Glossary 18 terms

Enneagram

  1. Enneagram The Enneagram is a personality model that describes nine core types, numbered 1 through 9 and arranged on a nine-pointed geometric figure. Each type organizes around a basic…
  2. The nine personality types The Enneagram distinguishes nine personality types, defined by their deep motivation rather than their visible behaviors: the 1 Perfectionist, the 2 Helper, the 3 Achiever, the…
  3. Gut center (instinctive triad) The gut center gathers types 8, 9, and 1 of the Enneagram. Also called the body center or the instinctive triad, it brings together the personalities whose dominant…
  4. Heart center (feeling triad) The heart center gathers types 2, 3, and 4 of the Enneagram. Also called the feeling triad, it brings together the personalities whose dominant intelligence runs through…
  5. Head center (thinking triad) The head center gathers types 5, 6, and 7 of the Enneagram. Also called the thinking triad, it brings together the personalities whose dominant intelligence runs through…
  6. Wing (Enneagram) A wing is one of the two types adjacent to the main type on the Enneagram circle. A type 4 can thus carry a 3 wing or a 5 wing, which colors the personality without replacing…
  7. Direction of integration (growth arrow) The direction of integration is, for each Enneagram type, the inner line that points toward its path of growth. As a person gains security and maturity, they reach the healthy…
  8. Direction of disintegration (stress arrow) The direction of disintegration is, for each Enneagram type, the inner line traveled under prolonged stress. The person then takes on certain reflexes of the connected type,…
  9. Basic fear The basic fear is, in the Enneagram, the fundamental dread that structures each of the nine types. Formalized by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson, it names what the type tries…
  10. Basic desire The basic desire is, in the Enneagram, the fundamental longing that answers each type's basic fear. In Riso and Hudson, it names what the personality seeks most deeply:…
  11. Triad (Enneagram) A triad is a grouping of three Enneagram types that share a common dynamic. The best-known split distinguishes three centers: gut (8, 9, 1), heart (2, 3, 4), and head (5, 6,…
  12. Enneagram test An Enneagram test is a questionnaire meant to identify a person's dominant type among the nine of the model. The best known, the RHETI (Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator),…
  13. Self-preservation subtype The self-preservation subtype is one of three instincts that combine with each of the nine Enneagram types. This instinct directs attention toward material survival: health,…
  14. Social subtype The social subtype is one of the three Enneagram instincts, combined with each of the nine types. This instinct directs attention toward the group: belonging, place in the…
  15. Sexual subtype (one-to-one) The sexual subtype, also called one-to-one, is one of the three Enneagram instincts combined with each of the nine types. This instinct directs attention toward intensity and…
  16. Passion (Enneagram) In Naranjo’s Enneagram, the passion is the vice-emotion that dominates each type’s heart, drawn from the seven deadly sins expanded to nine. Each type has its own: anger for…
  17. Fixation (Enneagram) In Naranjo’s Enneagram, the fixation is the recurring mental pattern that keeps each type inside its own logic: the automatic thought twinned with the emotional passion. Each…
  18. Hornevian groups The Hornevian groups are three Enneagram triads describing how each type positions itself toward others, drawn from the interpersonal stances of psychoanalyst Karen Horney.…