In my opinion the foundation of personality is inherited, self desires set the direction and environment cause transformation, as seed inherits the type of the plant in it self, a chance to go into the soil is similar to self-desires, while water, sunlight, air and fertilizers are environments. They all have a role to play in the process of a seed becoming a tree.
When we ponder ones personality,we should concentrate mostly on hereditary factors and perceive it as something innate , whilst a persons behaviour is a subject to change due to socially constructed factors. You can alter your behaviour and adapt to various situations in life but when it comes to personality it is something that you need to thank your parents and ancestors.
I speak purely from my interpretation of the kind of research I have come in touch with.
The inheritability of personality essentially boils down to the question of whether we are able to determine a particular gene/SNP is responsible for particular personality dimensions. While there has been a fair degree of research in this stream, any study of genetic determinism usually employs the twin study methodology- which in itself has its own fairly strong criticism. The degree to which inheritability of behavior can be explained has rarely been replicated across studies. In my interpretation, it makes less sense to say personality is inherited more than it is socially constructed. The studies of personality being socially constructed- by parent-child interaction, physical environment interaction, peer group interaction, etc. have proved to be of fair relevance and robustness.
A complete picture of personality comes about only when one looks at the interactional approach. One can't explain it without the other.
Rya. Thank you for your interesting answer.. I also believe it is a combination. :-) I hope you are doing well in India? What is your research topic? Rya Ray
In my opinion the foundation of personality is inherited, self desires set the direction and environment cause transformation, as seed inherits the type of the plant in it self, a chance to go into the soil is similar to self-desires, while water, sunlight, air and fertilizers are environments. They all have a role to play in the process of a seed becoming a tree.
I agree with Muhammad Yahya Qureshi with some addition to his answer that innate and acquired traits runs parallel like a river with a river bank but did not meet together. Both play vital role in the human development. However, in my opinion the innate traits plays a greater role than the acquired traits.
To my understanding a total sum of behavior of any individual is defined as personality. It may not be classified as hereditary but it is gifted by the creator. However polishing can be done by the individuals.