ABSTRACT
There are of course genetic differences between people in terms of personality and temperament, and yet it is now recognised by geneticists, psychologists and scientists alike that personality is ultimately determined by a genetic-environment interplay, or put another way, ‘experience dependent genes’. So much so that certain genes, such as depression vulnerability genes or shyness genes, do not have to be expressed if a person has sufficient positive, encouraging people in their childhood who have the ability to consistently soothe the child’s stress states (Caspi et al, 2003). Tragically, if a childhood environment is particularly stressful, some genetic potential such as high IQ will be poorly expressed and sometimes not expressed at all (Turkheimer et al, 2003).
