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Nature and nurture have been viewed as 
being at odds for as long as these words have 
been conjoined. The origin of the phrase 
“nature–  nurture” can be traced to Shake -
speare’s The Tempest  (1611/1974), in which 
Prospero describes Caliban as “a born devil, 
on whose nature nurture can never stick” 
(IV.i.188–190), as well as to Francis Galton 
(1865), who coined the phrase “nature– 
nurture” in the context of studying heredi -
tary contributions to human abilities. For 
Shakespeare and Galton, nature and nur -
ture were independent developmental forces, 
to be compared in their influence, with the 
aim of declaring one more influential than 
the other.
Controversies and debates can be enor -
mously helpful in advancing scientific in -
quiry. Consider how, in personality psychol -
ogy, discussion surrounding the roles of the 
person and the situation in producing be -
havior strengthened our understanding that 
persons bring underlying behavioral tenden -
cies to situations, yet modify their behav -
ior to conform to situational expectations 
(Funder, 2016; Kenrick & Funder, 1988). 
Nevertheless, controversy can also have un -
fortunate polarizing consequences, implying that scientists need to take sides or profess 
allegiance to one view rather than another. 
A major goal of this chapter is to show that 
taking sides in the nature–  nurture debate, as 
applied to personality research, is actually a 
scientific mistake. Both genetic and environ -
mental factors are important to personality, 
and they are inherently intertwined during 
development. The fundamental challenge we 
face involves understanding just how genetic 
and environmental factors work together in 
creating personality. Surmounting this chal -
lenge has proven difficult, because doing so 
involves going beyond the traditional focus 
of behavioral genetics inquiry, which has 
been to document the magnitudes of ge -
netic and environmental influences on be -
havior. Hence, a related goal of this chapter 
is to describe the methodological and con -
ceptual advances that allow us to begin to 
understand how genetic and environmental 
influences actually come together to shape 
personality. Importantly, research incor -
porating these advances has just begun to 
appear in the literature. The “look” of be -
havioral genetics in psychological science 
continues to evolve (cf. Chabris, Lee, Cesa -
rini, Benjamin, & Laibson, 2015; Moffitt, CHAPTER 9
Behavioral Genetics and  Personality
Ongoing Efforts to  Integrate Nature and  Nurture
Robert  F. Krueger  
Wendy  Johnson