Do you think that differences in intelligence and personality have genetic or environmental causes?

Intelligence and personality make up the characteristics of a person. When growing up, people show a lot of differences in those two characteristics. And that is necessary because that is what makes the world interesting and that is what brings the variety of opinions, taste and characters. It is interesting to know though, what the cause of these differences is. The main question here is therefore to know whether the environment is what influences the personality of a person and his intelligence or the genes they share with their family and especially with their parents.

Analyzing families, we would certainly always find similar characteristics between some members; such as a daughter that is shy just like her mother or a son that acts just like his father. Don't we always say: "like father like son"! These are of course very superficial statements but if we look at the physical characteristics for instance, children look like their parents. So why shouldn't the genes for appearance be transmitted and not just the genes that build the personality and intelligence?

Nevertheless, genetics can not explain everything and can absolutely not be the only cause of the differences in intelligence and personality. Otherwise, two sisters should, because they have the same parents, have the exact same intelligence and personality. However, we all know that this is not the truth. Therefore, there must be another cause. And that cause is the environment. Think about those children who were very responsible and intelligent and who started to follow the wrong path. For example, they started to miss school a lot or to smoke, drink,etc. In many cases, the reason for this can be found in the fact that they kept bad company or that they went round with disreputable types. The place where you grow up also determines the person you are going to be. Here is an example to illustrate this idea: if you grow up in a society where the dominant religion is christianity, then you will certainly become a christian too because of the mentality or the habits that predominate in this place and that influence you. This reasoning can be applied to personality too.

To conclude, the differences in intelligence and personality have several causes and can't be explained by genetics alone, or by the environment. I haven't mentionned it, but education certainly also plays a big role in the making up of a person, as well as people's own experiences.