Before we get into the scientific basis of what shaped my personality, I would like to establish my own theory of how I obtained my personality. I get told all the time that I'm crazy, outgoing, "special", extroverted, and awesomely hilarious. My personality is what makes me "me" and I'm the only one who knows me best. What I do believe is that I didn't forge my personality on my own. My mother taught me to be gracious, respectful of others, and treat people the way I want to be treated. My father taught me to be tough when a situation calls for it and my twin sister definitely taught me to have patience. Does being taught how I was supposed to act when I was younger help forge my personality? I really can't answer that question because I have no evidence if it did or didn't. All I know is that I'm a unique individual and I don't ever want to change that I am.
Now that I have talked about my own theory, lets get into if I inherited my personality or if my environment shaped it. Chapter 2 in our "Discovering The Life Span" book describes that developmental researchers use several strategies to study the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on traits, characteristics, and behavior (pg. 52). One of their studies involves controlling both genetics and environments with mice. By using mice, it gives use the opportunity to breed them with similar genetic traits. By observing genetically similar animals in different environments, researchers can determine the effects of specific kinds of environmental stimulation (pg. 52). For example, they can examine the effects of different environmental settings by placing some mice in barren cages and other mice in stimulating cages with things to climb on or a big wheel to run in. By exposing genetically similar mice to different environments, researchers can examine in a different way the role that genetic background plays.
