Behavior and Genetics: Apply It

  • Explain the nature vs. nurture debate
  • Understand the basics of genetic variation
  • Describe how the environment can influence or interact with genetics

Nature vs. Nurture

Theme C: Psychological biological, social, and cultural factors influence behavior and mental processes.
Figure 1. Understanding that personality and behavior, whether in humans or dogs, are the result of a mix of both biological (nature) and psychological, social, and cultural (nurture) factors is a key theme within psychology.

You’ve probably heard that a dog’s breed makes a big impact on their personality—those sweet Golden Retrievers, those mean Chihuahuas? But is that really true? What determines a dog’s personality—is it nature or nurture?

A genomic study, published in the journal Science, challenges the widely-held belief that a dog’s breed can predict its personality. The researchers surveyed 18,385 dog owners on their pets’ behavior and sequenced the DNA of 2,155 pure and mixed breed dogs, finding that breed only accounted for about 9% of the variation in a dog’s behavior.

The study confirmed that no breed exclusively possesses any particular trait. While some behavioral traits were found more commonly in certain breeds —for example, shepherding dogs were more likely to shepherd, or huskies more likely to howl than the general dog population—no behavioral trait was uniformly present in all dogs of a breed or absent in all of them. The study found that some dog breeds tended to be better at responding to commands, for example, but that a dog’s breed alone could not determine how biddable they were.

The study reinforces the idea that a dog’s personality is shaped by a combination of factors, including its environment, with genetics serving as a nudge in a certain direction rather than a predetermined destiny. This mirrors long-established findings in human studies.[1]

Watch this video to learn more about the research done on heritability and dogs.
1. Based on the video, what are the limitations in predicting a dog’s behavior from its breed ancestry?

2. What are the implications of the new regions found in dog DNA for understanding human diseases and disorders?

As you reflect on the nature/nurture debate, consider the following questions:

  • Is your personality more like one of your parents than the other? If you have a sibling, is their personality like yours? In your family, how did these similarities and differences develop? What do you think caused them?
  • Can you think of a human characteristic for which genetic differences would play almost no role?
  • Do you think the time will come when we will be able to predict almost everything about someone by examining their DNA on the day they are born?
  • Identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins for the trait of aggressiveness, as well as for criminal behavior. Do these facts have implications for the courtroom? If it can be shown that a violent criminal had violent parents, should it make a difference in culpability or sentencing?

 

  1. Osborne, M. (2022, April 29). A Dog’s Breed Can’t Predict Most of Its Behavior, New Study Shows. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-dogs-breed-cant-predict-most-of-its-behavior-new-study-shows-180979999/ ↵