Cutting Through a Mess of Vagaries to Find a Working Definition
By Mario Sikora
Sometimes I find myself stumbling upon a social media post on what it means to be a particular Enneagram type, whether we are one type or “have all the types in us,” if it matters whether we know our “true” type, etc.
The comments are filled with lofty and seemingly profound perspectives, with fancy ideas that feel quite impressive that upon further examination shed no actual light on the question—what are we talking about when we talk about Enneagram type?
The ATA Approach views the nine Enneagram types as the outcome of an adaptive strategy—a relatively consistent way of solving the problems that life brings our way. We can think of it as a “fast-thinking” mechanism for the most fundamental function of the human brain—assessing our environment and allocating our energetic resources accordingly.
Each point of the Enneagram represents a particular strategy, and each of us non-consciously and habitually relies on (or “prefers”) one of these strategies more than we do the other eight. Thus, we call someone a “Type One” because they use the strategy of “striving to feel perfect” more than the other eight strategies.
Since everything humans do starts as a reaction to a feeling (in general, for example, we eat because we feel hungry, we get angry because we feel hurt, etc.), the adaptive strategies have their root in a desire to “feel” a certain way (perfect, connected, outstanding, unique…). This feeling serves to regulate our actions and reassure us at a deep, non-conscious level, that everything is okay.
This need to feel a certain way shapes the way we think. Sixes, for example, strive to feel secure; they will spend a lot of time thinking about things related to security—threats, support networks, risk mitigation, etc., and how to address them—and then they will behave in ways that are logically congruent with the way they think.
So we can say that “Enneagram type” is the label we give to the specific result of a need to feel a certain way, the emotions and thoughts that result in response to that feeling, and the behaviors that are the logical outcome of the way we think.
Thus, rather than thinking about concepts like basic fears and desires, “motivations,” parental influences on the formation of our type, etc. (all of which are highly speculative assumptions), we focus on how the strategy is being expressed in our lives. We look at whether a person is using the strategy adaptively (in effective ways that make things better for us and others) or maladaptively (in ineffective ways that make things worse), and then work to do more of the former and less of the latter.
In short, we can put the label of “Type Eight” on me because I unconsciously rely on the strategy of striving to feel powerful more than I rely on the other eight strategies. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.
Does it matter whether we know what our type is? Do we “have all nine types in us”? Stay tuned…
