Enneagram of Personality

The Enneagram of Personality is a typing system of nine connected types of personalities.

Enneagram symbol
Enneagram shape

Today, Enneagram theories are mostly from Oscar Ichazo from the 1950s and Claudio Naranjo from the 1970s. Older history of ideas associated with the Enneagram of Personality are not agreed on.

The Enneagram of Personality is popular in business management and spirituality development using books and DVDs. In business it is used to find out into how employees can work together. In spirituality it is shown as a path to self-improvement and enlightenment. Both say it can aid in self-awareness and self-understanding.

The Nine Types

Type Characteristic role Basic fear Basic desire Temptation Vice Virtue Stress Security
1 Perfectionist Corruptness, imbalance, being bad Goodness, integrity, balance Hypocrisy, hypercriticism Anger Serenity 4 7
2 Helper Being unloved To feel love Deny own needs, manipulation Pride Humility 8 4
3 Performer Worthlessness To feel valuable Pushing self to always be "the best" Deceit Truthfulness, Authenticity 9 6
4 Individualist Having no identity or significance To be uniquely themselves To overuse imagination in search of self Envy Equanimity (Emotional Balance) 2 1
5 Researcher Helplessness, incapability, incompetence Mastery, understanding Replacing direct experience with concepts Avarice Non-Attachment 7 8
6 Skeptic Being without support or guidance To have support and guidance Indecision, doubt, seeking reassurance Fear Courage 3 9
7 Enthusiast Being unfulfilled, trapped, deprived To be satisfied and content Thinking fulfillment is somewhere else Gluttony Sobriety 1 5
8 Protector Being controlled, harmed, violated Self-protection Thinking they are completely self-sufficient Lust (Forcefulness) Innocence 5 2
9 Peacemaker Loss, fragmentation, separation Wholeness, peace of mind Avoiding conflicts, avoiding self-assertion Sloth (Disengagement) Action 6 3

Nine types


The nine types are normally referred to by their numbers. Sometimes their "characteristic roles" (as archetypes) are used instead. Different different authors and teachers use different names.

The "stress" and "security" points (or "disintegration" and "integration" points) are the types connected by the lines of the enneagram shape. They are said to influence how a person behaves when they are stressed or relaxed. For example, someone who is a One type might start to feel like someone with a Four type when they are stressed or like a Seven type when they feel relaxed.

Three groups

The types are also grouped into three centres.

A tritype is a 3-number combination of one of each from the centres, like 269 or 458.

Criticism

The Enneagram mixes ideas usually accepted in the theory of personality but it has been sent away and called pseudoscience by some personality assessment experts. The Enneagram is criticised for having no basis in scientific fact.

The Enneagram is mildly popular. However some professionals call it pseudoscience. This is because the Enneagram is subjective and it can't be tested scientifically. Some describe it as a test that is not reliable or valid

In 2011, the scientific skeptic Robert Todd Carroll included the Enneagram in a list of pseudoscientific theories that "can't be tested because they are so vague and malleable that anything relevant can be shoehorned to fit the theory".

References

  1. ↑ Clarke, Peter (2004). Encyclopedia of new religious movements. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-203-48433-9.
  2. ↑ Kemp, Daren (2004). New age: a guide : alternative spiritualities from Aquarian conspiracy to Next Age. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-1532-2.
  3. ↑ Baron, Renee. What Type Am I: Discover Who You Really Are. p. 162.
  4. ↑ Sloat, Sarah. "Why one popular personality test is "pseudoscientific at best"". Inverse. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  5. ↑ "Page 64". in Thyer, Dr Bruce A.; Pignotti, Monica (2015). "Pseudoscience in Clinical Assessment". Science and Pseudoscience in Social Work Practice. pp. 33–74. doi:10.1891/9780826177698.0002. ISBN 978-0-8261-7768-1.
  6. ↑ Carroll, Robert (11 January 2011). The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. John Wiley & Sons. p. 306. ISBN 978-1-118-04563-3.