The personality trait you’re most likely to inherit from your parents
We inherit many things from our parents, including our eye colour, facial features and, unfortunately, disease risk. However, it’s not just physical traits we can thank mum and dad for. A new study published in the British Journal of Psychology has found that the personality attribute our parents are most likely to pass down to us is kindness.
Researchers assessed more than 400 families and found that children who were brought up to value supporting, caring and helping others were more similar to their parents overall than those brought up to value power and success.
“We often take for granted ‘like father, like son’ and this is especially interesting when it comes to the inheritance of destructive values such as power-seeking and selfishness,” co-author Professor Anat Bardi from Royal Holloway explained. “We’ve now demonstrated that parents who foster more altruistic values, such as helping and caring, more strongly pass on all their values down the family line.”
In addition, parents who focused on instilling positive social values in their children tended to forge stronger and longer-lasting bonds, as well as inspiring such behavioural traits as a sense of curiosity and tradition.
“This research really shows that where parents nurture positive, supportive and altruistic values their children will also take these characteristics to heart,” Bardi said. “Where being ‘the best’ is among the dominant interests of the parents, children tend not to express such connection to their parent's values.”
Tell us in the comments below, are these findings true to your upbringing?