Psychology

One of the recent developments in biology has been cloning technology. Cloning technology has made it possible to preserve the genetic component of a species and it is argued that the technology comes with many advantages.  Cloning technology is likely to be applied in different areas especially in preservation of desired species. Cloning technology mainly use the process of creating copies of DNA fragments.

This means that the person and the clone share a similar DNA framework (Pence, 1998).  Hence, both are similar to identical twin and are likely to exhibit similar personality traits.  The copies of DNA sequences gives rise to identical genetic influence and therefore a person and clone are likely to share similar genetic characteristics like sex, and others.  However, personality traits differ with different levels of influences.  Personality traits are influenced by different factors including genetic, psychological, and social factors (Myers, 2007).

This implies that personality traits are influenced by nature and nurture. In this regard, nature influence refers to traits that are influence by innate factors like genetic factors. On the other hand, nurture influence refers to influence on individual that can be attributed to the environment (Meaney, 2001). This includes cognitive and social factors that are found on the environment.

However, there have been arguments in light of nature and nurture influences of a cloned human. Studies looking at similarities and differences in identical twins, who are genetically the same like a person and a clone, have found out that there is variability between two twins which can be attributed to environmental factors.  These studies have looked at non-genetic influences and how they attribute to the final human characters.  Evidence from these studies indicates that there are many biological, psychological, and social cultural influences, which contribute to differences between the two (Myers, 2007).  The differences have been explained using proposition of the biopsychosocial theory of development.

However, it should be noted that there is no empirical evidence which can allow assessment of similarities between two or more identical twins. This means that the same case may apply to clone, especially where one or both of them show extreme characteristics. Genetic changes which can be attributed to development has also raised question whether findings on identical twins can really be generalized to a person and a clone.

Biopsychosocial theory of human development gives a concrete explanation of biological, psychological, and social culture factors and how they influence human development.  This theory explains not only genetic, cognitive, and emotional influences, but also cultural influences which can be attributed to social relations (Myers, 2007). Social psychologists have shown that family, peer, and other groups have a lot of influences on personal growth and development.

The influence of the three levels interacts to account for the variability between individuals (Myers, 2007). This means that although individuals are likely to bear similar genetic components, they are will exhibit different personality traits due to influence of the three levels.  This means that a clone is similar to a person according to the influence of the first level of influence, the biological level.  In this case, identical twins are essentially clones because they exhibit similar biological influence. However, the two may develop different traits owing to the influence of the other two levels.

Genetic identity accounts for identical characteristics like sex. It can also influence other personality traits in identical twins.   However, influence means that the genetic components interacting with the other two levels of influence, brings about differences in individual traits.  If biopsychosocial influence is to be attributed to clones, then it has to be accepted that evidence based on identical twins will be generalized to clones. Studies on between-individual variability in personality traits, even between identical twins shows that it can be attributed to genetics although the percentage of variability depends on characteristics that are being studied (Myers, 2007). For example, genetics and IQ scores  provides concrete evidence  showing that genetics can be attributed to large percentage of between-individual variability although the results may be mediated by other  factors like social expectations (level three influences) and cognitive factors (level two influences) (Myers, 2007).  This means that apart from considering level two and level three influences, genetic factors,  which constitute level one influence, is also likely to contribute to between-individual variability. This implies that even in clone, genetic factors are likely to lead to between-individual variability.

Therefore, though clones share identical similarity with the person, they are not likely to exhibit identical personality traits. According to biopsychosocial theory of growth and development, personality traits are influenced by the three levels of influences including genetic influence, psychological influences, and social influences. The three levels of influence interact to define personality characteristics. As has been discussed above, even genetic factors attributes to between-individual variability. It implies that the person and the clone will exhibit different personality traits based on the there levels of influences.