The biosocial model of Cloninger postulates that personality iscomprised of two broad domains：temperament， which is largely due to inheritedvariations in specific monoamine neurotransmitter systems；and character， whicharises from socioculturally learned differences in values， goals， and self-concepts.The model also proposes that temperament have three dimensions， novelty seek-ing， harm avoidance， and reward dependence， which are thought to be related todopamine， serotonin， and norepinephrine function， respectively. Two studies havedescribed significant associations between a dopamine D4 receptor(D4DR)exonIII polymorphism and novelty seeking[Benjamin et al.(1996)：Nat Genet 1281-84；Ebstein et al.(1996)：Nat Genet 12：78-80].This short report review thefollowing research and future directions to advance the field is discussed.