Staner L, Mendlewicz J
FORENAP et Centre Hospitalier, Secteur VIII, Rouffach, France.
Encephale. 1998 Jul-Aug;24(4):355-64.
The idea that heredity could influence behaviour, including personality is very old. Until the early 1980s, the evidence for genetic influences on personality derived almost exclusively from twin studies. More recently, studies comparing twins raised together with those raised in different environment confirmed that about 40% of the observed personality variance can be attributable to genetic factors. Since complex behaviours, such as those underlying personality functioning, are likely to be influenced by many genes, a continuum of genetic risk underlying behavioural dimensions that extend from normal to abnormal behaviour has been hypothesized. Behaviours related to aggressive impulses regulation could delineate a biologically anchored model of dispositions to both normal and pathological functioning: these behaviours are identified in animal species where they are genetically transmitted, and a growing body of evidence suggests that disturbances in the regulation of aggressive impulses could belong to a behavioural dimension (disturbances of impulse control) linked to serotonin. Theorists involved in modelling personality according to psychobiologic basis agree with the idea of an inhibitory function of serotonin on impulsive behaviour and recognise that the way individuals control their impulses could underlie a basic psychobiological personality dimension. According to genotypes and to environmental factors, these serotonin mediated behaviours may be diversely expressed varying from minor personality peculiarities (characterised by impulsivity, hostility, irritability, psychopathic deviance, excessive violence or by more clear-cut personality dysfunctioning such as antisocial, borderline, narcissistic and histrionic personality traits or disorders) to major psychiatric disturbances (suicidal behaviour, overt aggressive behaviour, intermittent explosive disorder, pathological gambling, pyromania, bulimia and some type of substance or alcohol abuse). Finally, recent molecular genetic studies have demonstrated that genes encoding some key proteins involved in serotonin transmission could present some polymorphism in relation with impulsive-aggressive behaviours.
遗传能够影响行为，包括个性，这一观点由来已久。直到20世纪80年代初，关于遗传对个性影响的证据几乎完全来自双胞胎研究。最近，将一起抚养的双胞胎与在不同环境中抚养的双胞胎进行比较的研究证实，约40%观察到的个性差异可归因于遗传因素。由于诸如个性功能背后的那些复杂行为可能受到许多基因的影响，因此有人提出了一个从正常行为到异常行为的行为维度所基于的遗传风险连续体。与攻击冲动调节相关的行为可以勾勒出一个关于正常和病理功能倾向的生物学基础模型：这些行为在动物物种中可以被识别出来，并且它们是通过遗传传递的，越来越多的证据表明，攻击冲动调节的紊乱可能属于与血清素相关的一个行为维度（冲动控制障碍）。根据心理生物学基础对个性进行建模的理论家们认同血清素对冲动行为具有抑制作用这一观点，并认识到个体控制冲动的方式可能是一个基本的心理生物学个性维度的基础。根据基因型和环境因素，这些由血清素介导的行为可能会有不同的表现，从轻微的个性特质（以冲动、敌意、易怒、精神病态偏差、过度暴力为特征，或者表现为更明显的个性功能失调，如反社会、边缘性、自恋和表演型人格特质或障碍）到严重的精神障碍（自杀行为、明显的攻击行为、间歇性爆发障碍、病态赌博、纵火癖、贪食症以及某些类型的物质滥用或酒精滥用）。最后，最近的分子遗传学研究表明，编码参与血清素传递的一些关键蛋白质的基因可能与冲动攻击行为存在某种多态性。
