Inscripta.net was created by Dr. Karen Wu, an academic researcher, with the help of software programmer Andrew Johnson. We thank Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, Helge Rausch and Philipp Bayer of openSNP for sharing their code with the public – we could not have put this site together without their help.

The research team includes academic researchers in the areas of social psychology (Dr. Karen Wu; CSU Los Angeles), developmental psychology (Dr. Chuansheng Chen; UC Irvine), genetics (Dr. Robert K. Moyzis; UC Irvine), and statistics (Dr. Zhaoxia Yu; UC Irvine). Our goal is to add to the current scientific knowledge on genes, personality, and (romantic) relationships while also sharing findings with the public.

If you were genotyped by 23andMe, AncestryDNA, or FamilyTreeDNA, you may contribute to our research AND receive gene-based feedback on your personality or relationship-related attributes in exchange. We hope that you enjoy your visit to our site, and we welcome any feedback you have! We also encourage you to visit openSNP (https://opensnp.org/) to share your genetic data with the public.

Yes, our research is approved by the UC Irvine and the CSU Los Angeles IRBs. The UC Irvine IRB serves as the main reviewer for this study.

We do not have any commercial interests. Data will only be used for research purposes and will not be sold to any third parties. Any resulting publications will be shared on this site.

Please see the study information sheet for details about how your rights and confidentiality will be protected. This same information will also appear before you begin Step 1 (Upload your Raw Genetic Data) of the study.

23andMe customers:
Download your data by signing into your 23andMe account and going to this link.

FamilyTreeDNA customers:
Download your data by signing into your FamilyTreeDNA account and going to this link. You should download the file titled "Build 37 Autosomal Raw Data".

AncestryDNA customers:
Download your data by signing into your Ancestry account, clicking on the "DNA" tab, and clicking on "Settings". From the Settings page, you may click on the button "Download Raw DNA Data".

See the tab above titled “Filetypes” for the formats of AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and FamilyTreeDNA.

Currently, you will likely get the most feedback from our website using 23andMe, followed very closely by AncestryDNA, and then FamilyTreeDNA. Due to this, we would recommend that you upload your 23andMe or AncestryDNA file.

The survey includes questions regarding demographics (e.g., age, gender, education), self-views, interpersonal relationships, and personality. We use established measures to ensure the quality of the data. Your contributions will allow us to examine how particular genes are related to relationship dynamics and personality.

Depending on the genes available in your uploaded dataset, the attributes that you may receive feedback on include but are not limited to attachment style, generosity, impulsivity, negative affect, sensitivity to rejection, and social support. For your reference, we include a brief description of (and a link to) one of the studies that previously documented this gene-behavior association. Note that feedback is based solely on your genetic data, and not your responses on the survey.

That’s awesome! Email us at contact@inscripta.net with the study and trait, keeping in mind that we do not give health-related feedback.

All results are based on group-level differences from a specific study. On the individual level, it is not at all unusual to go against the overall result. Furthermore, personality traits are complex and are thought to be the result of many genes, not just one, along with environment/upbringing. Finally, genes have been found to have different effects in different populations (i.e., ethnic groups, males vs. females). In light of all of this, please take your results with a grain of salt! Your genetic data plus your responses to our surveys will help us to refine knowledge in this area, as we will be looking at the cumulative and interactive effects of genes :)

Personality traits are affected by multiple genes, not just one. When you see an attribute repeated, it means that we have given you feedback on multiple genes that are related to that attribute. It is possible to have a genotype that predisposes you to that attribute, and another one that instead makes you less likely to display that attribute. There are also likely to be many other genes that are related to the attribute, but have not yet been identified.

Some of them are self-created whereas others are from the Noun Project (https://thenounproject.com/). We thank the following artists for sharing their work and talent:
AlfredoCreates.com/Icons (https://thenounproject.com/AlfredoCreates/)
Javier Sanchez (https://thenounproject.com/javyliu/)
No More Heroes (https://thenounproject.com/samuelblomley/)
Delwar Hossain (https://thenounproject.com/delwar/)
Fantastic (https://thenounproject.com/vijayashastry362/)
Amy Morgan (https://thenounproject.com/amymorgan/)