Discovery of new links between an individual's genes and personality
The American magazine Time published a report by journalist Veronica Greenwood on the largest study of its kind linking genes to personality traits, following the publication of researchers’ findings in the journal Nature on September 2.
The magazine explained that psychologists rely on the so-called “Big Five” model to describe human traits, which are: extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness (the tendency to go along with others), neuroticism (the tendency toward anxiety and negative emotions), and conscientiousness (self-discipline and adherence to rules). Previous research has shown that people tend to maintain relatively stable levels in these traits throughout their lives.
According to Denis Bratko, a psychology professor at the University of Zagreb who was not involved in the study, previous attempts to find genetic links to personality did not yield clear results because sample sizes were small and because a large number of genetic variants, each with a minor effect, likely interact in shaping personality.
To overcome this limitation, the authors of the new study contacted researchers around the world who manage databases combining genetic information and personality data for more than one million people. Michael Nevard, a professor of genomic epidemiology at the University of Bristol in the UK and one of the study’s authors, said the research team considers personality a very important factor for health, as scores on the Big Five traits have long been linked to risks of mental health diagnoses, particularly the association between neuroticism and anxiety, as well as the link between personality and other health outcomes.
The study yielded several findings revealed by Time in its report, including:
• Identification of more than 1,000 genetic variants that appear to contribute to shaping personality.
• The finding that genes explain only about 13 percent of the variance in personality, confirming that personality is the result of the interaction between genes and environment.
The magazine quoted Nevard as saying that a much larger number of genes, not uncovered by this study, likely participate in influencing multiple pathways in the brain. For her part, Tina Fokasovic-Hlobic, a psychology specialist at the University of Zagreb, described the study as an “excellent research paper,” emphasizing that it provides the first empirical evidence that no single gene determines any specific personality trait.
Despite the scientific excitement surrounding these results, Nevard advised that the best way to understand personality remains academically validated Big Five trait tests, rather than genetic tests, stressing that these tests “are not perfect, but they are far better than anything currently achievable through genetics.”
