Genetics and Personality
1. Discuss what Heritability means and its implications for personality. How have twin and adoption studies contributed to the study of personality? What physical characteristic can you say for certain you inherited from your parents? However, when it comes to personality are there any traits that have certain heritability? Moderate heritability? Explain.
2. Discuss the three different Genotype-Environment Interactions (or correlations) that exist. How do these interactions or correlations affect a child’s development of personality? Why is it important to study the genetics in conjunction with personality? Discuss what this implication has for educators.
3. Offer some examples of shared environmental influences that you and your family members experienced. Offer some non-shared. How could these environmental influences play a role in the classroom? Why do you think that the non-shared has more of an effect on personality?
Personality: Theory & Stability
4. Explain what is meant by stability with regards to personality and what researchers have found with regard to consistency in traits over time? Create an example of how a personality trait would be exhibited in a person as a child and then as an adult – would it be manifested exactly the same? Why or why not? Why is knowing if personality is stable have any significance? In particular, how does the stability of personality inform us as educators? What implications does it present?
5. Imagine that you have always thought of one of your students as having personality traits that would identify him or her as outgoing, friendly, talkative but his or her parents inform you that their child at home is quiet, pensive, enjoys being alone. How would the Person-Situation Interaction viewpoint discussed in your textbook help explain what is happening here. As part of your answer, create your own example illustrating the concept of Person-Situation Interaction.
6. When examining personality change over time – it is normally done using three analyses – Discuss the changes that could occur on a group differences level, individual differences level, and finally a population level. Create your own examples that illustrate each level, try to have your examples relate to the classroom.
Prediction and Personality
7. Can personality be used (generally speaking) to predict behavior? Why or why not? Outline the issues surrounding using personality tests to predict In particular, what is the one trait that is most associated with predicting long-term academic success? Why do you think that is so, in particular over other traits?
8. Using your textbook as a source, what implications are there for using personality tests in the workplace? How accurate are personality tests to choose the “right person for the right occupation? Do you feel that with regard to accuracy and prediction, using personality tests to determine a person’s personality would aid in job performance overall and specifically for teachers? Why or why not?
9. What are some potential benefits of using personality tests in the workplace? What re some potential disadvantages? According to your textbook, how are false negatives and false positives as well as Barnum statements pose potential problems? Create your own Barnum statement that you could see agreeing with because it would apply to your personality.
The articles:
10. How do Benjamin, Ebstein & Belmaker (2002) discuss the hereditability of personality? How do they support their claims? What other Phenotypes or traits related to personality seem to also have a genetic link?