Introductory guide
What is the Enneagram?
The Enneagram is a tool for exploring personality by looking at recurring motivations and patterns of attention, rather than placing people in nine fixed boxes.
Look at motivations rather than behavior
The same behavior can have different reasons behind it. Our understanding of someone who stays quiet changes depending on whether they are avoiding conflict or conserving energy. That is why it is important to look at reasons that recur across situations, rather than one or two behaviors.
Results are a starting point
Rather than accepting a single test score as the answer, it is important to consider the core fears and automatic reactions of several candidate types in light of your own experience. A result is a hypothesis for understanding yourself, not a diagnosis that defines your identity.
Nine types and three centers
The nine types can also be viewed through the body (instinctive) center (8·9·1), the feeling center (2·3·4), and the thinking center (5·6·7). The centers describe the familiar channels through which we process information and respond.
What to remember as you read
Rather than choosing only the strengths you like, look at the states you repeatedly try to avoid alongside your automatic reactions. A description that feels uncomfortable but has long been familiar can sometimes offer a more useful clue.
Related reading
See the type descriptions
A result is closer to a starting point for observing your actual experience than a conclusion that settles a type number.