Would you agree that people are born with mannerisms?

Answer 1

Nature or nurture? I think both come into play in varying proportions.

Answer 2

Hard to tell whether a behaviour is inherited or copied if someone's been brought up in the same house as a close family member and both share the habit.

I think it is more likely that they are learned or acquired, because many mannerisms seem to be more a result of the social climate in which the individual lives rather than something that would have developed over thousands of years back when we were swinging from trees. Take for example the habit of steepling your fingers and looking at someone over the top of them. I can't see how that would have evolved, never mind been beneficial to pass on.

Perhaps having a certain gene or a certain physical characteristic makes a person more likely to acquire a certain habit. For instance inheriting an obsessive nature, or the excessive production of earwax, could give rise to a habit that's very similar to someone else in the family with the same problem because there are only so many ways of dealing with it!

Answer 3

Possibly I have noticed younger members of the family with the same mannerisms of older members, I don't think they learned them.

Answer 4

Both my uncle and grandmother like to chew on their tongues while they work. That mannerism could be genetic.

These are some mannerist examples that most people are not born with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannerism#Some_mannerist_examples