Is it genetics or life style ?

Interesting question! I have 2 daughters & they have been brought up the same way with similar boundaries & discipline, love & nurturing. The eldest is very self centred, is a hyperchondriac, & is not empathic to the needs of others wheras the youngest is very empathic, kind & caring, she puts the needs of others before her own & so I believe this is not down to learned behaviour. I think this side of their personalities are down to who they are.

They are both very beautiful girls which the eldest is very vain but the youngest isn't. They are as different as chalk & cheese.

I do not know what it is that has modelled them to be the people that they are but all I do know is that I love them both very much & as long as they are happy with who they are that is all that matters to me. x

Ah the old nuture versus nature question. Unlike child psychologist Jean Piaget who said children were born as a blank slate we could write upon, we now know babies come with their own pre-set personalities. Some kids are happy little campers, some are shy, some are out and out grouchy and don't mind letting you know.

Some diseases are genetic or congenital . Other diseases have a pre-marker where you may develop it later in life or not depending upon lifestyle choices.

Not all appearance is genetic- I have friends who have adopted children and bio children, but unless the adoptive children are racially different ,many adopted children begin to resemble family characteristics. I happen to resemble my aunt who was married to my uncle , so much so that people often mistake me for my cousin. Now there may be a genetic component with my uncle on my mum's side but there's no genetic component with my aunt. Did she play an influence in my life, most certainly.

Learned behaviour like kindness,nurturing are not genetic but just that learned behaviour from one's environment and the example parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts , uncles , cousins and eventually even peers set.

Both nature and nurture play an important role in our development , neither is more predominant than the other.

It's a combination of the two. Psychologists call it natures vs nurture. They've done twin studies where the twins were separated at birth & raised in different environments & often they made the same life choices, but not always. And, there can be siblings raised exactly the same way & one turns into a criminal, drug addict, etc, & the other turns out just fine. The experts are still trying to figure it out.

Genetics. Children with identical upbringing off the same parents will have varying personalities...so it's not upbringing.What one needs to remember is that it isn't just the parents genes but traits going back through grandparents and further. In livestock one can have a colour or type gene that crops up from way back.Even with tight inbreeding ( livestock not suggesting humans) things can go wrong....the majority will have the favourable traits but now and then one or two will be just the opposite.Good Question

I guess a little of Both.

I am the youngest of many children, and the according to all of them the one with Dad's Temper, Mom's good Cooking, and I have to say that I am basically really Shy. I do not come off that way, but in all life's Journeys all that I have done is a result of how I was taught to treat others with the respect that I wanted. I give and expect nothing, and I try to love like animals...unconditionally.

Nice Question!

My mother's family were Irish, they were loud, outspoken and always looking for an argument. I don't think kindness and caring is a learned behavior. My sister was quiet and had the most friends. She was loving and cared about people. We were raised together, but I was very different. I was like my mom's people. My sister was like my dad's. They were nice to everyone, my dad was easy going. Did not like to argue and got along with people he knew, always tried to be helpful. So I think personality is a factor in genetics. Poppy

It can be both or one or the other..depending on what you are talking about.

y personality is part genetic and part environment in which I was 1-5 years old.

Diseases can be either

Appearance is genetic but with makeup and such it can be life style too.

Characteristics can be both genetic and life style....for example my daughter inherited her dad temperament, but is learning how to change that behavior and become more calm, and kind.

I diffenetly believe genetics play a big part in our behavior.

Perfect example is my grandson that we have raised all his lif. He is 18 and has so many of his mothers traits,personalities and such. The bad part is he got all of the BAD ones. He so far he hasn't picked up any of our traits and behaviors.

i think that is a psychological concern,i be responsive to persons who're homosexuals yet no-one else in thier families are,so i could no longer classify this as being a genetic decision,i think of that is a psychological decision.

I think it is both. My Mother use to tell me that I reminded her so much of her cousin that I had never met. I grew up in Connecticut and her cousin lived in Chicago. My Mom told me that I looked like her, laughed like her and that I was fun to be with just like her cousin. It wasn't until I was in my 40's that I got to meet this woman and much to my surprise, I did look more like her than my Mother. Then my sister and I don't look alike or act alike at all. Everyone is always surprised to hear that we are sisters.