I need help Tell me ANYTHING I should change!! How much do you think our genes affect our personality? Our science club is having a debate about whether or not genes play a bigger role than experiences in determining who we are. Genes play a bigger role than experiences in determining who we are. This is because shyness is a common characteristic based on genes and our genes can also affect us as adults.
The first reason why genes play a bigger role than experiences in determining who we are is that shyness is a common characteristic based on genes. According to Source 1, ¨Shyness has been studied perhaps more than any other personality trait. Kagan, who has monitored 500 children for more than 17 years at Harvard, can detect telltale signs of shyness in babies even before they're born. He's found that the hearts of shy children in the womb consistently beat faster than 140 times a minute, which is much faster than the heartbeats of other babies.¨ In other words, it is easily predicted that you are going to be a shy person when you are older because of your heart beating faster than normal in the womb. Also according to Source 1, “2- year-old Majorie was so painfully shy that she wouldn't talk to or look at a stranger. When Jerome Kagan, a Harvard professor who discovered that shyness has a strong genetic component, Marjorie showed every sign of inherited shyness, a condition in which the brain somehow sends out messages to avoid new experiences” Based on this shyness coming from our genes can very strongly affect how we act and interpret things especially depending on how severe it is.
Another reason why genes play a bigger role than experiences in determining who we are is that our genes can even affect us into adulthood. According to Source 2, “Sandra and Marisa Pena, 32-year-old identical twins, seem to be the same. They have the same thick dark hair, the same high cheekbones, the same habit of delicately rubbing the tip of the nose in conversation. They had the same type of thyroid cyst at the same age (18) in the same place (right side).” Based on this since they are twins they have mostly the same but slightly different genes that affected the way that they act and look which makes them seem the same. And also, “About 50 percent of the characteristics twins have in common are due to genes alone” To put it more simply, that is the reason why they act so much the same, they have about 50 percent of the same genes that make them practically identical.
In conclusion, genes play a more important role than experiences in determining who we are because shyness is a typical feature based on genes and our genes can also affect us in adulthood. But some people may argue that we can grow out of our genes or we can’t simply predict someone's personality. While I can admit that our personalities can change over time but at the same time, we still have a component that sticks with us somehow, according to Source 2“In recent years, we've come to believe that genes influence character and personality more than anything else does. It's not just about height and hair color--DNA seems to have its clutches on our very souls.” This means that we may experience somethings but our DNA still takes part in who we are. But also, indeed, we cannot 100% foretell someone's personality we can still make simple but true assumptions about how people may act based on how they act in the womb according to Source 1, “ Kagan can detect telltale signs of shyness in babies even before they're born. He's found that the hearts of shy children in the womb consistently beat faster than 140 times a minute, which is much faster than the heartbeats of other babies” This proves that genes can take a big part in how we act as people in the future even if they are small details.