Nature over nurture: temperament, personality, and life span development

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Genetics
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Temperaments are considered biologically based psychological tendencies with inherent developmental trajectories.
• This definition is proposed to extend to the personality traits within the Five-Factor Model (FFM).
• Existing evidence for the endogenous nature of traits comes from behavior genetics, parent-child studies, and personality structure research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the intrinsic maturation of personality traits within the Five-Factor Model.
• To examine conceptual and empirical links between adult personality traits and child temperament.
• To explore the role of cultural factors in the development of characteristic adaptations.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) scores from a large, cross-cultural sample (N = 5,085) of men and women aged 14 and older.
• Review of existing evidence from behavior genetics, parent-child relations, personality structure, animal personality, and longitudinal stability studies.
• Conceptual linkage analysis between adult personality traits and child temperament.

Main Results:

• The study provides new evidence supporting the intrinsic maturation of personality traits.
• Data indicate strong conceptual links between adult personality traits and child temperament, though empirical associations are modest.
• Cross-cultural analyses in German, British, Spanish, Czech, and Turkish samples support the intrinsic maturation hypothesis.

Conclusions:

• Personality traits, akin to temperaments, exhibit intrinsic developmental pathways.
• The development of personality is intrinsically driven but culturally shaped through characteristic adaptations.
• Effective human development interventions should target these culturally conditioned characteristic adaptations rather than core personality traits.