As social creatures we cannot avoid other people’s perspectives and judgments about us — whether they are valid or just assumptions. But we can control our reaction when we hear other people’s assessments of us. Because as intelligent creatures we have the option to swallow it or just see it from outside ourselves.
In practice, being in this situation is not as easy as imagined, but our genes are wired to be able to learn and choose what is most beneficial for our bodies. As humans, we need to remember that each of us has our own characteristics — some are cold and heartless, some are emotional, some are confident, some are shy, some like challenges, and some have difficulty moving. Uniquely, according to chromosome 11 in the body, temperament is an element in character that is innate and individual, thus forming a person’s personality.
In this article, I am still discussing one of the contents of Matt Ridley’s book entitled Genome. According to research on genes, there is a gene located on a short arm of chromosome 11 — D4DK gene. This gene is activated in cells in certain brain parts and is a recipe for the dopamine receptor protein. Maybe many of us are familiar with dopamine and how it works in our bodies. But here I want to explain how dopamine influences the formation of a person’s personality.
We need to realize that if our brain lacks dopamine, this will affect individuals who are reluctant to make decisions and tend to act coldly, even reluctant to move their own bodies. On the other hand, if our brain has an excess of dopamine, it provides a high sense of curiosity and an adventurous spirit. From here we can think that as simple as one hormone can have a big influence on a person’s personality — this is what makes humans unique with their own characteristics.
Returning to the discussion at the beginning, when we realize and learn how the genes and hormones in our body work, we will not become individuals who judge easily — quite the opposite. We will focus on ourselves by trying to work together to make the genes and hormones in our bodies find the most appropriate way to have a balanced composition in forming our own character.
The analogy is that we can compare these sentences to a pill when we accept various assumptions about ourselves. Someone who has a headache will take headache medicine, not take heart medicine which will actually damage the working system of other hormones in the body. It’s the same with our mind in receiving information, when we see that the assumption is bad and not what our body needs, our body should not swallow the information and not let it work and damage what was originally fine in our body. This is related to the genes in our bodies, which make some people more sensitive to certain external signals than others. However, it is important to remember that genes are not programmed only to produce social behavior, but also to help us respond to external social influences — which are often related to emotional intelligence.
Once again, if we hear bad assumptions about ourselves then see them as pills that we don’t need. However, if that is true, then look for the best ways and pills to make our bodies better than before without having to be driven by the circumstances around us — we are the ones who drive and have complete control over ourselves. This is of course related to self-acceptance, as research that has been conducted on humans — shows that accepting their natural shyness makes it easier for them to overcome this shyness. As marriage counselors (in the book Genome) said, they encourage their clients to accept that they cannot change their partner’s bad habits — because those habits are probably innate — and ask them to find ways to adapt these habits.
It would be too long to talk about personality — because biology and upbringing both play a role. All innate personality traits are under the control of a special set of cells in the embryo that form a special part of the brain — AMYGDALA. Therefore, in this case, nurturing in forming our character from childhood has a big influence on the personality we will have in the future. So, those of us who already know this fact need to improve things that are not good in our character by balancing the hormones related to genes in the brain, so that we can form a new and better personality, and can further prepare provisions for how to good parenting for our next generation.
