3 ms·

Extraversion/Introversion is one of the big five personality traits and is ~50% heritable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits#Heritabili

Extraversion/Introversion is one of the big five personality traits and is ~50% heritable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits#Heritability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits#He... That's not to say introversion/extraversion wouldn't manifest differently in different contexts, but the trait does exist (as much as any personality trait does) and appears to have a large genetic component to it.

temp-dude-87844 9y ago
Isn't "~50% heritable" a different way of stating that the results are indistinguishable from a coin flip? That doesn't sound too hereditary.
- extra88 9y ago
  No, because it's not a binary choice. There are degrees to which people are open to new experiences or extraverted.
- c8d3f7b49897918 9y ago
  No: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability
- nils-m-holm 9y ago
  I'd rather interpret it as "50% are fixed (nature) and the other 50% are a coin flip (nurture).
- an3waccount 9y ago
  No? Lets say we intro-/extroversion is either heritable (with prob .5) or random(with prob .5). If both of your parents are introverted you have a 50% chance of inheriting the introversion of your parents or a 50% chance at a coinflip, which gives us 75% for introversion and 25% for extraversion.
- aaron-santos 9y ago
  I took it to mean a covariance of 0.5.
jcranberry 9y ago
Heritable doesn't necessarily imply genetic. Culture is heritable. Traits can propagate through generations memetically.
- jhbadger 9y ago
  "Heritable" definitely means genetic when used in a technical rather than a casual sense, though. Studies control for environment by looking at, for example, identical twins adopted by different families.
  - rcacho 9y ago
    Heritability refers to trait variation due to genetic variation within a population. This is different than the amount genetics actually contributes to a trait. While you are controlling for environmental factors in heritability studies you are still referring to a specific population. It can be the case that two identical genotypes across two different populations show two different phenotypes.

temp-dude-87844 9y ago

Isn't "~50% heritable" a different way of stating that the results are indistinguishable from a coin flip? That doesn't sound too hereditary.

extra88 9y ago
No, because it's not a binary choice. There are degrees to which people are open to new experiences or extraverted.
c8d3f7b49897918 9y ago
No: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability
nils-m-holm 9y ago
I'd rather interpret it as "50% are fixed (nature) and the other 50% are a coin flip (nurture).
an3waccount 9y ago
No? Lets say we intro-/extroversion is either heritable (with prob .5) or random(with prob .5). If both of your parents are introverted you have a 50% chance of inheriting the introversion of your parents or a 50% chance at a coinflip, which gives us 75% for introversion and 25% for extraversion.
aaron-santos 9y ago
I took it to mean a covariance of 0.5.

jcranberry 9y ago

Heritable doesn't necessarily imply genetic. Culture is heritable. Traits can propagate through generations memetically.

jhbadger 9y ago
"Heritable" definitely means genetic when used in a technical rather than a casual sense, though. Studies control for environment by looking at, for example, identical twins adopted by different families.
- rcacho 9y ago
  Heritability refers to trait variation due to genetic variation within a population. This is different than the amount genetics actually contributes to a trait. While you are controlling for environmental factors in heritability studies you are still referring to a specific population. It can be the case that two identical genotypes across two different populations show two different phenotypes.