Recent sound research shows again and again that a person's character grows to be more like his heredity (nature) and less like his upbringing (nurture) the older he gets. By 50, it's just about all heredity.
Obviously level of education and probably hosts of other factors influence the outcome of heredity, but still, the principle holds. Twin studies confirm it: studies on identical, fraternal, and virtual twins (those who are raised in the same household but are less than 9 months apart).
These are the things I've been reading, and they make sense. At least they are gospel-compatible: the essential principle underlying the gospel is that we are each responsible for ourselves, and that it is through personal repentance that we are redeemed. It is not the fault of our parents, the way we turned out - but it is in great part due to our heredity.
There are some interesting implications of this for family history research, though they're all pretty subjective.
What traits follow the family lines? How mixed up do they get? What can we learn from our ancestors by noting family traits in the current generations? Are traits survival characteristics or just random behavioral tendencies? I'm thinking about it and doing some reading. No one knows of course. But there are clues...to be continued.
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