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Shakespeare himself offers an explanation for the differing personalities, through an offhand comment from Kent. It's because of the stars under which they were born. It's an interesting remark, considering the diatribe against astrology from Edmund earlier in the play. If we are allowed to dismiss anything Edmund says early in the play because he's just such a bad guy, then Kent's explanation is the one left standing. Then again is Shakespeare's phrasing in another play that "our faults lie not in our stars, but in ourselves." This would dismiss both astrology *and* the mothers' influence. Since there is no mention I can recall of Lear having one wife, let alone two or three, perhaps we are left to conclude that Regan and Goneril are that way just because they are that way.