I love personality tests. They’re a guilty pleasure of mine. I love being able to evaluate my actions and thought processes to learn more about what’s beneath the surface. There are so many popular personality tests, with the Myers-Briggs’ test possibly being the most famous. I was recently shown the Enneagram test by close friends of mine, and it has, by far, been my favorite test. Reading about my type and wings was almost eerie because of how accurate it was!
The enneagram is a nine-pointed personality test. There are nine basic types, and they are connected through lines in the enneagram. There is no hierarchy, so it is not better to be one type than another. Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses. The test is based on two aspects of a person: essence and personality. The types describe patterns/themes by which people form their personalities. The enneagram has become popular in spiritual communities and self-improvement blogs and pages, like @enneagramexplained and @enneagramenthusiast on Instagram. There are also pages that make memes about each type, and they’re one of my favorite things to look through.
There are 9 enneagram types:
- Type 1: the reformer
- Type 2: the helper
- Type 3: the achiever
- Type 4: the individualist
- Type 5: the investigator
- Type 6: the loyalist
- Type 7: the enthusiast
- Type 8: the challenger
- Type 9: the peacemaker
Each type has certain traits associated with it, and both strengths and weaknesses related to those traits. Along with the main types, there are also wings. People are typically mixtures of types, so wings come from the type adjacent to someone’s main type. For example, a Type Two (like me) may possess traits similar to a Type One, and therefore be a Type Two-Wing One. Each type has an internal structure that involves Levels of Development, moving from healthy to unhealthy.
Within the enneagram, there are Centers of Intelligence and Perception. Everyone has all of these centers but different types have strengths in different centers. There is the Intellectual Center, which is based on rational thinking and planning. Fives, Sixes and Sevens have greater strengths in this center. The Emotional Center is feelings-based, and Twos, Threes and Fours have strengths in this center. Finally, there’s the Instinctual center, which is based on gut-feelings. Ones, Nines and Eights have strengths in this center.
Finally, there are three different instincts involved in the enneagram: the self-preservation instinct, the social instinct and the attraction instinct. People with the self-preservation instinct are focused on the comfort and well-being of the physical body and will adapt their environment to ensure it. People with the social instinct often adapt themselves to social situations to connect with others. People with the attraction instinct have a constant awareness of attraction they feel between themselves and others.
The major applications of the Enneagram in life are personal and spiritual growth, successful relationships and leadership development. It helps to identify where your strengths and weaknesses are in communicating and dealing with others, whether it’s in the workplace, at school or in personal relationships.
Here’s a link to two versions of the test if you want to try it out!
Images Courtesy of Anna Takayoshi and Creative Commons