title: Variation in DRD2 dopamine gene predicts Extraverted personality.
abstract: Quantitative geneticists estimate the heritability of Extraverted personality to be around 40-60%. Theory and research which links Extraversion with variation in dopaminergic function suggests that dopaminergic genes should be a start-point for molecular genetic investigations of this trait. Recent endeavours in this area have met with some encouragement but also setbacks. In this study, we investigate the relationship between Extraversion and the DRD2 TaqIA/ANKK1 polymorphism in 224 university students. Presence of at least one copy of the A1 allele was associated with significantly higher Extraversion. The robustness of this finding was confirmed through bootstrap analysis. Findings are discussed in relation to the broader literature, in particular, methodological issues which may have obscured this finding in previous research.
authors.affiliation: Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. l.smillie@gold.ac.uk
authors.forename: Luke D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Smillie
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Petroula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Proitsi
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: Alan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Pickering
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2; C489948:ANKK1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases