[Paradigm]

Do families who have loving, caring, fair stable families spawn iNtuitives?

No. I'm not sure about other types, but plenty of INTJs and INFPs come from bad childhoods.



- My dad's (ESTP, 8w9 so/sx) parents got divorced. His siblings had a stint in a foster home and their mother was always "busy." The father was rarely active in their lives. The kids came out ESTP, ESFJ, ISTP, and ENFP.

- My mom (INFJ, 6w5 sp/so) and her sisters (ESFP 4w3, ESFJ) had an alcoholic mother and a father that often wasn't home. Each one dealt with it in their own way.

- I consider my childhood pretty good. I'm INTJ (6w7 sp/sx), often ill and alienated from peers; my sister is ESFP (7w6, sx/so), healthy and with few social issues. Our parents obviously treated us differently (really, you can't treat each kid the same), but equally.

I'm not really sure about how my friends feel about their childhood, but I'm definitely sure that I know a few Sensors from good/decent homes.

[Hastings]

So, the hypothesis is that sensors are more lower/working class, intuitives are more middle/higher class?

Well, I've met plenty of exceptions from either side of the equation. However, I am willing to play along with the thought that socio-economic status might be one of the factors that shape your MBTI type, however slightly.

[Hosker]

My parents divorced when I was 12-ish, but it didn't really affect me. I get on well with both my parents and they get on well with each other still. I'll think about this theory for a little while, but I don't think there's much truth in it.

[Kriash]

I didn't really have a great family life, and most of the people in my family are sensors, and I am an intuitive. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with anything. It may have,it's hard to say.

My family-

Mom- ESFJ
Ex-step-dad- ISTP
Brother 1- ESTP
Brother 2- ISFJ

I also lived with my extended family a lot, and here are their types

Aunt 1- ESFP
Cousin 1- INFP (person I was closest to growing up)
Cousin 2- ESFP
Cousin 3- ESFJ

-

Aunt 2- ENFJ
Cousin 4- ESFJ
Cousin 5- ESFP
Cousin 6- ISFJ

[OrangeAppled]

My ISFJ mom is the only S child, and she grew up with two loving parents (both SJs also) who did a good job, but her dad was also a functioning alcoholic, & when she was very young they struggled financially and her mom was sickly. All of her siblings are Ns.... and to add to it, the family was working class to middle class, depending on the time period.

I grew up with a good mom, but I am a product of divorce (ENTP dad); and while my ISFP step-dad is over all a good guy, their marriage was rocky & we had typical step-family issues. My sister is ESFP & I am INFP, despite the same family environment. I think it's highly likely we formed our core personalities before the divorce too, but it's hard to categorize our family life as stable or not, because in some ways it was good & in other ways it was rocky. Generally, we've been lower middle class, but everyone has strong intellectual & cultural interests, including the sensors.

In short, I don't think there's any correlation, and it kind of implies Ns are superior, as if sensing is developed as a result of people being in basic survival mode.... I tend to think cognitive functions are innate, but other aspects of personality are influenced by nurture.

[Darth Nihilus]

Actually, I feel this just might highlight a weakness of the tests and the way the system gets practically applied. Albeit, this is kind of an interesting angle on that. Anyway, it's pretty much undeniable, that our family lives shape a fair chunk of who we are. This should show up in our answers to the tests. Now, if someone has certain emotional issues, and there isn't a separate category to account for that (and there's often not), it seems very likely it will taint results. For example, someone with avoidant personality disorder. Over 95% of a tested group of individuals with that disorder (unsurprisingly) scored as introverts. That type of severe avoidance is often considered a neurotic form of coping with life, so it seems somewhat safe to say they'd score high on a scale to measure for neuroticism (a scale often absent from MBTI tests). There are other forms of neurotic coping mechanisms, and they often coexist, or interchange, throughout a person's life. If you give the test to an avoidant neurotic, who is also bitter and cynical about their state of existence (moving away from and against), it's likely they'll come out IxTx, and if you give it one who is avoidant, but excessively nice (moving towards and yet away), you'll get someone who tests IxFx. Look around the boards, and depression issues, anxiety issues, and esteem-issues are common complaints in people who have tested IxFP. Is that really accurate, though? Is there definite correlation? Can tests that account for neuroticism actually separate its influence from the other scales? There is an official, though I believe dated, form of the MBTI, that measures neuroticism. However, I've never seen it, and I've never seen any of the online ripoffs with it.

I go with ESTP, because I did find (at one point) a book on cognitive functions, that associated hedonism and a few of my other negative traits, with unchecked and misused Se usage. However, that's still typing personality traits, that are surely associated with my main neurotic coping mechanism (moving away from), such as power seeking, competitiveness, aggressiveness, etc. However, am I really misusing Se or does it just appear that way? I'll never feel 100% on that. I will say, however, that those I've observed with thinking styles most closely related to my own, always label themselves ExTP. All of them intelligent individuals, who typically want to assign themselves with the N, simply because of that, while professing the same sort of love for life's basest pleasures and a good adrenaline rush, that I hold dear. I don't really know if any of us are ExTP at all, though.

By the way, I did have a rough home life, which (no doubt) is where my neurotic coping mechanisms originated.

[thor odinson]

Do families who have loving, caring, fair stable families spawn iNtuitives?

By this you make it sound like family environment spawns MBTI type. Am I correct in inferring that is what your trying to say?

Possibly because intuitives are more likely to open up more and hence promote better communication whereas sensors may not talk as

much about that stuff and hence this acts like a barrier to closeness?

I think the current consensus amongst MBTI theorists is that type is biological in nature not formed as result of interaction with your

environment during formative years.

Don't know if this true and I'm not saying nurture doesn't play a role, but I think the cognitive functions we use and the order of

preference we use are hard wired into us by nature, whereas nurture probably affects how they are expressed as opposed to which

cognitive function is your preference.

[BroNerd]

I've had a fairly stable family life. My older brother is also an iNtuitive. My two sisters are Sensors.

I've seen different experiences.
I know of an ENFP whose parents got divorced and both remarried..and live very far away from one another-but compared to my INFP friend who is in a similar situation, she gets along with her parents much better and the divorce was more amicable.

I know of an INFP who has very strong relationships with his family and has a strong social life through friends of his parents.I know of another INFP who had to deal with a horrific divorce from his parents and has a lot of issues with both his stepparents and parents. He lived with his aunt and uncle instead after he realized he couldn't live with either parent.

I know of an ISTP who has to deal with an alcoholic dad.

I know one ISFJ with a stable family that has only shown love/affection and one who has a strong relationship with the mother but a very distant one with the father.

From my personal experience, I haven't seen that those of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to be Sensors than those of higher socioeconomic status. Rather, that the Intuitives from lower/middle class families are more likely to be careful when it comes to money and view life with a more practical outlook knowing that one needs to be careful and deal with potential financial difficulties.

[TrailMix]

I have a very supportive and caring family, but I'm the only iNtuitive of the bunch. My brother is an ESTJ and my mom and dad are ESFP and ISTJ respectively. The only other N in the family is my grandfather... Very interesting theory, but it could be coincidental. Or maybe I am an exception, i dont know :)

[neologismaker]

Look around the boards, and depression issues, anxiety issues, and esteem-issues are common complaints in people who have tested IxFP.

I should not have laughed, probably.

You make a really interesting point! To me it seems that when people are trying to cope with stress, they become stronger Ts, though.

I-FPs are 1) I: introspective, 2) F: sensitive 3) P: explorative, so I think that a lot of the problems these types seem to have are because we have issues stopping ourselves from "spiraling down" when something feels bad. I've never met an ADD person who was a J, for example. Ps get caught up in the moment and go wherever it takes them; Js follow a check list. Unfortunately for someone who is 1) sensitive, 2) internally focused, this means that I-FPs can't help but hyper-focus on emotions, I think.

I think we're born wired to use different cognitive functions. Our dominant function is the one that's most "natural." We use it without thinking. To say that we use different cognitive functions because we're raised differently suggests that we pick and choose amongst our cognitive functions for survival. To answer the question, "do intuitives come from good families?" we have to decide whether human talents, like athleticism, intelligence, etc. come from within us or outside of us, because some of us use Ne or Si well and others do not. The man who's practiced one kick a thousand times can still be defeated by the rookie prodigy after five minutes. Is someone brilliant because they're in a rich family? Maybe they're educated because they're in a rich family, but I'm sure everyone can think of a stupid rich person.