Do you think people take on personality traits of their parents?

Question

Or do people have unique personalities that are independent of their parents or siblings? How can one explain how a large family with many siblings can contain so many different personalities?

Thanks

Answer 1

i think it depends on the surroundings of the child i guess
and most kids are always around their parents so they do pick up traits but everyone is an individual and i think that there can be similarities and differences at the same time

Answer 2

I think the younger you are, the more impressionable you are. Children learn to communicate by watching their parents. If the first child in the family sees lots of fighting in his first few years, then the parents sort it out, the second child will effectively be raised in a slightly different environment. As people get older, and more independant, they start to look for answers other than those of their parents. So, I say most people pick up most of their parent's traits, but everyone is still their own person.

Answer 3

All I can say to that is ... "I HOPE NOT!" ... I'm only half-kidding. I think that people DO tend to be influenced by the values of their parents, more than their personalities.

It's the "nature vs. nurture" question, and it's been going on forever.

I have two kids, and they are like night and day, and they have been that way since birth. Even though I have raised them the same and they have the same parents, have gone to the same schools, and have had the same experiences, they are turning out to be two very different individuals. Their "nurturing" has been identical, but clearly, their "natures" are vastly different.

I'm pretty sure our personalities are set at conception and, although they are shaped somewhat by how we're raised, and by the people who raise us, we're each destined to be an individual. I don't think any amount of parental (or societal) influence can override what a person's genetics have determined his or her personality to be.

Answer 4

Ah, the big "Nature vs. Nurture" discussion! I think most people will agree that personalities have a genetic component as well as depending on the upbringing. So would you expect siblings to have pretty much the same personality, since they share a lot of genetic material and are subject to the same upbringing? Not really.

Even though they take half their chromosomes from each parent, the genes that fall to a particular individual is rather random. Combinations of genes can produce a certain phenotype (physical or behavioural manifestation of the gene), but if one ot two little things are "missing", you can get an entirely different result.

Plus, all of us who have grown up with siblings *know* mom and dad do not treat us equally. Girls will be treated differently from boys; recalcitrant children will be dealt with more harshly than children who "naturally" are obedient and docile. I grew up with 9 other brothers and sisters, and I swear, I sometimes can't believe I am related to some of them, or grew up in the same house, after seeing them do or hearing them say some things that they do do or say. My sister likes to explain it to her friends as, "I'm adopted", while I tell people, "I'm a mutant".

But yes, we each have inherited traits of our parents. Some of us are very smart, or artistically inclined, have violent tempers (varying degrees), but no two of us are so similar as to be immediately taken to be related. We also pick up our parents' habits to some extent.

Answer 5

Everyone is an individual however, one gets one's genes from one's parents and in the early, crucial learning years, parents are what are seen, heard, and felt the most. I believe it is a solid both. I think the personality traits of one's parents and the local culture is like a wide plain bounded by mountains. The easy path is to move along the valley but there are always passes and tributary valleys where one can steer in another direction.

Answer 6

Well Its been my exepirence that evryone in the world has a littel of someone elses personality. I dont think that peopl just copy others I think that they just start doing things and they dont even notice that they are doig it. Traits can come that way to. Like all of a sudden I noticed that every time I got a drink my pinky would go up.
So I thinnk its about the people you hang around with. GOOD LUCK

Answer 7

I think we all have unique personalities, but I know I tend to respond to things more like my mother does, while my sister responds to things more like our dad. However, I can have very bad temper, while no one else in family has this trait. I guess there is no clear answer, so both, unique and some traits of parents.

Answer 8

That situation (about your question) depends on you through your personal experiences.
I believe that personality has some connections with genetic inheritance. However we can build our own personality by our free will and by our interaction with the outside. Most of people know this – it's a matter of common sense. We can create our life from the inside out (see Dr Phil).
So I couldn't say that our own personality is totally free from our genetic background, but we can control our behavior, thought and emotional experiences.
Personality is about well-founded emotional, thought, and behavior patterns in a person at the first stage of his life. Those patterns can change perpetually with the time; while Mood is not consistent, because mood is a subjective state, it often can be inferred from posture and other observable behaviors. Despite that mood is not consistent in itself, it can affect our personality I think.
So I think that the whys and the wherefores of many siblings having many different personalities and behaviors are due to the difference in our personal experiences. If we agree with this theory – people are born with a blank board (it's about the mind) and with genetic inheritance of course (with unclear emotions, thoughts), our environment help us to build our own personality in the first stage of our life.
There is one Jews proverb about: "fathers who used to eat grape as grape-picker, would children's teeth become black?" – The children are not responsible for the fathers' faults.

Answer 9

yes however your personality is unique to begin with and depending on what a person goes through, how they were brought up, who was the best parent etc. They will choose to take on traits of those parents. Not all of them, but they will pick and choose and add them to their own individual personality

Answer 10

A DEFINATE YES!
I have 3 kids, all from different dads. Each one of my kids resemble their own dads personality in so many ways.
My oldest son, and my youngest daughter do not hardly even know their dads, but they are like "carbon copies" of their fathers.