encoded in the DNA.
References
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (2017). Perspectives on personality (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.