Sorry for the long delay. Please forgive me--I have been a bit busy though.
It seems, for one, that genes do play a rather important, though not alone, in getting things in the brain and body set up. As far as behavioral patterns that can differ from individual to individual, just as it can be said to differ from any specie member to a member of any other close species. Here, I'll quote the book by Steven Pinker: "All the potential for thinking, learning, and feeling that distinguishes humans from other animals likes in the information comtained in the DNA fo the fertilized ovum. This is most obvious when we compare species. Chimpanzees brought up in a human home do not speak, think, or act like people, and that is because of the information in the ten megabytes of DNA that differ between us. Even the two species of chimpanzees, common chimps and bonobos, which differ in just a few tenths of one percent of their genomes, part company in their behavior... Common chimps are the most aggressive mamals know to zoology, bonobos among the most peaceable; in common chimps the males dominate the females, in bonobos the females have the upper hand; common chimps have sex for procration, bonobos for recreation. Small differences in the genes can lead to large difference in behavior. They can affect the size and shape of the different parts of the brain, their wiring, and the nanotechnology that releases, binds, and recycles hormones and neurotransmitters." (p.45)
"...for virtuallly every cognitive and emotional disorde or difference ever observed. Autism, dyslexia, language delay, language impairment, learning disability, left-handeness, major depressions, bipolar illness, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sexual orientation, and many other conditions run in families, are more concordant in identical than in fraternal twins, are better predicted by peoples's biological relatives than by adoptive relatives, and are poorly predicted by any measurable feature of the environment." (p.46)
Although plasticity is real, it appears to be limited, and is not the factor involved in getting the brain up and running--that's the genetic input. For that reason, we have 'dispositions' and certain degrees of damage in areas dealing with original disposition potental cannot be fully recoverd. A recent study/test of two young adults by neurscientists Steven Anderson, and Hannah, and Antonio Damasio showed that damage to the ventromedial and orbital prefrontal cortex at a young age (15 months, & 3 months) caused the subjects who had both been raised in stable homes with college educated parents, with other normal siblings, and who had normal IQs, grew up to be, for one, intractable, ignorant of punishment, a compulsive liar, who shoplifted and stole from parents as a teenager, and as a young adult, was dangerously uninterested in her own baby, and for the other, the same basically plus being easily angered.
The author does not deny social and cultural (environment) involvement into an individual's mentaly make-up, but studies just what that is, and to what degree it is regarding any particular brain's plasticity--some brains may have more than others. One point made in this area, however, is noticible--that is what is 'good' and what is 'evil' has some room for variance. (for example, one process area in the cortext taking over for the other area which has the job of knowing whether the word 'variance' is spelled with and 'e', or with an 'a'. When the one usual processer causes the speller to type out 'varience', the other process area takes over, and makes him ease it and type in variance--the correct spelling ! And that's why it takes me so long to type out anything--these two processing areas are contiuously fighting for control. hee,hee,hee..... :lol:
Sorry for being so late !!