OCTOPUSES AND PEOPLE.

OCTOPUSES AND PEOPLE (COMMENT). Nick commented here that we should not be surprised that environmental factors don’t explain much about personality. I agree with Nick and with his example. One reason I posted is that I am surprised that researchers are able to show that as much as 50% of personality is accounted for by genes. Frankly, I am surprised that they can show that any part of personality can be accounted for by genes (the notion of a shyness gene still astounds me). I pointed out the example of the octopus because it was used in the review, but also because the example demonstrates how generalized the analysis is. When I think of personality, I think of highly individual qualities—what Mary Jane, following Gerard Manley Hopkins, speaks of as “inscape.”