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Thread: Enneagram seems like a mishmash of defense mechanisms and habits

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    Default Enneagram seems like a mishmash of defense mechanisms and habits

    And a very useful one at that.

    I see too many correlations and fuzzy boundaries in it. It was originally made in terms of 'fixations', and I am of the opinion that the Enneagram simply covers most of the ways people end up falling into limiting behavioural habits.

    I have studied the Enneagram, found areas of improvement, and ultimately have found that there are defense mechanisms and ingrained habits that I recruit from multiple areas within the Enneagram. It makes no clearly discernable pattern, and therefore I think while the Enneagram is useful, its method of categorization is, well, erroneous. Its greatest contribution, I think, is the focus on discerning underlying motivations and habitual patterns to protect oneself.

    Hence why some people seem to find that no one type fits properly, whereas others do.
    Last edited by KazeCraven; 01-22-2011 at 06:08 PM. Reason: Decided to elaborate

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    Yeah, that's been my general impression. I'm still going through the process of trying to sort it all out and figure out which parts are valid and which are more shaky. I go through cycles of getting annoyed at the mishmash and giving up, and then later getting curious again.
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    I do that with personality theories in general, but for me it's like deciding to scratch an itch only to realize that 10 minutes later I've broken the skin.

    I think the part that's shaky is the part that says there are necessarily 9 types. Even if one takes the broad perspective that all people can be roughly assigned to one of 9 'families', with no one trait being necessary to be part of the family, there are still individuals that seem to oscillate from one to another.

    That, and the supposed link between individual types and their respective 'center'. Not that there aren't head, heart, and gut types, but rather that a given motivation or defense mechanism won't necessarily match up with one's primary center.

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    Yesterday I spent some time reading a research article that has a good history of the Enneagram and description of its purpose. Helped me a lot with regard to understanding it. The article is available for download or online view through Google Docs:

    Attachment Styles and Enneagram Types

    Apparently, each of the 9 types has an emotion that they did not learn to regulate properly as children (such as anger). To adapt, they focus attention away from that emotion and onto something they think they can control (such as mistakes). The person develops a "habitual thought pattern" (such as resentment) that helps them deal with the problems that arise from denying that emotion, but creates a blind spot to the area that could help them regulate that emotion.

    So in the example I was using, the Enneatype One is a person who did not learn to regulate anger as a child, so they fixate on correcting their mistakes and the mistakes of others in a black-and-white perfectionist way. They avoid showing anger and instead develop a thought pattern focused on resentments toward others (i.e. beliefs that people are getting away with badness) that keeps them blind to the shades of gray that would upset their fixation on mistakes. All of that information is on pages 34-37 in the article.

    The way I understand the Enneagram, the types begin to arise in early childhood based on the child's focus of attention, which may itself be based on the family environment and how the child was raised. That's why the Enneagram may be so useful for helping people with emotional or adjustment problems. It can also help the average person who wants to find a way to improve his or her life but doesn't know where to focus. Enneatype is not something inborn, it's written based on early childhood. That particular article tries to draw a link between your Enneatype and attachment style (avoidant, anxious, anxious-avoidant, secure). The author thinks attachment style (which develops in early childhood) has an impact on where the child focuses attention (which is the purview of Enneagram). She uses statistical analysis of people with confirmed Enneatypes (mostly professional Enneagram practitioners) who took tests to determine attachment style.

    Anyway, regardless of one's interest in linking Enneagram to attachment styles, the sections on the history of the Enneagram and the composition of an Enneatype are quite interesting.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danielle View Post
    holy crap i didn't realize people could write a dissertation on a typology like Enneagram and be taken seriously! that gives me hope for socionics...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Danielle View Post
    Interesting. I suspect I may have to take the mishmash part back after I read this.

    And I will read it, but it's long, so in the mean time I must express my current doubt that this mechanism manifests as 9 distinct categories that persist throughout one's life. The way the Enneagram is discussed on Personality forums and by guys like Riso&Hudson, it's as if these fixations are the only neuroses that people develop, and that each person has only one fixation that persists throughout life.

    Even within the realm of the Enneagram, I think people can get over some of their issues with one emotion, only to realize that now their primary problem is with another emotion. Though I will say this is the perspective I most agree with, where your Enneatype is not your personality or what you truly value.

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    Is it just me, or do INTJs have the most issues with Enneagram?

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    Quote Originally Posted by KazeCraven View Post
    Interesting. I suspect I may have to take the mishmash part back after I read this.

    And I will read it, but it's long, so in the mean time I must express my current doubt that this mechanism manifests as 9 distinct categories that persist throughout one's life. The way the Enneagram is discussed on Personality forums and by guys like Riso&Hudson, it's as if these fixations are the only neuroses that people develop, and that each person has only one fixation that persists throughout life.

    Even within the realm of the Enneagram, I think people can get over some of their issues with one emotion, only to realize that now their primary problem is with another emotion. Though I will say this is the perspective I most agree with, where your Enneatype is not your personality or what you truly value.
    I don't know, the problem a lot of people have with the enneagram is what it appears to be is some new age non sense, where someone draws a mythical looking shape and assigns these random types to them and claims it to be divine truth. You should conveniently ignore that aspect of the enneagram, its mainly hype to get people interested in it and has very little intellectual validity.

    Two things is first you must understand the that the enneagram's context is limited as are all theories which are self contained. They address a topic with a particular limited scope. The enneagram doesn't claim to explain the entirity of human experience, it merely presents a closed system which explain particular aspects of that experience, and serves a utility within this context.

    Second you must understand that 9 types is merely a mnemonics, in reality things are more fluid and diffuse. 9 types and the symbol is used because its easy to remember.

    Once that is understood the next thing is to understand the system.

    You have 3 traids....

    Heart
    Gut
    Head

    I don't care what anyone says but this is the center of what makes the enneagram useful, it is its defining principle.

    Heart addresses a single issue
    Gut addresses a single issue
    Head addresses a single issue

    and then domains are tied together in a chain that is connected in a circle... i.e. the enneagram. More on this later

    Heart is issues of self-worth, self-esteem... a.k.a. if you feel worthy and valid, etc

    Gut is issues of instinct, primal emotion, and anger.... a.k.a. how you manage your impulses

    Head is issues of anxiety, fear, and dread.... a.k.a. how you manage your uncertainity with life.

    Each triad contains three types

    A center type and two fringe types

    The center is the most balanced in that traid

    6,3,9 are the center types for head, heart, and gut respectively (forming a triangle a highly stable and balanced geometric shape)

    lets consider 6, in the thinking triad

    the two fringe types are 5 and 7... 5 being in the direction of feeling, 7 in the direction of gut/instinct

    5 is a thinker with more feeling, they don't merely wish to think, but seek validation from their unique thoughts more so than a 6

    7 is a thinker with more instinct, they aren't as stiff and anxious, but seek to think in a freer and more instinctive way

    Where two fringe types, like 7 and 8, meet there is a diffusion across a boundary from instinct to thinking... so for example, studying 7w8 and 8w7 helps one understand the nature of instinct and thought better.

    This principle of triads, center type, and fringe types... can help one not only understand the three issues but how they connect together in a single unity, i.e. the geometric circle (a symbol for unity).

    As one understands the various types they build a more robust understanding at points along the way. As one understands things such as wings... one understands how these types fade into each other. And so forth.

    Its a rather arbitrary system, but it aids in understanding of certain human issues.

    If you wanted to you could make up 12 types that fit in the same span of the 9 types, or make up 2 types that fit in the span. Or perhaps build a different span to fill in with types.

    The span of the enneagram is mainly concerned with the 3 issues of each triad...

    one's feelings of worth in life
    managing one's instinctive impulses
    one's relationship with anxiety and the unknown

    and how these issues relate to each other....

    how do instinctive impulses relate to anxiety and the unknown....

    7w8 - 8w7 is the goto for that answer

    how do instinctive impulses relate to feelings of worth in life

    1w2 - 2w1 is the goto for that answer

    how do feelings of worth in life relate to anxiety and the unknown....

    4w5 - 5w4

    now is it any coincidence that 7w8 8w7 are quick minded action oriented?

    is it any coincidence that 1w2 2w1 are moralist and controlled?

    is it any coincidence 4w5 5w4 are withdrawn and existentialist?

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