INFJ-->INFJ | INFJ Forum

INFJ-->INFJ

Wyst

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Jun 30, 2009
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Just throwing this out there but... it seems like it's not a rare thing for INFJ parents to have INFJ kids. Is this just my imagination?

Could it be a genetically inherited trait?
 
By all accounts my grandfather whom i never met was an INFJ, my aunts (his daughters) claim he was exactly like me. personality wise.

My father comes off like an ENTJ but I think he might be a seriously wounded at the core ENFJ too.
 
Well parents do pass on their genetic code to their children, children pick up some of their predispositions, pick up some of their mannerisms and so forth. So really, I don't see why it'd be so weird that some kids develop similar personality types.
 
Neither of my parents are INFJ. Dad's an INFP and Mom's an INTJ.
 
pretty certain its not inherited, or at least not solely, I have ESFJ and ISFJ parents and I'm a ENFP oddball in a family of sensors!
 
hmmm, well, interestingly enough...

i think my sister is also an INFJ/P, while my cousin turned up to be one as well.

the whole rest of the family seems to be very SJ though, with a small mix of a few SPs (like my dad)
 
Interesting... so if it's not inherited (I don't really think it is - I'm just brainstorming here), then why do so many INFJs have INFJ relatives...
 
Interesting... so if it's not inherited (I don't really think it is - I'm just brainstorming here), then why do so many INFJs have INFJ relatives...

Well, we generally have more than 16 relatives, and there are only 16 types. Probability says you've got a 1 in 16 chance of a person being a specific type. With more than 16 relatives there is a good chance that one of them will be the same type as you. However, due to disproportionate distribution of the types that chance is not 100%, there for it does not always happen.
 
Well, we generally have more than 16 relatives, and there are only 16 types. Probability says you've got a 1 in 16 chance of a person being a specific type. With more than 16 relatives there is a good chance that one of them will be the same type as you. However, due to disproportionate distribution of the types that chance is not 100%, there for it does not always happen.

1/16? Then INFJs are really 6.25% of the population.
Say it ain't so!
 
1/16? Then INFJs are really 6.25% of the population.
Say it ain't so!

I also said the distribution is not proportionate, therefore one can have less than 1/16 of the whole. If it were proportionate, then, not only would it be likely for you to have 1 INFJ in every 16 people you group together, it would be infinitesimally close to 100% chance that there was an INFJ. It is not, however, and as such it can be that you'll not have an INFJ in the 16. Probability is odd that way.

An example would be that if you had a collection of 20 beads of 4 different colors the probability of any one bead being a specific color without relevant and accurate population data would be 1/4, but that does not require that there be 5 of every color actually.

We are not talking about the probability that there is a certain number of INFJs in your family (that would require understanding the proportion of INFJs in the population in general), but the probability that any single individual has of being an INFJ. The difference is qualitative not quantitative.

PS: Fun with the dirty child of Mathematics and Philosophy!
 
For starters I do not believe MBTI is genetic and I believe genetics has very little influence on our type, I have been strongly a more nurture rather then nature in that sense, I believe our environment affects our personality more than our genetic coding, with that being said, reason being why many INFJ parents do not have INFJ children or vice versa is because our environment and the way society is shaped does not typically favor an INFJ personality, it is said that INFJ's have a hard time, mostly in their childhood. I do believe however that the parents can teach many of the INFJ core values, however, it is the child who ultimatley decides who he/she wants to be and not the parents.
 
My mom is an INFJ, I am an INFJ. We are so similar to each other, it really is astounding.

In terms of MBTI, the main difference between us is our cognitive function order:
Mine: Ni>Si>Fe>Te>Fi>Ti>Ne>Se
Mom: Ni>Fi>Ne>Fe>Te>Si>Se>Ti

People say we are identical all the time, but we know each other very so we see our differences. I am much more calculating and stubborn/rigid then she is. She is much more imaginative and fanatical then I am.
 
Probably not genetic. No one in my family is INFJ. Not even my grandparents or cousins. My biological dad's is INTP, while my mom's is ISFJ.

Actually I'm not sure what my dad's father was. He died when I was pretty young. I get the feeling he was an SJ of some sort though.