Personality is commonly defined as “.. enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation and behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances.” (Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2019, p. 707)
- Historically there have been two perspectives on what contributes to personality
- The first is heredity – the organism’s inherited genetic code which provides an innate advantage or disadvantage over other organisms.
- The second is environment – the circumstances in which the organism finds itself including social setting and available learning opportunities.
- It is currently accepted that these two factors interact and both contribute to personality.
- However, your task is to use current research and argue that one is more important than the other.
- Write a brief essay which takes a stand on whether personality is determined primarily by heredity or environment.
- Search for the terms “heredity,” “environment”and “intelligence”
- To widen the search, you may want to include terms such as: nature, nurture, genetics, twin studies, etc.
- Select and download the full-text version of two articles which both support your stance.
Sample Solution
