The NPA model
For a summary of our NPA model of personality based on genetic traits, see the link to the home page at left. The model has the unique feature that it generates a limited number of discrete personality types that should be identifiable from an individual's physical and behavioral characteristics. The three basic traits of the NPA personality model are sanguinity (N), perfectionism (P) and aggression (A). In addition, the model uses the notation A− for the genetic trait A when it is genetically partially inhibited.
(The notation N is used for the trait of sanguinity, since it has a direct relation to the classic concept of "narcissism".)
Our premise is that since the three traits are genetically determined, it should be possible to identify their absence or presence in any individual, hence their geographic prevalence in any group of individuals.
NPA types
On the assumption that the three traits assort independently, the model generates a limited number of NPA types. Sanguine types have the trait N, while non-sanguine types lack this trait. For example, the "NPA− type" is a sanguine, perfectionistic, passive aggressive type. The "A type" is a non-sanguine, non-perfectionistic, aggressive type, and so on.
Habitancy type
In NPA population genetics we define habitancy as the inhabitants of a region, taken collectively, i.e., a subpopulation. For ease of communication we define the following habitancies:
Polymorphic – no tendency to any particular character type
Sublime – tending toward N type (sanguine)
Punctilious – ... NP type (sanguine)
Corybantic – ... NA type (sanguine)
Demonstrative – ... NPA type (sanguine)
Authoritarian – ... PA type (non-sanguine)
Militant – ... A type (non-sanguine)
Introspective –... NPA– type (sanguine)
Note that only the Authoritarian and Militant habitancies are non-sanguine.
Infertility
The NPA model predicts infertility in certain combinations of relatively incompatible NPA types, namely in those couples where one parent is a non-aggressive N or NP type and the other is a non-sanguine A or PA type. Depending on their precise genotypes, such couples would be partially or totally infertile, i.e., prone to conceive non-viable progeny lacking both traits N and A. Our premise is that a developing fetus lacking expression of both traits N and A would not survive intrauterine life (appearing as miscarriage or stillbirth) or would "fail to thrive" in early infancy.
From the above, it is seen that infertility based on an incompatibility between NPA types would be an issue only in a habitancy where there existed together both non-aggressive and non-sanguine types.
The basis of infertility inherent in the NPA model is the same as that of the classic Dobzhansky-Muller model of hybrid inviability based on two interacting "complementary genes".
Hardy-Weinberg analysis
We used the Hardy-Weinberg approach to generate phenotype frequency distributions for the various habitancy types on the basis of assumed gene frequencies. The frequency distributions are idealized, since the approach assumes 1) random mating and 2) equilibrium, with allele frequencies that remain constant from one generation to the next. As applied to genes coding for personality traits, both of these assumptions will not rigorously hold. First of all, mating is usually assortative and, in fact, highly dependent on the personality types of individuals. Secondly, inherent in the NPA model is the possibility of non-random infertility akin to Dobzhansky-Muller hybrid inviability, so the NPA allele frequencies could not stay constant from one generation to the next within the confines of the Hardy-Weinberg schema. Thus, the results of the computations were used primarily to gain insight into the general nature of populations of NPA types; the results did not enter into the preparation of the Habitancy map. For further details of the Hardy-Weinberg computations, see our Synopsis and the Book references below.
The computations showed that the predicted frequencies of nonviability due to infertility were on the order of 2 to 5 percent for most habitancies where all of the dominant NPA types were present. The computations also confirmed that it is not possible for a habitancy to exist in stability where the two most prevalent NPA types are coexisting non-aggressive and non-sanguine types (e.g., N and A types). If such a situation did exist as a starting point, a high frequency of nonviable "null" types would appear in the next generation, with rapid ascendancy of the prevalence of viable hybrid NA types with each succeeding generation.
Determination of habitancy type
In order to identify the predominant NPA type of a locality, all available internet sources were used, including maps, photographs, videos, and archival materials relating to ethnic groups and indigenous peoples. The "Polymorphic" habitancy (light blue color on the map) was the default choice when no single NPA type appeared to predominate. When indigenous peoples were typed (denoted by asterisks on the map), we refer to their present-day geographical distribution, with the exception of North American tribes, which are represented as they existed in the late 19th century.
For example, members of the Maasai tribe of East Africa are uniformly tall and slender, exhibit colorful adornment and gingival smiles, are non-perfectionistic and are non-aggressive. They are identified as predominantly "N types", hence they are given the designation of "Sublime habitancy" (red color on the map). Conversely, the denizens of Moscow are judged to be predominantly non-sanguine, are not known to exhibit gingival smiling, are perfectionistic and aggressive. They earn the diagnosis of predominantly "PA types", hence the designation of "Authoritarian habitancy" (blue color). And so on.
The methods used to determine habitancy type are approximate at best and are dependent on a myriad of assumptions, not the least of which is the validity of the three-trait model. No pretense is made that the observations presented are in the realm of objective "hard science". Nevertheless, the NPA model has the unique distinction of generating discrete personality types that might be distinguished with some accuracy by observation of individuals in their natural habitat. This in itself, if verified, would be of note. We present the results of our mapping, not as conclusions, but rather as observations that might lead to hypotheses that could be tested in rigorous genetic studies of groups of individuals, families and populations.
The various habitancy types are color-coded on our map.
Results
North America
Present-day United States was found to be mostly Polymorphic on the East and West Coasts, with areas of Punctilious habitancy in the Midwest, and Sublime habitancy in the South and in Southern California. Indigenous tribes are shown, all of which were found to be either Sublime, like most of the Plains and Plateau tribes, or Punctilious, like the Iroquois and Navahos. The same was true of the Arctic region, where the Inuit tribe was Punctilious but Sublime tribes exist as well.
Canada was found to be mostly Polymorphic, except for an area of Quebec that appeared to be more Demonstrative. As in the United States, Canadian indigenous tribes were found to be either Punctilious or Sublime, with the Punctilious tribes tending to be in the eastern part of the country.
Mexico was mostly Sublime, except for isolated areas of the Yucatan which were clearly Punctilious. As was the case north of the border, present-day indigenous groups in Mexico were found to be either Punctilious or Sublime. An exception was the Mascogo Afro-indigenous tribe, which was found to be mainly Corybantic.
Central America
South of Mexico the region was not homogeneous. Guatemala was Punctilious while El Salvador was Corybantic. Costa Rica and Panama were Polymorphic. In contrast to indigenous groups elsewhere in the Americas, where the trait of aggression was notably lacking, the indigenous peoples of Panama (Ngäbe-Buglé, Kuna and Emberá-Wounaan) were found to be Polymorphic with a high prevalence of A trait.
South America
A large area of the continent was found to be Corybantic, including Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil and Argentina. The northwest countries were Sublime, notably Ecuador and Peru. Colombia was judged to be Demonstrative, reminiscent of the Mediterranean region, while Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru were Polymorphic. The indigenous highlanders of the Sierra Nevada of Colombia were found to be Punctilious. The various indigenous tribes elsewhere and in the Amazon were either Punctilious or Sublime. The extinct Fuegians at the tip of Cape Horn were judged to have been Sublime.
Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa was almost uniformly Sublime or Corybantic. The exceptions were South Africa (Polymorphic) and the area of Botswana (Punctilious). Two other Punctilious isolates were those of 1) the indigenous San tribe of the Kalahari Desert in the south, and 2) the Mbuti pygmy tribe of central Africa. Madagascar was found to be Corybantic.
In North Africa, the situation was different, with areas of non-sanguinity (as was the case in the Mideast). Egypt was found to be largely Authoritarian, while Libya and Tunisia were Corybantic. The Berber isolate of Morocco was judged to be mainly Demonstrative.
Europe
Punctilious regions included areas of Scandinavia, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and northern Italy. In Britain, Scotland was Introspective (high prevalence of NPA− types), with most of England and Wales being Polymorphic but with locales having a relatively high prevalence of N types. France was Polymorphic in the north but Demonstrative in the south. The only Sublime region of Western Europe was southern Spain. Much of the Mediterranean region, extending to Turkey, to northern Iran and into the Caucasus was found to be Demonstrative, although Turkey had a higher prevalence of non-sanguine A and PA types. Non-sanguine types were also found in the Caucasus, including Azerbaijan (Authoritarian), as well as A and PA types dispersed in Georgia, Chechnya, and areas of the Russian Federation northwards. Most of the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Western Russia were Authoritarian (largely non-sanguine, with A types in evidence as well as PA types). Hungary, however, was Polymorphic, and Finland was found to be an Introspective isolate.
Middle East
The region was found to be largely non-sanguine (A types as well as PA types), with Saudi Arabia being Authoritarian, and Yemen and most of the Arabic area of Iraq being Militant. Iran however was generally sanguine, its northern region along the Caspian Sea being Demonstrative and its southern region being mostly Polymorphic. However, Iran did have a substantial prevalence of dispersed non-sanguine A and PA types. Israel and Lebanon were found to be Polymorphic, while Kuwait was a Corybantic isolate.
Asia
Asiatic Russia being sparsely populated, was found to be mostly Polymorphic (including non-sanguine types), except for the ethnic Russian region of Vladivostok in the Far East, which was Authoritarian like western Russia. The reindeer herder indigenous peoples of the Arctic, ranging from eastern Russia to Scandinavia were largely Sublime, while the large Sakha region, corresponding to the Yakut people, was also Sublime. Mongolia itself was uniformly Sublime, as were the indigenous people of Mongolian descent in Russia near the Mongolian border. A large Corybantic area was identified in central Asia, including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, southern Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the western areas of both India and China. India had a large region of Sublime habitancy, as well as smaller areas that were Polymorphic and Punctilious isolates. India also has a scattering of non-sanguine PA types but no extensive areas that could be called non-sanguine. Singapore, Myanmar and Laos were Polymorphic, while Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines were largely Sublime. Cambodia was Punctilious. Viet-Nam was distinctive in being Polymorphic but with a significant prevalence of non-sanguine PA types. China in the (Han) north and south was also clearly Punctilious, but a large swath of Sublime habitancy extended from Shanghai, through the Hunan and Sichuan regions to Tibet, the latter also being Sublime. Taiwan, Korea and Japan were clearly Punctilious.
Oceania and the Pacific Islands
Present-day non-indigenous Australia (not shown on the map), sparsely populated in the interior, was found to be mainly Polymorphic in its periphery, with Tasmania and New Zealand being Introspective (perfectionistic, with high prevalence of A− trait). The Australian Aborigines were examined in some detail (see article). To summarize, the desert peoples of the interior of the continent were found to be uniformly Corybantic, as was most of Arnhem Land to the north. A sizable area to the west of Darwin and in the northern part of Western Australia was Punctilious, as were peninsular isolates in Western Australia (Ardyaloon), in East Arnhem Land (Yirrkala) and in Cape York (Mapoon). There were discernible Sublime, Demonstrative and Polymorphic areas in the states of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. Neither non-sanguinity nor the presence of A− trait was noted in the Aborigines.
[Note: For reasons of clarity, non-indigenous peoples are shown for Tasmania and New Zealand, but are omitted from continental Australia on the map.]
New Guinea was similarly found to be non-homogeneous, with N types and NA types the most common, but NP tribes present as well, i.e., areas of Sublime, Corybantic and Punctilious habitancy. To the east, the Melanesians of Bougainville and Vanuatu were Corybantic, whereas Fiji, with its large East Indian population, was Polymorphic but mainly sanguine.
In other areas of the Pacific, the Polynesian Islands were uniformly Sublime, as were the Galapagos Islands and Hawaii.
Discussion
In the following comments, we do not draw conclusions. Rather, we present some conjectures and hypotheses that would need to be tested in genetic studies following the scientific method.
Indigenous North and South America
Of note in the indigenous tribes of North and South America was the general absence of 1) non-sanguinity, 2) aggressive A trait, and 3) A− trait.
Only a few peoples were found to have a noticeable prevalence of A trait. These were the Mascogo Afro-indigenous tribe of Mexico and the "indigenous" peoples of Panama. These two groups were judged to have high admixture with African and Iberian genes, respectively, concomitant with the post-Columbian colonization of the New World. With these exceptions in mind, the evidence points to the conjecture that the original settlement of the Americas via Beringia was primarily by migrants lacking the A trait, i.e., by N and NP types.
Especially in North America, Sublime indigenous peoples tended to be on the West Coast, while the Punctilious tribes tended to be in the interior of the continent and toward the East Coast. This is consistent with the idea that the Americas were populated from the north by at least two separate "waves" along the Pacific Coast and in the interior of the continent.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Of note in Sub-Saharan Africa was 1) the absence of non-sanguinity, 2) a paucity of P trait, and 3) the absence of A− trait.
The main exception to the lack of P trait was the area of Botswana, and in particular the San people, who are reputed to have the most ancient heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Pacific Islands
Of note in the Pacific islands was 1) an absence of non-sanguinity in both Melanesians and Polynesians, 2) a very low prevalence of P trait, especially in Polynesians, and 3) a high prevalence of the A trait in some Melanesian groups but its absence in Polynesians.
Mongolia
Mongolia of the present day was found to be clearly Sublime. This raises the question whether the Mongol invasions and conquests of the Middle Ages were based on the trait of sanguinity rather than that of aggression.
Entanglement of traits N and A
In the NPA model the traits N and A are partially entangled, in the sense that the absence of one of the traits implies the presence of the other. Thus, non-sanguine areas (Militant and Authoritarian = green and blue) imply a high prevalence of aggression, while non-aggressive areas (Sublime and Punctilious = red and beige) imply a high prevalence of sanguinity. Demonstrative and Corybantic areas imply a high prevalence of both aggression and sanguinity.
Distribution of the NPA traits: "Out of Africa"
The findings displayed on the map of the distribution of NPA types can be used to trace putative routes for the geographic spread of the three NPA traits, consistent with the "out of Africa" concept of ancestral migration (See References). In this regard, the most important finding displayed on our map is the wide dissemination of the sanguine N trait to all areas of the globe, including the far reaches of the New World and Polynesia. This contrasts with the very limited area of non-sanguinity that was found to be constrained to North Africa, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Mideast and a limited part of central Asia. Significant non-sanguinity was noted eastward in India, and even more so in Viet-Nam, but no farther.
In the NPA model, non-sanguinity (absence of trait N) is a dominant trait. That is, a non-sanguine child must have at least one parent who is also non-sanguine. Thus, any non-sanguine individual should have an unbroken ancestral geographic trail that ultimately must lead to the location of the founder of the trait. Given the limited geographic distribution of non-sanguinity (green and blue on the map) and its absence in Sub-Saharan Africa, the conjecture would be that non-sanguinity arose in the Mideast by a single dominant mutation at the N locus of an individual having the A trait. The alternative hypothesis would be that the origin of non-sanguinity was in Sub-Saharan Africa, where it was subsequently replaced by sanguinity by evolutionary mechanisms. Furthermore, the limited geographic extent of non-sanguinity would imply that this trait arose relatively late in the history of the ancestral migrations, with non-sanguine migrants generally intermingling with previously established sanguine settlers along routes in the geographical regions shown. A schema showing a possible origin of non-sanguinity in the Mideast is shown here.
In contrast to non-sanguinity, the three N, P and A traits, as well as the absence of P and of A trait, were all found in sub-Saharan Africa, so there is no need to postulate a reappearance of these traits by new mutations in groups after their migration out of Africa.
The Special Case of the Australian Aborigines
The Australian Aborigines are thought to be unique because of their reputed ancient origins and their putative isolation. However, we found the Aborigines to be highly polymorphic, although not uniformly so. The wide Corybantic area of NA types in the central deserts, covering more than one-fourth of the surface of Australia, is consistent with a hypothesis that these people were the primary colonizers of the subcontinent, with the Punctilious NP tribes along the northwestern coast being the descendants of later arrivals. Hence, the Sublime and Demonstrative tribes noted in the geographically intermediate regions could be descendants of hybrid N and NPA types issuing from mating between the main NA and NP groups. Our findings are therefore consistent with at least two main migrations to the Australian subcontinent, of two peoples having very different personality types, namely NA followed by NP.
Dispersion of the A− trait
Although we identified geographic regions that could be labeled "Introspective habitancy" (i.e., high prevalence of A− trait), the A− trait was also widely dispersed in Polymorphic populations around the world. Individuals having the A− trait were noted in non-indigenous peoples in the Americas, Europe, Asia (including India, Viet-Nam, China, Japan, and the Philippines) and in Australia. However, A− trait was not discerned in the indigenous New World, Sub-Saharan Africa or the Pacific Islands. No potential single nidus for the A− trait was apparent. This is consistent with a hypothesis that the trait could have multiple genetic origins, i.e., that more than one gene may be involved in the inhibition of the trait of aggression. An alternative hypothesis would be that of geographic dispersal of A− trait via travelers following trade routes.
Our finding of a paucity of A− trait in areas where A trait is lacking is consistent with the model's premise that the A− trait corresponds to a modulation of the A trait, rather than it being a distinct trait that assorts independently.
The Middle East
The high prevalence of non-sanguinity in the Mideast (green and blue areas on the map) indicates a high prevalence of trait aggression. The only Militant areas of the world (green), i.e., having a high prevalence of A types, were found to be in this region. Thus, the conjecture would be that present-day Mideast regional conflicts have, at least in part, a clearly defined genetic basis.
Territorial behavior
Inter-tribal hostility and fierce territoriality was the norm in all areas, notably in Sublime and Punctilious habitancies devoid of the A trait. Hence, it was not limited to those tribes having a high prevalence of A trait. The conjecture would be that territoriality needs to be clearly delineated from trait aggression (the A trait of the NPA model).
Nomadism
We noted that nomadic groups evaluated, like the Roma of Europe (mostly NA types), the Qashqai of southern Iran (N and NA types), as well as the reindeer herders of the Arctic regions (N types) mostly lacked the P trait. The hypothesis would be that nomadic peoples tend to be non-perfectionistic in the sense of the NPA model.
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References:
Benis A.M., "Population genetics", in NPA Theory of Personality, Second edition, 2014. Originally published as Toward Self & Sanity: On the genetic origins of the human character, Psychological Dimensions, New York, 1985.
Benis A.M., Geographic Distribution of Genetic Character Traits Based on the NPA Theory of Personality, 2017, KDP/Amazon.
Benis A.M. Survey of personality traits of perfectionism and inhibition of aggression in Australian Aborigines by use of internet sources, 2016.
