{"id":21817,"date":"2026-09-09T14:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T12:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T14:52:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T12:52:23","slug":"a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/","title":{"rendered":"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why is one person extroverted and another shy, one organized and another chaotic? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-026-10992-9\">A study published in <strong><em>*Nature*<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, conducted by the <strong>Revived Genomics of Personality Consortium<\/strong> on over one million people across 46 research groups worldwide, identified <strong>1,260 DNA variants linked to the Big Five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team is led by Ted Schwaba (Michigan State University), with Michel Nivard, a behavioral geneticist at the University of Bristol, and Elliot Tucker-Drob among the principal coordinators. \u201cResearchers in the field have long been waiting for a sufficiently large-scale genomic association study on personality,\u201d Aysu Okbay, a behavioral geneticist at the Amsterdam University Medical Center who did not participate in the study, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-026-02761-5\">told<\/a> Ewen Callaway of <em>Nature<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"h-esiste-il-gene-del-carattere\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Is there a gene for personality?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 1,260 variants found have, taken individually, an almost imperceptible effect: on average, it takes more than 16,000 different variants to account for the differences in a single trait. For extroversion, for example, having the \u201cright\u201d version of a single variant shifts a person from the 50th to the 50.35th percentile of the trait\u2014a minimal difference, almost irrelevant on an individual scale. Common genetic variants account for between 4.8% (friendliness) and 9.3% (extraversion) of personality differences among people\u2014percentages far below the 40\u201360% suggested by classic twin studies. The message, reiterated in the study, is that personality remains substantially influenced by the environment in which a person grows up and lives.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"h-la-famiglia-non-inganna-i-risultati\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Family doesn&#8217;t skew the results<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The researchers feared that genetic similarities among relatives might make what is actually the result of a shared family environment appear to be \u201cgenetic.\u201d By comparing siblings and children with their parents, they isolated direct DNA transmission, which accounts for 96.2% of the overall predictive power of genetic scores on personality\u2014a figure nearly identical to that observed among twins. \u201cI thought there might be some indirect genetic effect\u2014that the early childhood environment, shaped by the parents\u2019 genes, would influence the children\u2019s personalities,\u201d said Nivard. \u201cWe simply did not find this type of gene-environment correlation.\u201d The study also found no solid evidence that people choose partners with personalities similar to their own, thus disproving a widely held belief, even in common sense.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A study of one million genomes identifies 1,260 variants linked to personality traits such as extroversion and neuroticism. But on their own, they explain very little: what determines who we are is, above all, the life we lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":21818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAowscnaCw:productID":"","_app_feed_target":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1626],"tags":[1997],"class_list":["post-21817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-dna"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA &#8226; Ultima Bozza<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A study of one million genomes identifies 1,260 variants linked to personality traits such as extroversion and neuroticism. But on their own, they explain very little: what determines who we are is, above all, the life we lead.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA &#8226; Ultima Bozza\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A study of one million genomes identifies 1,260 variants linked to personality traits such as extroversion and neuroticism. But on their own, they explain very little: what determines who we are is, above all, the life we lead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ultima Bozza\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ultimabozza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-09T12:49:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-09T12:52:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Riccardo Liguori\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ultimabozza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ultimabozza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Riccardo Liguori\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Riccardo Liguori\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/831c7f9e2ea1901e1b151a723305668e\"},\"headline\":\"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-09T12:49:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-09T12:52:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/\"},\"wordCount\":372,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"dna\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2026\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/\",\"name\":\"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA &#8226; Ultima Bozza\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-09T12:49:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-09T12:52:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"A study of one million genomes identifies 1,260 variants linked to personality traits such as extroversion and neuroticism. But on their own, they explain very little: what determines who we are is, above all, the life we lead.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Ultima Bozza\",\"description\":\"Il mondo che cambia\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"UltimaBozza\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UltimaBozza\",\"alternateName\":\"Ultima Bozza\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/logo-ultimabozza.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/logo-ultimabozza.svg\",\"width\":384,\"height\":81,\"caption\":\"UltimaBozza\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ultimabozza\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ultimabozza\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ultimabozza\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ultimabozza\/\"],\"description\":\"Testata Registrata in data 20\/4\/2023 presso il Tribunale di Milano Num. R.G. 4720\/2023. Num. Reg. Stampa 48.\",\"email\":\"segreteria@ultimabozza.it\",\"legalName\":\"Societ\u00e0 Editoriale Ambrosiana A R.L.\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/831c7f9e2ea1901e1b151a723305668e\",\"name\":\"Riccardo Liguori\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/author\/riccardo-liguori\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA &#8226; Ultima Bozza","description":"A study of one million genomes identifies 1,260 variants linked to personality traits such as extroversion and neuroticism. But on their own, they explain very little: what determines who we are is, above all, the life we lead.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA &#8226; Ultima Bozza","og_description":"A study of one million genomes identifies 1,260 variants linked to personality traits such as extroversion and neuroticism. But on their own, they explain very little: what determines who we are is, above all, the life we lead.","og_url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/","og_site_name":"Ultima Bozza","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ultimabozza\/","article_published_time":"2026-09-09T12:49:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-09T12:52:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Riccardo Liguori","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ultimabozza","twitter_site":"@ultimabozza","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Riccardo Liguori","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/"},"author":{"name":"Riccardo Liguori","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/831c7f9e2ea1901e1b151a723305668e"},"headline":"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA","datePublished":"2026-09-09T12:49:16+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-09T12:52:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/"},"wordCount":372,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg","keywords":["dna"],"articleSection":["Science"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2026","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/","url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/","name":"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA &#8226; Ultima Bozza","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-09T12:49:16+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-09T12:52:23+00:00","description":"A study of one million genomes identifies 1,260 variants linked to personality traits such as extroversion and neuroticism. But on their own, they explain very little: what determines who we are is, above all, the life we lead.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/a-small-part-of-our-personality-is-encoded-in-our-dna\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A (small) part of our personality is encoded in our DNA"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/","name":"Ultima Bozza","description":"Il mondo che cambia","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#organization"},"alternateName":"UltimaBozza","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#organization","name":"UltimaBozza","alternateName":"Ultima Bozza","url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/logo-ultimabozza.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/logo-ultimabozza.svg","width":384,"height":81,"caption":"UltimaBozza"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ultimabozza\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ultimabozza","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ultimabozza","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ultimabozza\/"],"description":"Testata Registrata in data 20\/4\/2023 presso il Tribunale di Milano Num. R.G. 4720\/2023. Num. Reg. Stampa 48.","email":"segreteria@ultimabozza.it","legalName":"Societ\u00e0 Editoriale Ambrosiana A R.L."},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/831c7f9e2ea1901e1b151a723305668e","name":"Riccardo Liguori","url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/author\/riccardo-liguori\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DNA.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21817"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21820,"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21817\/revisions\/21820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimabozza.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}