Reconstructing personality from an etiologic perspective

Psychometric evaluation of outcomes, even in genetically informed samples, typically relies on patterns of overall phenotypic correlations, based on the assumption (whether implicit or explicit) that the etiologic structure... [ view full abstract ]

Psychometric evaluation of outcomes, even in genetically informed samples, typically relies on patterns of overall phenotypic correlations, based on the assumption (whether implicit or explicit) that the etiologic structure will recapitulate the phenotypic structure. However, quantitative genetic models of continuous psychological constructs overwhelmingly support a generalist genes model (Kovas & Plomin, 2006, Trends Cogn Sci; Kendler et al., 2011, Am J Psychiatry), where genetic factors account for covariance among phenotypes, and environmental factors account for specificity. Non-human animal models of personality suggest broad targets of biological influence, which may map more closely to the two-factor model of personality (e.g. approach versus avoidance) compared to the five-factor phenotypic model most commonly used in human research. This study developed personality phenotypes on the basis of genetic and environmental overlap, rather than the other way around. Item-level genetic and environmental correlation matrices were constructed using GCTA (Lee et al., 2012, Bioinformatics), which were then factor analyzed to independently identify the structure of heritable and non-heritable influences. The resulting genetic and environmental factor models suggest alternative conceptualizations of personality constructs may be useful in different research contexts.