Neuroscientists Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt have a guest post on Olivia Judson's NY Times blog discussing the complex interplay between genes and environment in the determination of personality traits. A taste:
It's worth noting that similar effects can occur for other traits: for instance, a genetic variant that increased sugar cravings or decreased motivation to exercise could have an effect on obesity risk; a variant that increased susceptibility to a specific virus might increase the risk of auto-immune diseases triggered by viral infection. In each case, the genetic variant increases disease risk indirectly by altering exposure to an environmental risk factor.
