The Prosocial Personality and its Facets: Genetic and Environmental Architecture of Mother-reported Behavior of 7-year old Twins
Children vary markedly in their tendency to behave prosocially, and recent research has implicated both genetic and environmental factors in this variability. Yet, little is known about the extent to which different aspects of prosociality constitute a single dimension (the prosocial personality), a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00112/full |
| _version_ | 1811241403344224256 |
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| author | Ariel eKnafo-Noam Florina eUzefovsky Salomon eIsrael Maayan eDavidov Carolyn eZahn-Waxler |
| author_facet | Ariel eKnafo-Noam Florina eUzefovsky Salomon eIsrael Maayan eDavidov Carolyn eZahn-Waxler |
| author_sort | Ariel eKnafo-Noam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Children vary markedly in their tendency to behave prosocially, and recent research has implicated both genetic and environmental factors in this variability. Yet, little is known about the extent to which different aspects of prosociality constitute a single dimension (the prosocial personality), and to the extent they are intercorrelated, whether these aspects share their genetic and environmental origins. As part of the Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins (LIST), mothers of 183 monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) 7-year old twins (51% male) reported regarding their children's prosociality using questionnaires. Five prosociality facets (sharing, social concern, kindness, helping, and empathic concern) were identified. All five facets intercorrelated positively (r>.39) suggesting a single-factor structure to the data, consistent with the theoretical idea of a single prosociality trait. Higher MZ than DZ twin correlations indicated genetic contributions to each prosociality facet. A common-factor-common-pathway multivariate model estimated high (69%) heritability for the common prosociality factor, with the non-shared environment and error accounting for the remaining variance. For each facet, unique genetic and environmental contributions were identified as well. The results point to the presence of a broad prosociality phenotype, largely affected by genetics; whereas additional genetic and environmental factors contribute to different aspects of prosociality, such as helping and sharing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:34:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-884ad0f3518341cfbc613ca5e6840592 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:34:46Z |
| publishDate | 2015-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-884ad0f3518341cfbc613ca5e68405922022-12-22T03:31:02ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-02-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.00112126879The Prosocial Personality and its Facets: Genetic and Environmental Architecture of Mother-reported Behavior of 7-year old TwinsAriel eKnafo-Noam0Florina eUzefovsky1Salomon eIsrael2Maayan eDavidov3Carolyn eZahn-Waxler4The Hebrew University of JerusalemUniversity of CambridgeThe Hebrew University of JerusalemThe Hebrew University of JerusalemUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonChildren vary markedly in their tendency to behave prosocially, and recent research has implicated both genetic and environmental factors in this variability. Yet, little is known about the extent to which different aspects of prosociality constitute a single dimension (the prosocial personality), and to the extent they are intercorrelated, whether these aspects share their genetic and environmental origins. As part of the Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins (LIST), mothers of 183 monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) 7-year old twins (51% male) reported regarding their children's prosociality using questionnaires. Five prosociality facets (sharing, social concern, kindness, helping, and empathic concern) were identified. All five facets intercorrelated positively (r>.39) suggesting a single-factor structure to the data, consistent with the theoretical idea of a single prosociality trait. Higher MZ than DZ twin correlations indicated genetic contributions to each prosociality facet. A common-factor-common-pathway multivariate model estimated high (69%) heritability for the common prosociality factor, with the non-shared environment and error accounting for the remaining variance. For each facet, unique genetic and environmental contributions were identified as well. The results point to the presence of a broad prosociality phenotype, largely affected by genetics; whereas additional genetic and environmental factors contribute to different aspects of prosociality, such as helping and sharing.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00112/fullEmpathyPersonalityBehavior Geneticsdevelopmental psychologyProsocial Behavior |
| spellingShingle | Ariel eKnafo-Noam Florina eUzefovsky Salomon eIsrael Maayan eDavidov Carolyn eZahn-Waxler The Prosocial Personality and its Facets: Genetic and Environmental Architecture of Mother-reported Behavior of 7-year old Twins Frontiers in Psychology Empathy Personality Behavior Genetics developmental psychology Prosocial Behavior |
| title | The Prosocial Personality and its Facets: Genetic and Environmental Architecture of Mother-reported Behavior of 7-year old Twins |
| title_full | The Prosocial Personality and its Facets: Genetic and Environmental Architecture of Mother-reported Behavior of 7-year old Twins |
| title_fullStr | The Prosocial Personality and its Facets: Genetic and Environmental Architecture of Mother-reported Behavior of 7-year old Twins |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Prosocial Personality and its Facets: Genetic and Environmental Architecture of Mother-reported Behavior of 7-year old Twins |
| title_short | The Prosocial Personality and its Facets: Genetic and Environmental Architecture of Mother-reported Behavior of 7-year old Twins |
| title_sort | prosocial personality and its facets genetic and environmental architecture of mother reported behavior of 7 year old twins |
| topic | Empathy Personality Behavior Genetics developmental psychology Prosocial Behavior |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00112/full |
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