In Light of the Power of Enneagram Types and Subtypes
Ginger’s blog on the issue of stereotyping with the Enneagram struck me as extremely important and motivated a desire to weigh in on this crucial subject; minimally, avoiding stereotypes should be seen as crucial to anyone who values the Enneagram as a serious map that can aid human development and transformation.
Whomever said that Nines are “big, fat, visceral, slow,” (and thus President Obama cannot be a Nine) was not only expressing a depth of ignorance that endangers the integrity of the Enneagram; this comment exemplifies the real harm the Enneagram can do when it is used so casually and thoughtlessly by people who really don’t know what they are doing. This person’s superficial stereotype of “all Nines” is exactly why seminal teachers like A. H. Almaas, Oscar Ichazo, and Claudio Naranjo each in their own way, have chosen to embed the study of the Enneagram into a deep and broad program of self-development work and not promote it as a stand-alone “tool” for everyday use by the untutored and undeveloped individual.
As a Two, I have often been surprised by how specific individuals misunderstand my own personality as I experience it. I see this happen a lot when people type individual’s whom I believe to be Twos as Threes, simply because they are successful. Certainly Oprah can’t be a Two – which I believe she is – because she’s so over-the-top successful. She has to be a Three, right? Another person told me she did not want to be a Two because “Twos are doormats.” It’s this shallow, uneducated tossing around of stereotypes that makes people outside the Enneagram community rightly stereotype the Enneagram system itself as a superficial, new-agey, pop psychology fad that puts people in boxes and won’t let them out. When these silly stereotypes are perpetuated, it makes the Enneagram appear superficial, limiting, and judgmental, a meaningless and harmful way of categorizing the human character.
Of course, for people who regard the Enneagram with too much reverence to make blanket statements stereotyping “all Nines” or “all Twos” or “all Sixes,” the system is too complex and too dynamic to clumsily adhere to narrow definitions. One way that I have come to appreciate another level of this complexity – and also learn again not to resort to stereotypes – is through studying Claudio Naranjo’s 2004 version of the instinctual subtypes. The additional information Naranjo provided about subtypes in his 3-day workshop at the 2004 International Enneagram Association (IEA) conference showed me a totally new dimension of the system that both helped me understand more about myself and showed me another aspect of the dangerous likelihood of mistyping and misunderstanding type in a stereotypic way.
Naranjo discussed the subtypes in a way I’d never heard before, and I learned a great deal about the subtle dimensions this added to my sense of the nine types. When you know all 27 types as he described them, it makes the possibility of stereotyping clearer and more obvious. For instance, I believe most all people think all Threes are like Social Threes, when the Self-Preservation and the One-to-One versions of the Three are actually quite different from the stereotypic Social Three who likes to be in the spotlight. The Self-Preservation Three can look a lot like a Type One; and the One-to-One Three can look like a Type Two. There is a One that looks like an Eight (the One-to-One 1), a Two that can look like a Six (the Self-Preservation 2), a Four that resembles a One (the Self-Preservation 4), an Eight that can appear Fivish (the Self-Preservation 8), a Seven that looks Twoish (the Social 7), and yes, a Nine that resembles a Three (the Social 9).
So, if you are prone to stereotyping – just throwing everyone who superficially resembles one or another of your own very narrow pictures of what the types are into the same small box – you are likely to get it wrong a lot of the time and give the Enneagram a bad name in the process. For all of the nine types, there are subtypes that can look similar to other types. And this is just one example of why you have to know a lot more than some people appear to know before you go limiting people to small boxes of your own ignorant making.
Finally, a word about body types. As anyone who is acquainted with more than a few people of one type knows, it would appear that there is more than one narrowly defined body type associated with each type. I know some curvy Nines and some slim, athletic Nines, some slender Twos and some full-figured Twos. I think the evidence we all have – and this comes from knowing people of different types – bears this out, and this simple fact should warn against saying that all the people of one type share one specific characteristic. This kind of narrow stereotype of a particular type just seems so obviously wrong to me, and I believe this is one of the biggest reasons the Enneagram isn’t more popular or used more widely today than it is – too many people like Mr. “Nines are fat” are using it badly and holding the whole enterprise back.
Bea Chestnut, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist in private practice and an Enneagram teacher and business consultant who resides in San Francisco, California. She has a forthcoming book on the 27 Enneagram subtypes and recently authored a recent article in the Enneagram Monthly: “Obama is a 9, not a 3.” E-mail: bmchestnut2@sbcglobal.net
Two months ago, I posted on my YouTube channel a short video clip addressing the question “What Type is Barack Obama?” which drew over 400 views (to see the clip, click here). While I’ve received many e-mails of agreement that he is most likely a Nine, this e-mail came from a viewer: “Barack Obama is a 3 wing 4, hands down. He has nothing, I mean NOTHING of a 9. Nines are either: Big, Fat, Visceral, Slow. Barack has nothing of that.”
It ‘s not the disagreement about his Enneagram style that bothers me because discussions and differences in opinion about the Enneagram styles of famous people can be constructive and healthy, particularly given that we don’t know them personally and they haven’t identified their style themselves. At the same time, the reasons for why we believe a person is a certain style – as well as the logic and intuition behind it -- do matter, and this particular e-mail motivated me to write this blog. My intention is to question if not to debunk the stereotypes that can be a hazard of working with systems such as the Enneagram.
Nines
Are Nines big, fat, visceral, and slow? Actually, Nines can be large or small, slim or heavier. And many Nines are average in size. The Dalai Lama, for example, is most likely a Nine, and he is neither “big” nor “fat,” and neither is Sandra Bullock, also a likely Nine. And while Enneagram style Nine is a type formed from the Body Center of Intelligence (hence, the term “visceral”), Nines are often referred to as “anger that went to sleep,” which means that they can easily be out of touch with their anger, and they do this partly by being less in contact with their Body Center or visceral responses. In fact, many Nines initially identify more with being from the Heart Center of Intelligence (Two, Three, or Four), and some Nines are highly intellectual and may mistake themselves for Fives, a style that resides in the Head Center of Intelligence. Finally, while some Nines can be slow in terms of taking action, many Nines are highly active. In fact, social subtype Nines in particular can work themselves to exhaustion on behalf of groups or organizations without even noticing that they are depleted. The “slowness” for Nines may be confused with not paying sufficient attention to their own wants, intentions, and opinions, but would not at all relate to being slow in any other sense.
Ones
We can all be part of this confusion when we stereotype the Enneagram types rather than understand some of the nuances involved with the nine different styles. Ones, for example, may be inaccurately stereotyped as lean, rigid, and cold. The problem is that some Ones carry more physical weight, some perceive things in more flexible ways - for example, believing that the world is best understood in terms of shades of gray - and many Ones are quite warm, particularly if they have a Two wing.
Twos
How might Twos be stereotyped - sugary sweet, continually smiling, non-intellectual, and lacking in personal or organizational power? While some Twos act extremely sweet and smile frequently, others do not and are far more serious. In addition, social subtype Twos are more intellectual and emit more personal power than do the other two subtypes of style Two, but other Twos may also have these characteristics - that is, intellectual and personally powerful - depending on their level of self-mastery and their cultural/family backgrounds. Understanding a person’s context, level of development, and subtype is so important in identifying a person’s Enneagram style.
Threes
Are all Threes limelight seekers, lacking in depth and honesty? Are they all successful, svelte and attractive, with adroit interpersonal skills? Some of these attributes may be perceived as positive and some as negative, but none of them describe all Threes accurately. Some Threes are uncomfortable front and center stage (social subtype Threes most enjoy this); others have great depth and would never perceive themselves as being anything other than direct and honest (however, the lack of honesty refers more to self-honesty about who they really are); and some Threes are not particularly attractive (though this is in the eyes of the beholder), often displaying a lack of nuance in their interpersonal interactions.
Fours
The stereotype that is common for Fours is that they are drama queens or kings, like a great deal of attention, tend to be weepy all the time, and are great artists. In other words, if they are not involved in the arts in some way, how can they be Fours? The truth is that many Fours do not like to command attention, nor do they engage in outright drama. One-to-one subtype Fours may do this more than the other two subtypes, but not all one-to-one subtype Fours create such drama. In addition, many Fours do not feel sad or depressed any more than individuals of the other styles, and they are not all artistic. In fact, self-preservation Fours often appear more like Threes in their constant activity and sophistication, or they can be look-alikes for Sevens because they are constantly seeking new experiences.
Fives
Would it be fair to say that you can tell who is a Five and who is not by the lack of emotional response or social engagement, the intellectual orientation, or the lean physique? This would be a gross stereotype that does not take into account subtype, self-mastery level, culture, and wing. When Fives engage in self-development work, they often become even more emotionally expressive than others, and social subtype Fives can engage easily with others, albeit more about ideas than feelings. For them, mental engagement feels intimate. In Brazil, the Seven cultural overlay is so strong that Brazilian Fives can appear extroverted and social, even if they prefer not to do so. Fives with a Four wing can have deep and rich emotional lives, and there are many Fives who have larger physiques.
Sixes
Sixes are complex and determining if someone is a Six by external characteristics is especially challenging. What if they don’t look fearful? Counterphobic Sixes can appear fearless, even invincible, sometimes like Eights and even like a combination of Three and Nine – that is, driven like Threes and mellow like Nines. The “fearful” stereotype that often goes with Six more often describes the highly phobic Six, but even then, when a phobic Six has a strong Seven wing, the person may appear far more carefree and fun-loving. And some Sixes have a very strong link to their arrow lines Three and Nine, making them appear less doubtful and/or more mellow, respectively. Of course, the drive or motivation underneath the personality of all Sixes is fear, but it can be difficult for some Sixes to recognize this in themselves and since we can all be fearful or anxious at times, it can be highly misleading to perceive an anxious person as a Six or non-visibly anxious person as not a Six.
Sevens
Are all Sevens unfocused, scattered, non-empathic, and superficial? While many Sevens struggle with maintaining their focus, many have learned to do so. For example, a Seven who works in information technology describes it this way: “I learned how to focus at an early age because a teacher I admired told me I had to do this. So I focus and get everything done so I can reward myself afterwards by doing whatever I want.” What about Sevens being non-empathic? In fact, many of them work very effectively in hospice settings because they do care so deeply and can also bring a positive point of view to a difficult situation. Superficial? Many Sevens do deep dives into areas that interest them, and this is especially true when they have a strong link to their Five arrow line.
Eights
Are all Eights tough, dominating, and unwilling to show their tender vulnerable side? Are they all ”big?” Not at all! Eights come in a variety of sizes. I know a female Eight who is 5 feet tall and weighs 100 pounds. Many Eights are sweet and strong and don’t try to dominate others – though they do want things under control. And the one-to-one subtype Eights can be highly emotionally expressive, cry easily in front of others, and appear quite vulnerable. Inversely, both males and females can get mistyped as Eights. For example, a Korean colleague once told me this: “In Korea, all men are expected to act like Eights, and all females are supposed to be like Nines. Many men mistype themselves as do many women.” In the US, many Eight women do not initially identify as Eights because the US female stereotype is that women should be less assertive and less powerful. As a result, Eight women may mistype themselves (or be mistyped) as their wings Nine or Seven, or as their arrow line of Two. Inversely, some women perceived to be assertive can get mistyped as Eights.
Summary
Enneagram style is so important in uncovering who we are, determining the best development approaches to take, and in the creation of a more conscious and compassionate society. To do so, it is equally important to really understand the Enneagram systems and the nine styles in non-stereotypical, nuanced ways and to take into account arrows, wings, culture, gender, self-mastery levels, and subtypes. In Obama’s case, it can be challenging to identify his Enneagram style since he appears to be at such a high level of personal development. When individuals are high in self-mastery, their Enneagram styles tend to be less apparent externally because they are less reactive and more relaxed.
In the coming days, Beatrice Chestnut Ph.D, Enneagram teacher, therapist, business consultant and coach -- with a forthcoming book on Enneagram subtypes -- will be writing a guest blog on the importance and nature of the 27 Enneagram subtypes as they relate to mistyping and stereotyping.
WORLDVIEW: The world is a volatile, unpredictable, and fearful place; I must find meaning and certainty.
SIXES have insightful minds and create anticipatory or worst-case scenarios to help themselves feel prepared in case something goes wrong. Some Sixes, called counterphobic Sixes, do not appear fearful because they move directly into the fearful situation to prove they are not afraid.
Sharp minded, insightful, and loyal, Sixes are issue identifiers and problem solvers, with a mental-emotional antenna that is finely attuned to anticipate problems before they occur so that alternative paths and contingency plans can be created to try to ensure the best outcome and prevent the worst from happening. Although the above description applies to all Sixes, Sixes are complex individuals who run the gamut from phobic Sixes such as Woody Allen, who are overtly and palpably fearful, to counterphobic Sixes such as Richard Branson, who often mask their fear by taking huge risks that adrenalize them and prove to them, at least for the moment, that they are not fearful. And then there are Sixes who are in the middle of the phobic-counterphobic continuum – for example, Jennifer Aniston.
All Sixes worry as a habit of mind, although some Sixes call it instantaneous anticipatory planning or problem solving and other Sixes do this so naturally that they no longer notice it. There are also key differences among Sixes. Some Sixes deal with their concerns by becoming warm, inviting, and by developing strong and loyal social alliances as a way to feel safe; other Sixes become extraordinarily dutiful and try to know and adhere to the “rules” as a way to not get in trouble by going astray; and still other Sixes – the highly counterphobic ones – unconsciously turn against their fear with demonstrations of strength as a way to convince themselves and others of their bravery. In reality, most phobic Sixes have some counterphobic qualities – for example, they can become aggressive toward authority or authority figures – and most counterphobic Sixes do display fears and concerns to those they trust or through their non-verbal behavior.
In the following YouTube segments, you will see three short clips of famous Sixes: one clip illustrates the phobic Six (Woody Allen), another illuminates the counterphobic Six (Richard Branson), and a third shows a Six with equal amounts of phobia and counterphobia (Jennifer Aniston). Among the three clips, you can see the similarities in interpersonal style, as well as observe their common warmth, genuineness (relative lack of pretentiousness), candor, agility in expressing concerns, and willingness to talk truthfully about themselves.
Remember: While we can all worry, be insightful, and want to feel well-prepared for the various scenarios life offers, for Sixes, the pursuit of meaning, certainty, and trust, and the avoidance of negative scenarios is their primary, persistent, and driving motivation.
In this interview, Woody Allen is more serious than funny -- although he is still amusing in certain segments -- as he talks about his life concerns, his view of the world, and his career ups and downs. He even talks about how his life must be good because it isn’t bad!
In this interview with Diane Sawyer, one that predates her divorce from Brad Pitt, Aniston reveals her questioning orientation, her fears and sweetness, and her highly active mind.
Richard Branson (counterphobic) - Click here to see clip
In this interview, Branson describes his life as one of extremes, his survival instincts, and his willingness and pleasure in facing somewhat daunting circumstances.
This blog was inspired by Ruth Landis' insights about Alignment and Integrity. You can read about how each of us, based on our Enneagram styles, can be in and out of alignment and integrity, which affects our capacity to be all of what we are capable of being. Whether we are a leader, coach, consultant, trainer, parent, or friend, Alignment and Integrity are central to our self-respect and the way we carry yourselves in the world. Alignment and Integrity Activity by Ruth Landis, Senior Member of The Enneagram in Business Network:
Since we optimally operate from three Centers of Intelligence -- the Head, the Heart, and the Body -- we benefit from moving through our lives with these centers in alignment. At various times throughout the day, pause and ask yourself: "What am I feeling right now and what do I really want? What am I thinking right now? How am I behaving? Are these three states – thinking, feeling, and behaving -- congruent or at odds? Are my thoughts supporting the desire of my heart or undermining it? Are my actions serving both my heart and my rational mind? What do I need to do to bring my thoughts, my feelings, and my actions into alignment?"
Alignment, Integrity, and Enneagram Styles I’ve added the following to help us understand how our Enneagram styles can block our capacity to act from integrity and be internally aligned and what we can each do to expand in these ways.
Enneagram Style One An obstacle to alignment and integrity: wanting so much to live up to your own high standards that you disown your own reactions and behaviors that are not consistent with these
To become more aligned and have more integrity, accept yourself more and be more forgiving when you do not always feel or act in ways congruent with your standards; this will allow you to be more accepting of others.
Enneagram Style Two An obstacle to alignment and integrity: feeling deeply hurt and angry when someone suggests you have done something of questionable integrity
To become more aligned and have more integrity, listen and ask for more information, and remember to not place your own sense of integrity in the hands of other people. When you can completely trust your own internal sense of who you are, it will be far easier to accept negative feedback and either use it or not use it, depending on its validity.
Enneagram Style Three An obstacle to alignment and integrity: being so overly concerned about your public image and being successful that you either forget your true values or act out of alignment with them
To become more aligned and have more integrity, take 15 minutes each day to remind yourself and reflect on the values you hold most dear and ask yourself: "What do I know is going to happen today that may push me to compromise these in some way?" When you do something that transgresses your values, pay attention to your body cues that indicate you are not being true to yourself.
Enneagram Style Four An obstacle to alignment and integrity: having shifting values that make it difficult to anchor your behavior in any of them as fully as you most desire
To become more aligned and have more integrity, work to stay more emotionally steady so you can better assess your own behavior in very objective rather than highly subjective terms.
Enneagram Style Five An obstacle to alignment and integrity: rigidly controlling the degree to which other people and events affect you
To become more aligned and have more integrity, recognize that integrity and alignment require an interactive engagement with others and events. Integrity and values involve more than what we think; they also involve how we feel and what we do.
Enneagram Style Six An obstacle to alignment and integrity: putting a spin on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors -- a positive spin on those that are out of integrity and alignment, but also a negative spin on responses that are high on integrity and alignment
To become more aligned and have more integrity, be more fully honest with yourself, and this involves recognizing projections, valuing your insights, and a reduction in subsequent idealization or its opposite – demonization. You may recognize that you do these things to others, but do you know that you also do them to yourself?
Enneagram Style Seven An obstacle to alignment and integrity: pursuing pleasure and excitement without due consideration
To become more aligned and have more integrity, remember that impulse is not the same as choice. Impulse is reactive; choice is thoughtful. With more pre-thought before you act, there is more choice, freedom, integrity, and alignment.
Enneagram Style Eight An obstacle to alignment and integrity: believing you are the upholders of the truth
To become more aligned and have more integrity, question yourself far more often and when you feel certain of something, ask yourself this: "What if this were not the whole answer?"
Enneagram Style Nine An obstacle to alignment and integrity: acting as if you don’t have opinions and judgments about others and events when you, in fact, do
To become more aligned and have more integrity, share your real thoughts out loud with others. Only then can you accurately perceive the ways in which you are truly aligned with what you truly feel and believe.
This is the fourth of a twelve part series titled “Enneagram Insights.”
|
|
.jpg)
Posts
