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How DNA makes us who we are
In his book The Code of Life, author Robert Plomin discusses the topic of personality formation.
Are our personalities shaped more by our environment or is it all due to our innate disposition? A question that humanity has pondered for centuries seems closer to being resolved with the development of genetics: Both factors have an understandable influence, but genes dominate this battle as the most influential single factor.
In the book The Code of Life you will learn:
- why perseverance, the power of positive thinking or ten thousand hours of training won't change your life as much as they claim
- that we change our environment by genetic disposition, so the net effect of environment is much less than we thought
- why the choice of school or parental attitude is not the main determinant of academic achievement
- why it's useless to blame yourself for a few extra pounds, for being prone to depression or for slow learning
- that genes are not destiny, but it's still good to go with them rather than against them
- about the exciting prospects of genotype-specific treatments and new possibilities for prevention
- why fears that the future of humanity will degenerate into a division into genetic castes are false
We are, who we are, not because of parenting, environment or chance, but mostly because of genes, that they gave us.
"The divorce rate is 40% influenced by genetics. This is not 100% and non-genetic factors also have an influence. However, apart from genetics, no other control variables (environmental influences) have been found to predict divorce rates as reliably as genetics. So our genes are the biggest systematic factor influencing the divorce rate."
DNA sequencing began in the 1970s, the entire genome was mapped at the beginning of the millennium, yet as humanity today we still face many great discoveries and challenges that will arise from them. No one denies it, that genes are to blame, what we look like, how tall we are, how fast we can run, for our susceptibility to specific diseases, but we also have to admit that they affect the level of intelligence and aptitude for learning, our introversion or extroversion, social skills, a measure of empathy, our mood.
Robert Plomin, author of The Code of Life, is a proponent of genetic probabilism. Before writing the book, he conducted thirty years of groundbreaking research, much of it based on studies with twins and adopted children. On the results, he says: "DNA is not the only thing that matters, but it matters more than all the other influences combined."
In The Code of Life, you will not only learn about the basics of genetics and the author's lifelong work, the possibilities of disease prevention, the impact of research on other fields in an engaging and understandable way, but it will probably make you rethink your views on parenting, education and life-shaping events.
