Personality Is Linked to Genes, New Study Finds

When it comes to personality, humanity contains all sorts, from people who thrive on socializing to those who’d prefer to have a quiet cup of tea at home. Psychologists have found that five dimensions of personality, often termed the “Big Five,” are reliable descriptors of temperament. Given regular questionnaires about their lives and attitudes, people tend to score consistently across their lifetimes on extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness (a tendency to go with the flow), neuroticism (a tendency toward anxiety and other negative emotions), and conscientiousness (like self-discipline and rule-following). Exactly how these tendencies arise, and the extent to which they are the result of nature or nurture, are areas of active research. Now, in a paper published in Nature on September 2, scientists who examined the genes of more than a million people who also took personality questionnaires have revealed a swath of genetic variants linked to each of the Big Five traits. This information opens the door to research into the intersection of personality and biology, helping to answer questions about how we become who we are.What’s the relationship between genes and your p...