There Are 1,260 Genes That May Be Controlling the Outcome of Your Life, Scientists Say

4 min readHere’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:Through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which are used to identify variants of traits in a genome, researchers found a surprising number of variants linked to specific behaviors.These variants are associated with the Big Five personality traits: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience.While variants in certain genes are an interesting way to predict the trajectory of someone’s life, genetics are still not necessarily destiny, and some people may deviate from these predictions.For anyone who’s ever been told their personality is a reflection of at least one parent, science can now back that up. It turns out that human personality traits don’t emerge simply because children copy parents earlier in life, or because people emulate those they look up to. There are a surprising amount of genetic variants that can determine who we are.There’s no magical gene that can give someone a ready-made personality from birth. But genetic variants influence what are known as the Big Five personality traits: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Both stability and habitual differences in how people behave are effects of these five traits. To find out which genetic variants play a role in determining these traits, psychologist Ted Schwaba of Michigan State University and his research team analyzed DNA samples from 46 international cohorts.“Given personality’s relevance to labor market outcomes, physical health, mental health, and human demography, understanding the molecular genetics of personality is important for developing biopsychosocial models of human behavior and life outcomes,” Schwaba said in a study recently published in Nature.The researchers found that the genes partly responsible for each trait are remarkably consistent across cultures and age groups, even though personality itself varies from group to group. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are used to identify trait variants in a genome. Using data from genome surveys of many individuals, GWAS reveal the most frequently occurring variants, which become guides in searching for more variants. Schwaba and his team found 1,260 genetic variants affecting personality, 824 of which were previously unknown. The researchers also found that personality traits connected to genetics are not identical, but they’re still mostly consistent across genomes.The study also showed that genetically determined personality traits have an effect on behaviors that influence potential life outcomes. Extraversion obviously covers sociability, but also assertiveness and even energy level. It may seem that energy level is purely physical, but some people, especially those who are neurodivergent, are easily exhausted by prolonged social interactions. Conscientiousness covers responsibility, productivity, and organization; neuroticism spans anxiety, depression, and volatility, the unpredictable swings that flare into outbursts of temper; and openness to experience reaches beyond curiosity into imagination and a sensitivity to aesthetics. Each of these clusters, the researchers found, leaves a measurable mark on how a life unfolds. They affect schooling and earnings, physical and mental health, and even whether and when someone has children.The Big Five traits are now mapped across far more of the human genome than ever before. For some traits, known loci multiplied three- to 43-fold, and those variants held their meaning across human populations separated by continents and cultures, a consistency that shared upbringing alone can’t account for. Variants having to do with extraversion in a retiree living in the US were also found to predict extraversion in a young adult thousands of miles away in the Netherlands.Other correlations linked personality traits to behaviors that either protect or damage health. Genetic profiles with high levels of conscientiousness are associated with more exercise and less substance abuse, which lead in turn to less frequent illness, lower body mass index, and healthier aging. Genetic variants associated with high neuroticism or low conscientiousness levels can mean an increased risk of certain psychological and neurodevelopmental conditions, while variants high in agreeableness often predict the opposite. Because these variants are inherited, the tendencies they produce aren’t a matter of personal failing.Another thing the researchers considered were polygenic indices, or PGIs, that they created from the primary GWAS they analyzed. These personality PGIs could predict personality across cohorts, and they were accurate predictors of how subjects involved in the data collection process were perceived by those who interviewed them in person. More attractive personalities had a connection to PGIs high in extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience, but low in neuroticism. Better grooming was correlated with PGIs with high agreeableness and conscientiousness. The other side of this is that PGIs high in neuroticism and low in agreeableness were linked to delinquent and criminal behavior.Genetic variants can even impact where people choose to live, which opens up myriad possibilities for the trajectories of their lives. Those who prefer cosmopolitan cities and neighborhoods tend to have more variants associated with openness to experience, while variants related to conscientiousness are correlated to higher chances of moving away from cities and into affluent suburbs. What needs to be remembered despite these predictions is that genetics are not always destiny. There is no PGI that can completely predict someone’s future. But undoubtedly, Schwaba’s research has provided a fascinating backbone for future investigations that probe deeper into the role of genetics in behavior and life outcomes.“Much of the scientific value of studying personality stems from its applicability to nearly all aspects of human life,” he said. “We extend this tenet by linking heritable variation in personality traits to core mental and physical health outcomes, labour market performance and reproduction, as well as specific behaviors such as…impressions made on others.”Elizabeth Rayne is a creature who writes. Her work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Ars Technica, SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Den of Geek, Forbidden Futures and Collective Tales. She lurks right outside New York City with her parrot, Lestat. When not writing, she can be found drawing, playing the piano or shapeshifting.