There are an incredible number of things that can influence how a child develops, but they can be categorized into nature and nurture. Nature refers to their biology. Due to their genes, some kids may be more likely to develop certain traits. Nature has to do with the environment that the child grew up in. The parenting style, school environment, friends and family all have an effect on the development of personality.

Temperament and personality can be used interchangeably in a lot of nonacademic contexts, however, the difference is really important to developmental scientists. Personality is generally used to describe a summary of generalized beliefs and behaviors for more cognitively developed humans, while temperament is used to define generalized behaviors in very young people and animals. Personality was thought to be due to genetic factors, but after more research, it was found that personality continues to change throughout life. This means that personality changes due to the environments in which people spend their time. Genetics give you a base temperament, and environment evolves it into your personality and allows it to change throughout life.

To illustrate this point, look back on your own childhood, and get a visual of what your environment was like. Now scroll through the images below. Do you think your personality would be the same if you grew up in each of these environments pictured?

Measuring and defining personalities can be difficult. One of the most effective methods we have of defining personality is called the Big Five Trait Theory. It is a survey wherein people answer questions about how they would describe themselves in various situations. Their answers are tallied on scales of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. While children’s abilities to affect change over their lives are very limited to start, as personality and cognitive ability develop, people are able to affect more change in their lives and identities.