Abstract
Human values and personality have been shown to share genetic variance in twin studies. However, there is a lack of evidence about the genetic components of this association. This study examined the interplay between genes, values and personality in the case of neuroticism, because polygenic scores were available for this personality trait. First, we replicated prior evidence of a positive association between the polygenic neuroticism score (PNS) and neuroticism. Second, we found that the PNS was significantly associated with the whole human value space in a sinusoidal waveform that was consistent with Schwartz's circular model of human values. These results suggest that it is useful to consider human values in the analyses of genetic contributions to personality traits. They also pave the way for an investigation of the biological mechanisms contributing to human value orientations.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 361-366 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Genes, Brain and Behavior |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 24 Feb 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2016 |
Funding
This study was supported by the National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH) at Cardiff University, with funds from the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR), Welsh Government, Wales (grant number BR09) and by grant MR/K004360/1 from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and by the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (G0800509). We are grateful to all professionals, patients and volunteers involved with the National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH).
Keywords
- Genetics
- Human values
- Neuroticism
- Personality
- Polygenic score
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Genetics
- Neurology
- Behavioral Neuroscience