Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T23:17:51.226Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Genes for Human Personality Traits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Jonathan Benjamin
Jonathan Benjamin
Affiliation:
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and the Soroka Medical Centre, Kupat Holim Klalit, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article considers three major problems with the concept of genes for human personality traits: (1) uncertainty about what human personality is; (2) what we mean when we say there is a gene “for” a mental attribute; and (3) the complexity of interactions between genes and environment, and among the genes themselves. It then draws on examples from empirical human genetic studies by the author and his colleagues in order to suggest that the concept of genes for human personality traits nevertheless does have some validity, and also that we may be on the brink of discovering genes with major effects on human personality. This possibility, in particular its ethical aspects, has aroused some public concern. It is suggested that confidential information about an individual's genes does not differ in principle from other confidential information about him or her, and that the ability (currently theoretical) to affect genes and their expression, temporarily or permanently, does not differ ethically from our current ability to affect other aspects of an individual's physical and psychological functioning. Genes for potential offspring, contained in ova and sperm cells, constitute a special case.

Type
Eugenics and Science
Information
Science in Context , Volume 11 , Issue 3-4 , Autumn-Winter 1998 , pp. 357 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asghari, V., Sanya, I., Buchwald, T., Paterson, A., Jovanovic, V., and Van Tol, H.. 1995. “Modulation of Intracellular Cyclic AMP Levels by Different Human Dopamine D4 Receptor Variants.” Journal of Neurochemistry 65:1157–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bailey, J., Palmer, C., Ramsey, C., Cantwell, D., Kim, K., Woodward, J., McGough, J., Asarnow, J., Asarnow, R., Nelson, S., and Smalley, S.. 1997. “DRD4 Gene and Susceptibility to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Differences in Familial and Sporadic Cases.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:623.Google Scholar
Ball, D., Hill, L., Freeman, B., Eley, T., Strelau, J., Riemann, R., Spinath, F., Angleitner, A., and Plomin, R.. 1997. “The Serotonin Transporter Gene and Peer-Rated Neuroticism.” Neuroreport 8:1301–04.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron, M. 1998. “Mapping Genes for Personality: Is the Saga Sagging?” Molecular Psychiatry 3:106–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benjamin, J., Li, L., Patterson, C., Greenberg, B., Murphy, D., and Hamer, D.. 1996. “Population and Familial Association between the D4 Dopamine Receptor and Measures of Novelty Seeking.” Nature Genetics 12:81–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caprara, G., Barbaranelli, C., and Zimbardo, P.. 1997. “Politicians' Uniquely Simple Personalities.” Nature 385:493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castellanos, F., Lau, E., Tayebi, N., Lee, P., Long, R., Giedd, J., Sharp, W., Marsh, W., Ginns, E., Rapoport, J., and Sidransky, E.. 1997. “Evidence That a D4DR*7R Dopamine Receptor Polymorphism Is Not Correlated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:623.Google Scholar
Cattell, R., Eber, H., and Tatsuoka, M.. 1970. The Handbook for the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. Champaign, Ill: IPAT.Google Scholar
Cloninger, C. 1987. “A Systematic Method for Clinical Description and Classification of Personality Variants: A Proposal.” Archives of General Psychiatry 44:573–88.Google Scholar
Costa, P., and McCrae, R.. 1992. Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO- PI-R) and NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) Professional Manual. Odessa, Fla.: PAR.Google Scholar
Costa, P., and McCrae, R.. 1996. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R). New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Ebstein, R., and Belmaker, R.. 1997. “Saga of an Adventure Gene: Novelty Seeking, Substance Abuse and the Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) Exon III Repeat Polymorphism.” Molecular Psychiatry 2:381–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebstein, R., Levine, J., Geller, V., Auerbach, J., Gritsenko, I., and Belmaker, R.. 1997 a. “Dopamine D4 Receptor and Serotonin Transporter Promoter in the Determination of Neonatal Temperament: Novelty Seeking in Two-Week-Old infants.” Molecular Psychiatry. In press.Google Scholar
Ebstein, R., Nemanov, L., Klotz, I., Gritsenko, I., and Belmaker, R.. 1997b. “Additional Evidence for an Association between the Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) Exon III Repeat Polymorphism and the Human Personality Trait of Novelty Seeking.” Molecular Psychiatry 2:472–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebstein, R., Novick, O., Umansky, R., Priel, B., Osher, Y., Blaine, D., Bennett, E., Nemanov, L., Katz, M., and Belmaker, R.. 1996. “D4DR Exon III Polymorphism Associated with the Personality Trait of Novelty Seeking in Normal Human Volunteers.” Nature Genetics 12:78–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebstein, R., Segman, R., Benjamin, J., Novick, O., Osher, Y., Nemanov, L., and Belmaker, R.. 1997c. “5-HT2C(HTR2C) Serotonin Receptor Gene Polymorphism Associated with the Human Personality Trait of Reward Dependence: Interaction with Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) and Dopamine D3 Receptor (D3DR) Polymorphisms.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:65–72.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H., and Eysenck, S.. 1965. The Eysenck Personality Inventory. London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Fletcher, J. 1990. “Evolution of Ethical Debate about Human Gene Therapy.” Human Gene Therapy 1:55–68.Google Scholar
Gelernter, J., Kranzler, H., Coccaro, E., Siever, L., New, A., and Mulgrew, C.. 1997. “D4 Dopamine Receptor (DRD4) Alleles and Novelty Seeking in Substance Dependent, Personality Disorder, and Control Subjects.” American Journal of Human Genetics 61:1144–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grice, D., Leckman, J., Pauls, D., Kurlan, R., Kidd, K., Pakstis, A., Chang, F., Buxbaum, J., Cohen, D., and Gelertner, J.. 1996. “Linkage Disequilibrium between an Allele of the Dopamine D4 Locus and Tourette Syndrome, by the Transmission Disequilibrium Test.” American Journal of Human Genetics 59:644–52.Google Scholar
Heyd, D. 1992. Genethics: Moral Issues in the Creation of People. Berkeley: University of California.Google Scholar
Jonsson, E., Nothen, M., Gustavsson, J., Neidt, H., Brene, S., Tylec, A., Propping, P., and Sedvall, G.. 1997. “Lack of Evidence for Allelic Association between Personality Traits and the Dopamine D4 Receptor Gene Polymorphisms.” American Journal of Psychiatry 154:697–99.Google Scholar
Kalivas, P., and Nemeroff, C., eds. 1988. The Mesocorticolimbic System. New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Kendler, K., Neale, M., Kessler, R., Heath, A., and Eaves, L.. 1993a. “The Lifetime History of Major Depression in Women: Reliability of Diagnosis and Heritability.” Archives of General Psychiatry 50:863–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K., Neale, M., Kessler, R., Heath, A., and Eaves, L.. 1993b. “A Longitudinal Twin Study of One-Year Prevalence of Major Depression in Women.” Archives of General Psychiatry 50:843–52.Google Scholar
Kendler, K., Walters, E., Truett, M., Heath, A., Neale, N., Martin, N., and Eaves, L.. 1994. “Sources of Individual Differences in Depressive Symptoms: Analysis of Two Samples of Twins and Their Families.” American Journal of Psychiatry 151:1605–14.Google ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, J., Bradwejn, J., Kozsycki, D., Katzman, M., Vaccarino, F., and King, N.. 1997. “Cholecystokinin and Dopamine Genes in Panic Disorder.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:648–49.Google Scholar
Kotler, M., Cohen, H., Segman, R., Gritsenko, I., Nemanov, L., Lerer, B., Kramer, I., Zer-Zion, M., Kletz, I., and Ebstein, R.. 1997. “Excess Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) Exon III Seven Repeat Allele in Opioid-Dependent Subjects.” Molecular Psychiatry 2:251–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LaHoste, G., Swanson, J., Wigal, S., Glabe, C., Wigal, T., King, N., and Kennedy, J.. 1997. “Dopamine D4 Receptor Gene Polymorphism Is Associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.” Molecular Psychiatry 1:121–24.Google Scholar
Lesch, K., Bengel, D., Heils, A., Sabol, S., Greenberg, B., Petri, S., Benjamin, J., Muller, C., Hamer, D., and Murphy, D.. 1996. “Association of Anxiety-Related Traits with a Polymorphism in the Serotonin Transporter Gene Regulatory Region.” Science 274:1527–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, T., Xu, K., Deng, H., Cai, G., Liu, J., Liu, X., Wang, R., Xiang, X., Zhao, J., Murray, R., Sham, P., and Collier, D.. 1997. “Association Analysis of the Dopamine D4 Gene Exon III VNTR and Heroin Abuse in Chinese Subjects.” Molecular Psychiatry 2:413–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loehlin, J. 1992. Genes and Environment in Personality Development. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Macer, D., Akiyama, S., Alora, A., Asada, Y., Azariah, J., Azariah, H., Boost, M., Chatwachirawong, P., Kato, Y., Kaushik, V., Leavitt, F., Macer, N., Ong, C., Srinives, P., and Tsuzuki, M.. 1995. “International Perceptions and Approval of Gene Therapy.” Human Gene Therapy 6:791–803.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malhotra, A., Virkunnen, M., Rooney, W., Eggert, M., Linnoila, M., and Goldman, D.. 1996. “The Association between the Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) 16 Amino Acid Repeat Polymorphism and Novelty Seeking.” Molecular Psychiatry 1:388–91.Google ScholarPubMed
McCrae, R., and Costa, P.. 1990. Personality in Adulthood. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Meador-Woodruff, J., Grandy, D., Van Tol, H., Damask, S., Little, K., Civelli, O., and Watson, S. J. 1994. “Dopamine Receptor Expression in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe.” Neuropsychopharmacology 10:239–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Müller-Hill, B. 1993. “The Shadow of Genetic Injustice.” Nature 362:491–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nakamura, T., Muramatsu, T., Ono, Y., Matshushitu, S., Higuchi, S., Mizushima, H., Yoshimura, K., Kanba, S., and Asai, M.. 1997. “Serotonin Transporter Gene Regulatory Region and Anxiety-Related Traits in the Japanese.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:544–45.3.0.CO;2-C>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nanko, S., Hattori, M., Ikeda, K., Sasuki, T., Kazmatsuri, H., and Kuwata, S.. 1993. “Dopamine D4 Receptor Polymorphism and Schizophrenia.” Lancet 341:689–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ono, Y., Manki, H., Yoshimura, K., Muramatsu, T., Mizushima, H., Higuchi, S., Yagi, Y., Kanba, S., and Asai, M.. 1997. “Association between Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) Exon III Polymorphism and Novelty Seeking in Japanese Subjects.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:501–3.3.0.CO;2-Q>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perez de Castro, I., Ibanez, A., Torres, P., and Saiz-Ruiz, J.. 1997. “Genetic Association Study between Pathological Gambling and a Functional DNA Polymorphism at the D4 Receptor Gene.” Pharmacogenet 7:345–48.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., De Fries, J., McClearn, G., and Rutter, M.. 1997. Behavioral Genetics. 3rd ed. New York: Freeman.Google Scholar
Pogue-Geile, M., Ferell, R., Deka, R., Debski, T., and Manuck, S.. 1998. “Human Novelty-Seeking Personality Traits and Dopamine D4 Receptor Polymorphisms: A Twin and Genetic Association Study.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 81:44–48.Google Scholar
Ricketts, M., Feng, F., Amsterdam, J., Escobar, J., Hamer, R., Manowitz, P., Menza, M., and Sage, J.. 1997. “Association of the Serotonin Transporter Gene Promoter Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and Harm Avoidance Behavior.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:621.Google Scholar
Ritz, M., and Kuhar, M.. 1993. “Psychostimulant Drugs and a Dopamine Hypothesis Regarding Addiction: Update on Recent Research.” Biochemical Society Symposium 59:51–64.Google Scholar
Rubinstein, M., Phillips, T., Bunzow, J., Fatzone, T., Dziewczapolski, G., Zhang, G., Fang, Y., Larson, J., McDougall, J., Chester, J., Saez, C., Pugsley, T., Gershanik, O., Low, M., and Grandy, D.. 1997. “Mice Lacking Dopamine D4 Receptors Are Supersensitive to Ethanol, Cocaine and Methamphetamine.” Cell 90:991–1001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schulz, S., Kamlin, K., Kennedy, J., Sam, F., Davies, M., and Wise, A.. 1997. “DRD4 Alleles and Borderline Personality Disorder.” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:628–29.Google Scholar
Sommer, S., Lind, T., Heston, L., and Sobell, J.. 1993. “Dopamine D4 Receptor Variants in Unrelated Schizophrenic Cases and Controls.“ American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 48:90–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sullivan, P., Fifield, W., Kennedy, M., Mulder, R., Sellman, J., and Joyce, P.. 1998. “No Association between Novelty Seeking and the Type 4 Dopamine Receptor Gene (DRD4) in Two New Zealand Samples.” American Journal of Psychiatry 55:98– 101.Google Scholar
Sunohara, G., Barr, C., Jain, U., Schachar, R., Roberts, W., Tannock, R., Malone, M., and Kennedy, J.. 1997. “Is the Dopamine D4 Receptor Gene Associated with Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder?” American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 74:629.Google Scholar
Van Tol, H., Wu, C., Guan, H.-C, Ohara, K., Bunzow, J., Civelli, O., Kennedy, J., Seeman, P., Niznik, H., and Jovanovic, V.. 1992. “Multiple Dopamine D4 Receptor Variants in the Human Population.” Nature 358:149–52.Google ScholarPubMed
Vandenbergh, D., Zonderman, A., Wang, J., Uhi, G., and Costa, P. Jr. 1997. “No Association between Novelty Seeking and Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) Exon III Seven Repeat Alleles in Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging Pparticipants.” Molecular Psychiatry 2:417–19.Google Scholar