Enneagram of Personality¶
The Enneagram of Personality, more often known simply as the “Enneagram”, is a typology known to many socionics enthusiasts.
Socionics and the Enneagram¶
Like Myers-Briggs typology and socionics itself, the Enneagram is heavily influenced by, if not totally derived from, Jung’s typology. And, like Myers-Briggs typology, in the West an interest in the Enneagram is one of the common routes leading an individual to an interest in socionics.
The Enneagram differs from those other typologies in that it also focuses heavily on how the psychology of a person of a certain type changes according to their level of stress, feelings of accomplishment, and degree of mental health. Unlike Myers-Briggs, there is a fairly well-developed and consistent concept of intertype relationships, their manifestations, and development.
There are many views on how Enneagram types correlate with socionic types, or if they do at all. One view is that a person of a socionic type can only belong to a very limited number of Enneagram types, and vice-versa. Others dismiss this notion and claim that the two systems are totally independent. Possible correlations are discussed below.
Enneagram origins¶
Adapted fromWikipedia article
Although it is usually only understood and used as a personality typology, the Enneagram is also taught in ways that focus on its potential in developing higher states of being, essence and enlightenment.
The founder of the Enneagram is generally recognized to be Oscar Ichazo (born 1931), a Bolivian philospher. Ichazo identified nine ways in which the ego becomes fixated within a person’s psyche at an early stage of life. For each person one of these ‘ego fixations’ then becomes the core of a self-image around which their psychological personality develops. Each fixation is also supported at the emotional level by a particular ‘passion’ or ‘vice’. The principal psychological connections between the nine ego fixations can be ‘mapped’ using the points, lines and circle of the Enneagram figure.
As the purpose of Ichazo’s teachings is to help people transcend their identification with - and the suffering caused by - their own mechanistic thought and behaviour patterns, his theories about the fixations is founded on the premise that all life seeks to continue and perpetuate itself and the human psyche must follow the same common laws of reality as such. From this, using Trialectic logic, Ichazo defined the three basic human instincts for survival (Conservation - digestive system, Relations - circulatory system and Adaptation - central nervous system) and two poles of attraction to self-perpetuation (Sexual - sexual organs and Spiritual - spinal column).
With a baseline of a psyche in a state of unity as a prototypical model, the fixations are defined as aberrations from this baseline, much as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is an observation-based method for diagnosing personality disorders. The primary difference between modern psychology and Ichazo’s work is that Ichazo has proposed a model of the components of a human psyche whilst modern psychology has instead preferred to agree only upon observed behavior rather than attempt to define an essential model from which aberrations arise due to psychological traumas.
Ichazo has related the fixations with the major categories of the DSM to indicate that fixations are the precursor to mental illness. The fixations are diagnosed from the particular experience of psychological trauma a child suffers when expectations are not met in each respective Instinct. Since a small child is completely self-centered in its expectations it will experience disappointment of expectation viewed by the child as a matter of one of the three fundamental attitudes (attracted, unattracted or disinterested are the only possible attitudes), and thus experience trauma and begin to form mechanistic thought and behavior patterns in an attempt to protect itself from experiencing a recurrence of the trauma. By understanding the fixations and through self observation, the hold on the mind and suffering caused by the fixations is reduced and even transcended.
The nine types¶
According to Enneagram of Personality theory the points of the Enneagram figure indicate a number of ways in which nine principal ego-archetypal forms or types of human personality (also often called “Enneatypes”) are psychologically connected.
People of each Enneatype are usually referred to after the number of the point on the Enneagram figure (Eights, Fours, Sixes etc.) that indicates their particular psychological space and ‘place’ of connection to the other types. They are also often given names that suggest some of their more distinctive archetypal characteristics.
Brief descriptions of the nine Enneatypes are as follows:
Ones: Reformers, Critics, Perfectionists
People of this personality type are focused on personal integrity. Ones can be wise, discerning and inspiring in their quest for the truth. They also tend to dissociate themselves from their flaws or what they believe are flaws (such as negative emotions) and can become hypocritical and hyper-critical of others, seeking the illusion of virtue to hide their own vices. The greatest fear of Ones is to be flawed and their ultimate goal is perfection.
Twos: Helpers, Givers, Caretakers
Twos, at their best, are compassionate, thoughtful and astonishingly generous but they can also be particularly prone to clinginess and manipulation. Twos want, above all, to be loved and needed and fear being unworthy of love.
Threes: Achievers, Performers, Succeeders
Highly adaptable and changeable. Some Threes walk the world with confidence and unstinting authenticity; others wear a series of public masks, acting the way they think will bring them approval and losing track of their true self. Threes are motivated by the need to succeed and to be seen as successful.
Fours: Romantics, Individualists, Artists
Fours are driven by the desire to understand themselves and find a place in the world. They often fear that they have no identity or personal significance. Fours embrace individualism and are often profoundly creative and intuitive. However, they have a habit of withdrawing to internalize, searching desperately inside themselves for something they never find and creating a spiral of depression.
Fives: Observers, Thinkers, Investigators
Fives are motivated by the desire to understand the world around them, specifically in terms of facts. Believing they are only worth what they contribute, Fives have learned to withdraw, to watch with keen eyes and speak only when they can shake the world with their observations. Sometimes they do just that. However, some Fives are known to withdraw from the world, becoming reclusive hermits and fending off social contact with abrasive cynicism. Fives fear incompetency or uselessness and want to be capable and knowledgeable above all else.
Sixes: Loyalists, Devil’s Advocates, Defenders
Sixes long for stability above all else. They exhibit unwavering loyalty and responsibility, but once betrayed, they are slow to trust again. They are particularly prone to fearful thinking and emotional anxiety as well as reactionary and paranoid behavior. Sixes tend to to react to their fears either in a phobic manner by avoiding fearful situations or by confronting them in a counterphobic manner.
Sevens: Enthusiasts, Adventurers, Sensationalists
Sevens are adventurous and busy with many activities with all the energy and enthusiasm of the Puer Aeternus. At their best they embrace life for its varied joys and wonders and truly live in the moment but, at their worst, they dash frantically from one new experience to another, too scared of disappointment to actually enjoy themselves. Sevens fear being unable to provide for themselves or to experience life in all of its richness.
Eights: Leaders, Protectors, Challengers
Eights value their own strength and desire to be powerful and in control. They concern themselves with self-preservation. They are natural leaders, who can be either friendly and charitable or dictatorially manipulative, ruthless and willing to destroy anything in their way. Eights seek control over their own lives and destinies and fear being harmed or controlled by others.
Nines: Mediators, Peacemakers, Preservationists
Nines are ruled by their empathy. At their best they are perceptive, receptive, gentle, calming and at peace with the world. They also, however, tend to dissociate from conflicts and to indifferently go along with others people’s wishes. They may also simply withdraw and act via inaction. They fear the conflict caused by their ability to simultaneously understand opposing points of view and seek peace of mind above all else. Nines are especially prone to dissociation and passive-aggressive behaviour.
Wings¶
Whilst a person’s Enneatype is determined by only one of the ego-fixations, their personality characteristics are also influenced and modified in different ways by all of the other eight fixations as well.
Most Enneagram teachers and theorists believe that one of the principal kinds of influence and modification come from the two points on either side of their Enneatype. These two points are usually known as the ‘wings’.
Observation seems to indicate, for example, that Ones will tend to manifest some characteristics of both Nines and Twos. Some Enneagram theorists believe that one of the wings will always have a more dominant influence on an individual’s personality, while others believe that either wing can be dominant at any particular time depending on the person’s circumstances and development.
This aspect of Enneagram theory was originally suggested by Claudio Naranjo and then further developed by some of the Jesuit teachers.
Stress and security points¶
The lines connecting the points of the Enneagram figure (the triangle and hexagon) are believed to indicate psychological connections between the Enneatypes. The points connected by the lines are usually called the ‘stress points’ and ‘security points’.
The more traditional understanding of the stress and security points is that when people are in a more secure or relaxed state they will tend to also express the more positive personality characteristics of the security point type and, when stressed or insecure, the more negative characteristics of the stress point type. Relaxed or secure Ones, for instance, may tend to manifest some more positive personality aspects of the Seven type since Ones tend to be highly self-inhibitory whilst Sevens give themselves permission to enjoy the moment. Stressed Ones, however, may express some more negative aspects of the Four personality, particularly the obsessive introspection; they also share a certain amount of self-loathing and self-inhibition.
Don Richard Riso believes that the security points also indicate a movement towards psychological wellbeing (the ‘direction of integration’) and the stress points indicate the movement towards breakdown (the ‘direction of disintegration’).
Another emerging belief about the connections between points is that people may access and express the positive and negative aspects of both points depending on their particular circumstances.
The lines connecting the points are often indicated on Enneagram figures by the use of arrows and are sometimes also called ‘arrow points’.
The sequence of stress points is 1-4-2-8-5-7-1 for the hexagon and 9-6-3-9 for the triangle. The security points sequence is in the opposite direction (1-7-5-8-2-4-1 and 9-3-6-9). These sequences are found in the repeating decimals resulting from division by 7 and 3, respectively, both of those numbers being important to Gurdjieff’s system. (1/7 = 0.1428571…; 1/3 = 0.3333…, 2/3 = 0.6666…, 3/3 = 0.9999…).
Instinctual subtypes¶
Each type also has three main instinctual subtypes - the ‘self-preservation’, ‘intimate’ and ‘social’ subtypes. Because each Enneatype is different they may be perceived as having a tendency toward one subtype or another.
Self-preservation subtypes pay most attention to physical survival needs.
Intimate subtypes focus most on intimacy and one-to-one relationships.
Social subtypes care most about others, in groups and communities.
The instinstual subtypes may be very similar to the “need areas” of the FIRO-B instrument, called “Inclusion”, “Control” and “Affection”, except that the score in each area carries equal weight in the person’s overal personality, and there is no “tendency” towards one or another.
Directional scales¶
The Enneagram types have also been mapped to Karen Horney’s “Three Trends” (Moving Towards, Against, Away from), in two dimensions of “Surface Direction” and “Deep Direction”1 2 (which also roughly parallel FIRO’s “Expressed” and “Wanted” behavior). Each type on the surface moves one way, but underneath can move a different way. This determines both behavior and motivations.
Surface Direction
Deep Direction
| Against
(confronting)
| 0 Away
(withdrawing)
| + Towards
(embracing)
|
+ Towards
(Approval Seeking)
| 3 | 9 | 6 |
0 Away
(Ideal Seeking)
| 1 | 4 | 7 |
Against
(Power Seeking)
| 8 | 5 | 2 |
Deadly sins¶
Seven of the characteristic emotional ‘passions’ or ‘vices’ of the Enneatypes correspond with the traditional Seven Deadly Sins. Two additional ‘sins’, ‘deceit’ and ‘fear’, are also included.
Ones - Anger, as the frustration that comes from Ones working hard to do things right while the rest of the world doesn’t care about doing things right and not appreciating the sacrifices and efforts Ones have made.
Twos - Pride, as self-inflation of the ego, in the sense of Twos seeing themselves as indispensable to others and to having no needs whilst also being needed by others.
Threes - Deceit, in the misrepresentation of self by marketing and presenting an image valued by others rather than presenting an authentic self.
Fours - Envy of someone else reminds Fours that they can never be what another person is, reawakening their sense of self-defectiveness.
Fives - Avarice, as the hoarding of resources in an attempt to minimize their needs in the face of a world that takes more than it gives; thus isolating Fives from the world.
Sixes - Fear, often in the form of a generalized anxiety that can’t find an actual source of fear. Sixes may wrongly identify a source of fear through projection, possibly seeing enemies and dangers where there are none.
Sevens - Gluttony, not in the sense of eating too much but, rather, of sampling everything the world has to offer (breadth) and not taking the time for richer experience (depth).
Eights - Lust, in the sense of wanting more of what Eights find stimulating, to a point beyond which most people would feel overwhelmed and stop.
Nines - Sloth, or laziness in discovering a personal agenda and instead choosing the less problematic strategy of just going along with other people’s agendas.
Correlations between enneagram types and socionic types¶
There is no general agreement on how the types correlate, or even if they should. Some of the most common trends seen are:
One : any socionics rational type may well identify at least partly with One, especially any IJ and particularly LSI, but also LSE
Two : most typically ESE is identified with Two, but also EIE, SEI, IEE, IEI and perhaps EII; essentially any type with confidence in
Three : in terms of Three’s motivations, some EIEs would fit best; regarding behavior, many other types could also be seen as Three, especially LIE, LSE, ILE, SLE, IEE
Four : Fours are most typically IEI, but EIE and ILI can also identify with this type; it’s essentially about focus on
Five : Fives are essentially ILI and LII, but ILE, EII, IEI and SLI could also relate best to Five
Six : especially since this type is split in phobic and counterphobic version, many types could fit it; it’s probably accurate that overall ESI fits it best, with almost any
quadra type plausibly relating to itSeven : this type can be best seen as a description of socionics’s EP temperament, so SLE, ILE, IEE and SEE
Eight : Eights are best related to socionics types with both
and 
as fairly confident functions, so
LIE, LSE, SLE and possibly LSI, SLI and SEENine : This type is most typically SEI, but IEI and perhaps EII could also be a match - it’s essentially about a higher preference for positive
than or