Question

Ruth and Debbie are identical twins who were raised by the same family. Vince and Frankie are identical twins who were separated at birth and raised by different families. According to research on the heritability of personality traits, Ruth's and Debbie's personalities are statistically

A) more likely to be similar to one another than are Vince's and Frankie's personalities
B) likely to be as similar and dissimilar to one another as are Vince's and Frankie's personalities
C) more likely to be dissimilar to one another than are Vince's and Frankie's personalities
D) less likely to match on the personality dimensions of agreeableness and extraversion than are Vince and Frankie but not on other personality dimensions
E) less likely to match on the personality dimensions of openness and neuroticism than are Vince and Frankie but not on other personality dimensions

Answer 1

B) likely to be as similar and dissimilar to one another as are Vince's and Frankie's personalities

Step-by-step explanation:

The heritability of a trait indicates in what proportion the genes are giving rise to the differences between individuals. It indicates what percentage of the variation in the aspects of two individuals (in this case of personality) is due to genetic causes.

A high percentage of heritability indicates that in the variation of the trait the genes have prominence while a low percentage of heritability indicates that the environment is mainly involved.

The heritability of personality traits are around 40% to 50%. This indicates that the variation between the personality of two individuals is 40 to 50% attributed to genetic factors. The non-shared environmental factors would be 30% and those shared around 20% or less.

40-50% of heritability is not telling us that there is a 50% chance of inheriting the personality or that we will share 50% of our personality with our parents, but that it indicates that when a person has a certain personality and another on the contrary (so to speak), most of that change is due to genetic issues and the minority due to environmental issues shared and not shared.