Explaining heritable variance in human character

Abstract

Personality is moderately heritable (around 40%), across a variety of measures. Non-linear genetic influences (subsumed by the influence of the "dominance" factor in the heritability literature) likely play a large role in the genetics of personality, even more so than for other phenotypes. Zwir and colleagues sought to identify sets of SNPs that, through both additive and interactive effects, explain the previously observed heritability of personality. The abstract reported identification of a set of SNPs that "explained nearly all the heritability expected for character in each sample (50 to 58%)." This reported effect size is extraordinary. The paper's Supplemental Materials reveal how such an estimate occurred.