Outside the Laboratory

One of the many beauties of research include it’s ability to impact something; it has the power to change the way people look at a specific topic.

The other day I came upon an article which discussed the role of understanding the connection between genetics and personality and its ability to revolutionize psychopathology. Psychopathology is the study of mental disorders. Currently, patients get diagnosed with a mental disorder after a series of tests based off of the patient’s symptoms. However, what if psychologists had the ability to prevent these symptoms from happening and therefore stop the progression of an illness? Researchers say that if they are able to develop a strong understanding for the genetics behind mental disorders, they could develop a method of diagnosis based upon one’s genes and the person’s environment. However, this dream will not become a reality anytime soon. In order to do this, researchers need to find and unpack every single gene-trait association.

Learning more about gene-trait associations could also contribute to a better understanding of how an environment alters someone’s personality. By this I mean, “we might find that people high in Gene A everywhere in the world cried when they were depressed, but that they only attempted suicide in certain cultures,” (McCrae).

It’s really interesting to learn about how research can be implemented in ways that impact lives. I feel like when people think of research, they imagine people in white lab coats looking through a microscope in a lab room filled with fancy equipment writing down scientific jargon. However, it’s important for people to realize that research is more than what exists in a laboratory. It’s the foundation for almost everything we use from a pencil to a computer.

Reference:

Azar, B. (2002, September). Searching for genes that explain our personalities. Monitor on Psychology, 33(8), 44.