• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Identical Types Amongst Siblings and/or Offspring?

FrisbeeLad

New member
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
37
MBTI Type
ISTP
First, I'm new here. Searched for this topic. Didn't find anything and thus, the new thread. Apologies up-front if this thread already exists.

So...I'd say I've been type-watching and learning about MBTI for about 10 years or so and there's two things I've never seen.

1) A child and parent of the same MBTI type
2) Two siblings of the same type

It must be possible as you couldn't avoid it in a family of 15/16+, but how often does that really occur in the world today?

Has any one out there that's fairly experienced with MBTI ever seen either phenomena?

Thanks!
 

Zergling

Permabanned
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
Messages
1,377
MBTI Type
ExTJ
My brother and me could both be possibly fit into the INTP type, though he tends more towards some sort of S (overall doesn't fit one type well at all), and I lean more towards the INT types, so it is an iffy example.
 

Mempy

Mamma said knock you out
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
2,227
Hmmm... I know I've heard of a parent and a child having the same type. I remember an INFP on INFPg mentioning that her dad was probably an INFP.

My mom types as an ESFP, and my older brother is an ESTP, so that's close.

It would be both very weird and very intriguing to have an INFP parent. I'd high-five fate for handing me an INFP sib! Sigh.
 

Randomnity

insert random title here
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
9,485
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
One of my sisters is IxTx for sure, and maybe shares my type. She's too introverted to know for sure, but I wouldn't rule it out.

(welcome)
 

FrisbeeLad

New member
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
37
MBTI Type
ISTP
Same Types

So far, doesn't sound like any very conclusive examples...some possibilities but no "definites". I guess, over the years, I've tended towards believing that it more than likely doesn't occur in typical-sized (maybe I should say Western-sized) families.

For those of you that suspect that maybe you and your siblings are of the same type, I guess my belief leans towards the idea that you're more likely NOT of the same type but probably one "leg" off from each other. Maybe the environment you were raised in reinforced (pos. or negatively) particular traits such that you or your sib "appear" very similar, but you may actual be different types. I'm just hypothesizing. I, an ISTP, was raised by a single INFP mother (great mom) so I tend to think that my Sensing was not as positively reinforced as had I grown up with a Sensing mother. Most of my friends and wife are N's.

On a sidenote: I have two sets of identical twin friends and they're both one "leg" off from each other. INFP-ENFP and INTJ-ISTJ. If the MBTI theory postulates that we're BORN a set "type" and our environment + or - reinforces our dominate traits, then would twins who are genetically identical also be of the same type? Doesn't seem like it from what I've experienced (Sensing ref). I guess the nurture part must have a role in it. But I was always under the impression that Myers-Briggs thought that we're "wired" a set way from birth and move towards the middle or towards the edges of each trait-pair spectrum without actually changing dominant traits (i.e. born a T and evolve into an F). Anyway, I'm also curious if identical twins are typically very similar types? (random thought)
 

EsoteriEccentri

New member
Joined
Dec 23, 2007
Messages
108
MBTI Type
INFP
My mum's ENFP but with low E, My Dad's INTP (probably) with low T (And I have low F) So I think type wise I'm a mix of them both.
 

arcticangel02

To the top of the world
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
892
MBTI Type
eNFP
As far as the twin thing, strangely enough that does seem to be the case. No idea why that might be, though.

Here on MBTICentral we've got twins PinkPiranha (ENFJ) and LadyJaye (ENFP). They're identical, I believe. And Aelan (ENTP) has an INTP twin sister, too. :)
 

FrisbeeLad

New member
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
37
MBTI Type
ISTP
As far as the twin thing, strangely enough that does seem to be the case. No idea why that might be, though.

Here on MBTICentral we've got twins PinkPiranha (ENFJ) and LadyJaye (ENFP). They're identical, I believe. And Aelan (ENTP) has an INTP twin sister, too. :)

Cool!!! That supports that idea about twins, type, and genetics.
 

FrisbeeLad

New member
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
37
MBTI Type
ISTP
Same-type mother and brother (Nails) over here. :hi:

Wow!!! So...how do they get along? Major roller-coaster with highs of complete-understanding and lows of "familiarity breeds contempt"?

Whenever I interact with other ISTP's it's an odd dynamic. We almost innately know where the other is coming from in our discussions but at the same time can read each other so well and quickly that it seems kinda contemptuous (almost like we're bored of the other's presense).

If something like that happens with your mother and brother if could be amplified because of they're family and have a long history.
 

alicia91

New member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Messages
671
Well, I'm new to MBTI (though I studied it a little in college 20 years ago) so my assesments may not be entirely accurate. Surprisingly I think that my mother and I are both ISFPs. Which of course isn't to say that we are exactly the same. She is more extremely I, while I have highter N and T than she does. In terms of P, we might be about the same. Frankly, I'm much more book-smart than she was but that may have something to do with expectation of females born in the 1940's versus 1960's.

My daughter and youngest son are ENFP and INFP (I think, though daughter has strong S), so that's fairly close. My other son is ESFP which is similar to myself and my mom.
 

Economica

Dhampyr
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
2,054
MBTI Type
INTJ
Wow!!! So...how do they get along? Major roller-coaster with highs of complete-understanding and lows of "familiarity breeds contempt"?

Note the italics; they're the same type not only as each other but also as me. Yup, that's three INTJs in one family. :shock:

In my experience with other INTJs the roller-coaster dynamic you describe was and is always in effect but only on a small scale. (There's low variance in the everyday interaction as opposed to periods of strong bonding followed by periods of irritable avoidance.) The drama lies in whether the relation exists at all, and when/once the individuals are adults, being family is no guarantee in that respect.

My brother and I have been close since my mid-teens. (He's six years my senior.) As for our mother... I refer you to posts #41 and #50 in this thread. :whistling:

Whenever I interact with other ISTP's it's an odd dynamic. We almost innately know where the other is coming from in our discussions but at the same time can read each other so well and quickly that it seems kinda contemptuous (almost like we're bored of the other's presense).

I agree; on one level same-type interaction is very easy because you understand each other so well, but it does get old: When I'm with INTJ friends, once we've analyzed everything that's accumulated for analysis since we last met, we run out of things to talk about. :sleeping: Also, flaws one recognizes from the mirror are doubly unattractive in others. :steam:

Normally, however, I experience these same-type dynamic downsides as luxury problems. Despite my signature, I wouldn't forgo knowing (and always having known) other INTJs for anything. :happy:
 

FrisbeeLad

New member
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
37
MBTI Type
ISTP
Whoa!!! Three of you. That's amazing!!! I think I need to revise my belief that same sibling and parent types, in Western families, ARE possible but (to me) now are just either a) rare or b) extremely rare. That must've been a trip growing up in that setting. I completely agree about the mirror in which flaws are doubly unattractive in same types. The mirror becomes more of a magnifying glass; hopefully not focused too long and intense like we used to do as kids burning dried leaves or even insects with sunlight.

Reading your previous posts that you referred me too was sort of eerie because my British INTJ friend talks and writes VERY VERY similarly. That could've been him simply talking to me. Weird and cool at the same time!! He also likes Ayn Rand. Lately he's taken a serious liking to the Austrian school of economics and libertarianism. Some of his ideas though seem TOO idealistic for me about "the market sorting everything out"; more so when it comes to public trust commodities like water. I can see it working for other things. However, I asked a libertarian Web site if they could name a single country that was a libertarian state and they said Somalia. That was it and that country doesn't seem like it's working too well or effectively. Of course, I do know that Western countries are f***ing with that experiment so it may not ever work. I just like to see that ideal somewhere and somehow working in a practical (Sensor) manner. Anyway...we rambling again. Sorry.
 

LadyJaye

Scream down the boulevard
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
2,062
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
As far as the twin thing, strangely enough that does seem to be the case. No idea why that might be, though.

Here on MBTICentral we've got twins PinkPiranha (ENFJ) and LadyJaye (ENFP). They're identical, I believe. And Aelan (ENTP) has an INTP twin sister, too. :)


We are, in fact, identical. :) Good memory, darling! And I believe Aelan's an identical twin as well.

Cool!!! That supports that idea about twins, type, and genetics.

We just recently had a set of identical twin women for a visit last week, and they are, I believe, an INTP and an INFP. ( and we barely averted a rip in space time from all the twinsy energy - I can't imagine what sort of chaos ensues when there are twin conventions. )
 

LadyJaye

Scream down the boulevard
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
2,062
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
Note the italics; they're the same type not only as each other but also as me. Yup, that's three INTJs in one family. :shock:

In my experience with other INTJs the roller-coaster dynamic you describe was and is always in effect but only on a small scale. (There's low variance in the everyday interaction as opposed to periods of strong bonding followed by periods of irritable avoidance.) The drama lies in whether the relation exists at all, and when/once the individuals are adults, being family is no guarantee in that respect.

My brother and I have been close since my mid-teens. (He's six years my senior.) As for our mother... I refer you to posts #41 and #50 in this thread. :whistling:



I agree; on one level same-type interaction is very easy because you understand each other so well, but it does get old: When I'm with INTJ friends, once we've analyzed everything that's accumulated for analysis since we last met, we run out of things to talk about. :sleeping: Also, flaws one recognizes from the mirror are doubly unattractive in others. :steam:

Normally, however, I experience these same-type dynamic downsides as luxury problems. Despite my signature, I wouldn't forgo knowing (and always having known) other INTJs for anything. :happy:


This is fascinating. I couldn't imagine having three INTJ's in a room, period, much less related to each other. :D The analytical energy must be razor sharp.
 

Athenian200

Protocol Droid
Joined
Jul 1, 2007
Messages
8,828
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
I've always thought that kids tended to be the opposite type from their parents because kids like to rebel against their parents. I have heard of a lot of INTP's with xSFJ mothers.
 

arcticangel02

To the top of the world
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
892
MBTI Type
eNFP
I've always thought that kids tended to be the opposite type from their parents because kids like to rebel against their parents. I have heard of a lot of INTP's with xSFJ mothers.

I doubt that is actually the case - you probably just hear about the ones with totally opposite parents moreso because it's often a problematic relationship?

And taking Economica's anecdote, you can easily have a bad relationship with an identical-type, too.

Take my family, for example:
Dad: ESTJ
Mum: ISFP
Kids: ENFP
ESFP
INFP

Between parents and children, there's one opposite there (ESTJ/INFP), but there's one very similar (ISFP/ESFP), too. And while I am different enough from both parents, I'm equally similar to both my siblings (ENFP/ESFP) and (ENFP/INFP).

In this case, everyone gets along well enough, but just using that as a case study, (lol) there's similarities and opposites and everything in between, too. In a family of four people or more, it's likely there are going to be some significant differences between types.

Um, yeah. I have no idea what I set out to say.

Perhaps just to say that there is nothing really to be said? ;)
 

wildcat

New member
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
3,622
MBTI Type
INTP
First, I'm new here. Searched for this topic. Didn't find anything and thus, the new thread. Apologies up-front if this thread already exists.

So...I'd say I've been type-watching and learning about MBTI for about 10 years or so and there's two things I've never seen.

1) A child and parent of the same MBTI type
2) Two siblings of the same type

It must be possible as you couldn't avoid it in a family of 15/16+, but how often does that really occur in the world today?

Has any one out there that's fairly experienced with MBTI ever seen either phenomena?

Thanks!
Is the mutation the mechanism of the end?

Or the mechanism at the outset?
 

developer

New member
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
117
MBTI Type
INTJ
Long ago, I used to be very good friends with two ladies who were identical twins. They spent lots of time together and hung out with the same crowd, and people usually could not tell them apart. Still, one was ISTJ, the other INFP. The ISTJ was the administrator of an archive, the INFP a psychologist (sounds like a clich
 

developer

New member
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
117
MBTI Type
INTJ
Grr, part of post got eaten.

I was saying: sunds like a cliche, but is true.
 
Top