Genes Shape Personality, New Study Reveals

The all-pervasiveness of genetics as the ultimate determining factor of all humankind has been proven once again with a new study conducted by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) which revealed that the genes which control personality traits have been identified.

The study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, used data from the Million Veteran Program to identify genetic variations, called "loci," associated with each of the "Big Five" personality traits: extraversion, openness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness.

The researchers then combined these data with previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to perform a meta-analysis with almost 700,000 individuals, marking the largest GWAS for personality traits to date.

The study identified 200 genetic loci associated with the “big five” character traits, neuroticism. They found that there was a strong overlap between neuroticism, a personality trait marked by negative feelings, and depression and anxiety.

People with high agreeableness, a personality trait marked by a tendency to get along well with others, were less likely to experience these conditions. (Source: Priya Gupta et al, “A genome-wide investigation into the underlying genetic architecture of personality traits and overlap with psychopathology,” (Priya Gupta et al, Nature Human Behaviour, volume 8, 2024, pp. 2235–2249).