Molecular Genetic Aspects of Personality

Developmental Behavioral Genetics and Education

“…Therefore, it is a logical next step trying to identify specific genes that account for this genetic variance. However, despite marked advances in molecular biology and genetics during the past decade that have included techniques that make it possible to search the entire genome for genetic variants, which may be related to disease states or psychological traits (see also Strobel and Brocke, 2011), our knowledge of specific genes that are responsible for, and provide a sufficient explanation of, specific behavioral outcomes is rather limited (e.g., Johnson et al, 2011) and it seems unlikely "that most of the genes responsible for the heritability for any complex trait will be identified in the foreseeable future" (Haworth and Plomin, 2010: p. 784). The present article will therefore focus on the quantitativegenetic approach and primarily on twin studies constituting the bulk of the pertinent evidence, although we acknowledge adoption designs as alternative or complementary approaches, which are discussed in detail elsewhere (Plomin et al, 2008).…”