# MBTI genetics (does this therory hold up)?



## MCRTS (Jul 4, 2011)

I don't think so. If genetics were to play a part, then I'd be an extrovert. However, I'm a definite I


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## Tophthetomboy (Feb 18, 2012)

I am quite skeptical of this theory, but open to it, so I will put this here:

*Ohmyafamilyofintrovertswiththinkingfunctionswhy*

Dad: _ISTP_ *Ti *Se Ni *Fe*


Mom: _ISTJ_ *Si *Te Fi *Ne*


Me: _INTP _*Ti, Ne, Si, Fe
*
(Yeah I have no idea what I'm doing but I thought that was an interesting.. connection?)

For some reason I always tested with high Ni and high Fi too O_O. And look, right there, Ni and Fi in both my parents.

Lol, I just I think it's mainly due to nature/nurture, environmental experiences. I can give many examples of how my experiences have affected my personality greatly. Though they're quite depressing..

From birth, I have always seemed quite curious and analytical of everything, and very reserved and introverted. I think it's obvious that there may be some sort of genetic involvement in personality type at birth, and I don't find that bad at all. I think that's interesting. And if that upsets you, you can always change yourself... right? If you try persistently... the brain is malleable .. and the mind.


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## LadyO.W.BernieBro (Sep 4, 2010)

l didn't know my dad until l was a teenager and l'll say we had eerily similar personality traits. l think a very, very loose basis for personality can be genetic; people adapt otherwise and there's no way to predict to what extent. Some people are more reactive to the environment and experiences.

l'm going to say my dad is ENFP, mom INFP and me ENxP/undecided.

lt's not just the ENXP l see as making us similar, he has a certain trolly quality about him that's ENTPish but l think he's Fi over Ti for various reasons. l am nothing like my mother's dominant fi, she's a victim while he's more like an idealist troll lol.


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## IntoTheBlue (Jul 13, 2013)

MOM ENFP 43%(Based on John's personality quiz)
DAD ISTP (Because I'm an ISTP and we have the same answers to life)

Older bro ENFP 40%(Based on John's personality quiz)

Middle Bro I have no idea

maybe it is


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## Infinite (Jul 13, 2013)

didnt read the whole thing but basically two E's can get an E child and if they gene for I they can also get an I
two I's can only get an I child
an E and an I could get an E child but also I if the E have a gene for I
just like the eye color thing
makes sense for me
but i would need an explaination for the T/F thing /maybethereisanexplainationsomewhereinthethreadilllookitupwhenifeellikeit

anyway

dad: intp
mom: esfj

sister:enfp
brother: istp
me: entp


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## aphinion (Apr 30, 2013)

I have an INTJ mother and an INFJ father. I am an ENTJ. 

Supposing one of my grandparents is an EXXX (which is so true), then genetically I could be Extraverted. 

N is recessive, but both of my parents are N, so no argument there. 

I got an X chromosome from each parent (obviously), and since my mother has the T trait, and T is recessive on the X chromosome, my mother must have two T's, giving me one. My father is an F, which is recessive on the Y chromosome, which I believe means he must have two F's. Therefore, he would have given me an F, which would have genetically made my trait here an F, which is incorrect. 

Both my parents are J, so that is irrelevant. 

My traits almost match up, but logically, I can't see the MBTI traits working out genetically. There are so many factors involved in a persons personality, and I can't imagine there being only four interchangeable parts to decide how a person would act.


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## B00Bz (Jul 11, 2013)

My mom is an ENFJ
My dad is an INTP
I'm an ENTP/ESTP (most likely ENTP)


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## sharshur (Jul 4, 2011)

Totally agree. Me: ENFP. Mother : infj father :ISTP. Mother's side, half S half N, father's side S. Brother and two half sisters (mom's side) N's, brothers on father's side S. We're born as our type so how can it not be genetic?


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## bewu (Jul 14, 2013)

Interesting concept...
I have a bachelor in molecular biology (study of genes, although only a bachelor)

I would guess it is genetic although probably a lot more complex than what you propose

If you really want to know we really need more "data", any SJ who are interested?
And remember that the MBTI/the types is just a theory and don't necessarily be that well correlated with genes

By the way, assigning functions too the sex chromosomes at this early stage also seems to me as a bit "desperate" to help fit the system. It might just be coincidences of course.

These are only my thoughts, So I might be totally wrong

My parent are INTJ (dad) and ESTJ (mom)


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## Skellonan (Jun 22, 2013)

My dad; ENTJ
My sister; ISFP
My mother; ESFJ
Me: INFP
Grandmother (father's side): ENFP
Grandfather (mother's side): ISTJ or INTJ, not sure


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## Calvin (Jun 21, 2012)

Mom=ISFJ 
Mother's side grandparents= ISTJ and ESTP 
Dad=ENFP 
Dad's side grandparents= ISFP and ESTJ 

me=INTP 

There could be something to this, but being that I'm the first ever NT in the family, and one of the VERY few intuitives, I have my doubts about this theory


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## Coldspot (Nov 7, 2011)

If I'm correct about my family's types being:

Myself: INFP
Mother: ESFJ
Father: INTJ
Sister: ISTP

This would mean each of us is a different MBTI temperament. Not much for proving genetics are related.


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## deftonePassenger (Jun 18, 2012)

Coldspot said:


> If I'm correct about my family's types being:
> 
> Myself: INFP
> Mother: ESFJ
> ...


Nor does this disprove it. Your parents could have given you preferences that they carry but do not have themselves. This would be similar to a child who inherits a disease from a carrier.


As for my family...

Mom: ISTJ - *Si* Te Fi *Ne*
Dad: ISTP - *Ti *Se Ni *Fe*
Me: INTP - *Ti Ne Si Fe* 
I prefer both my parents' dominant (and therefore their inferior) functions

Sister: ENTJ - *Te Ni Se Fi
*Same case as me in inheriting a pair from each of our parents, but in this case she got their auxiliary/tertiary functions

Brother: ISTJ - *Si Te Fi Ne* 
Sister: ESTJ - *Te Si Ne* *Fi 
*Both prefer the same four functions as our mom


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## O_o (Oct 22, 2011)

Well of course the cognitive functions would work most of the time. There are generally only 2 combinations for each
Ni/Se+Se/Ni or Ne/Si+Si/Ne
Fe/Ti+Ti/Fe or Fi/Te+Te/Fi
So generally speaking, if you have two parents chances are that one of them will contain the same combination as you. What of this theory when an individual has two parents of the same type (ex: INFP (Fi,Ne,Si,Te)) and ends up being ISTP? 
As for the T/F, I/E, S/N, J/P theory, I think that when this does hold true that it does purely based on accident. But there are many of people who might not fall under this. 
But if you want to see a pattern concerning genetics in either, you certainly will. Just how accurate is it and are the results due to genetics?
Interesting try though, maybe some day more will be discovered about this matter which is accurate.


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## ParetoCaretheStare (Jan 18, 2012)

ENTrePenuer said:


> No.
> Nope.
> uh uh
> Negative
> ...


Haha, nice poetry there. Personality is scientifically proven to be inherited.


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## Grandalf (Jun 7, 2014)

Orbrial said:


> I don't know if you can or can't either. I'm just trying to see if my theory can hold up or not. It would be (to me) very interesting if somehow MBTI actually was genetic and you could map it out like any other genetic trait. Personally I'd like to see how to make more NTs in the world. We still have a lot of things that need to be created, invented, and analyzed... In my personal opinion, we don't have nearly enough NTs. If MBTI were actually genetic... maybe we could just bake up a fresh batch.. and then make more!!!


The deficit of NTs are the byproduct of our society neglecting knowledge and other NT values/desires. However I neglect the genetic theory as I have yet to find another NT relative. I am for nurture.

Nonetheless, additional NTs would be a major asset on the human race.



> Imagine, artificially inflating the ratio of NTs by genetics...science is the NT wheelhouse! If you did that the NTs would eventually eliminate all the other types through artificial breeding (with the exception of some of the more useful artisans and guardians) and the world would turn into one big geek out.


Inflation is the decrease in buying power of our dollar. You are suggesting that more NT's will reduce the value of the individual NT. However, with an increase of curious minds exchanging ideas each mind (NT) will gain more and his value will rise more quickly than the production of more NTs. Like economic inflation, the real concern should be if real wages (NT individual value in this case) are rising faster than inflation (more NTs)

A well trained NT will combat such inflation with willpower and ingenious ideas.:laughing: A nerdy society would be awesome as modern culture would loss its liabilities (most of today's music). :dry:

which types would live is still debatable. roud:

ESTJs and ISTPs are predominately Thinking so they can live. As for INFJs and ENFPs, their main function is iNtuition and make good mates for INTJs and ENTPs.

I can't wait for paradise!! :laughing:


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## Sabrah (Aug 6, 2013)

Mom - ENFP - Ne-Fi-Te-Si
Dad - ENTJ - Te-Ni-Se-Fi

Sister: - INFP - Fi-Ne-Si-Te
Me: - ISTJ - Si-Te-Fi- Ne
Sister: - ESFP - Se-Fi-Te-Ni
Sister: - ENFP - Ne - Fi -Te-Si

Idk, maybe.


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## Golden Rose (Jun 5, 2014)

N-o-p-e!

There are some parts of the personality that are inherited at birth, like genetic disorders, but the rest of it is all you with maybe a bit of parental conditioning when you are a child. It's absolutely limiting to believe that nothing depends on us, that all that we are and feel and think is just part of our genetics especially when it comes to something so subjective like Meyers-Briggs. There might be some functions you have in common with your parents and siblings but when there's only 8 of them it's not like it's this huge mindblowing thing! I have sensor parents, my entire family but my grandma, one of my dead grandpas and perhaps my cousin is made of sensors but that doesn't still make me an ISFP. Many of us have xSTJ fathers or xSFJ mothers but it's easily explainable with the fact that they're the most common types and the ones more likely to get married, settle down and have children!

Oh and even if society forces you to act more like a different type, you cannot lie to yourself.
If I were to suddenly act like an ESFP or an ESTJ (wouldn't it be funny? ^^) it'd still show in how awkward and unable to fit in my behavior would translate to and I'd feel completely fake, drained and hurt. Have you ever wondered why many "social" or "confident" people seem so out of their element??? In many cases, more sensitive or private or brainy kids are forced into wearing an SJ or SP mask just because of parental/peer pressure which is something I've always rejected but it happens! With this I don't mean to imply that sensors aren't more common or lovely people... it's just that you aren't inside of someone's head and you can't understand how they actually thrive. Not superficially! So the nurture theory is still valid except you can't turn an NT into another type, they'll always be NT faking it and repressing the Ne/Ni.


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## Wild (Jul 14, 2014)

A lot of this doesn't even make sense, to be honest.

Firstly, personality is way, way, waaaay too complex to be represented on a single allele, which is how you have it labeled here. The way our brains function is the result of thousands of alleles + environment + probably a thousand other factors. It's just way more complex than, say, eye color. Not all traits on a human are the result of a single allele pair (in fact, even traits like eye color are more complex than you're taught in biology class), and personality is among the most complex traits there are for humans. 

Also, the Y chromosome (like how you have T and F set up) has hardly any genetic information on it other than that required to make someone male, so there's no way it's going to carry information for personality, even assuming a chromosome that small COULD have any effect on neurological function. Also, considering males only have one Y, that would suggest males could never be feelers since they'd only get one. 

On top of all this, I feel sure that many people have personality types that make no sense with this theory for their parents' types. Personality does have many aspects that are to some extent genetic (intelligence being one), but much of it is also the result of the environment one is subject to in utero and in life. I highly doubt we'll ever be able to map out personality type with genes, as we're not even able to map out simple aspects of personality yet (and with good reason). We need to keep in mind that personality type is a spectrum, and not just "one way or the other".

I hope this provided some insight! <3


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