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Reposted from a different forum:
I’ve never posted on this message board before, but having recently become interested in the enneagram (despite its questionable validity) and not wanting to annoy my family too excessively with my introspection, I turned to the internet. Even though I question the enneagram’s validity, and see personality as somewhat (though not entirely) changeable, I have a strange need for closure on this question. For purposes of attaining this, I will make references to myers briggs (a system I’m more familiar with, and hopefully you may know about too). As a warning, this will be long. And probably pretty dry, as I want to remain as objective as possible. Read at your own risk.
I’m having difficulty deciding whether I’m a 4, a 5, a 6 or a 9. I most often type as a 5, with 4 and 6 also prevalent in my testing results to warrant consideration, but I also see similarities between myself and the 9 type. Instinctual variants are soc/sx (scores of 52/50, so fairly balanced and quite a sound assessment in my opinion). Myers briggs type is either INFP or INTP depending on whether the socionics approach is used or not (socionics scores generally have me at excellent Ni and Ti, good to excellent Ne, good Fe, average Fi and Te, and unused to little use Si and Se).
Because the enneagram seems to have some connection to psychoanalysis in terms of looking at family history to explain personality development, I’ll provide some information about my background. My father is an ESFJ with strong F and J preferences and less expressed E and S preferences. My mother is an INFJ with strong N and F preferences. I don’t remember much about what my relationship was like with my family, unfortunately, so I won’t be able to offer much information regarding that, but you may be able to make some connections with how an ESFJ father and INFJ mother might relate to an INXP. As a child, I liked to read a great deal and often imagined how a story would alter if other characters (myself or others) were introduced. I also enjoyed studying objects in nature, such as leaves, which I could examine for long periods of time. When I was younger I considered myself intelligent, individualistic, and humane/altruistic. I considered the world and the people within it to be overall trustworthy and well-intentioned. At this stage, looking back, I was more clearly a 4 or a 9.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, it might also be of import to look at experiences incurring “deep feeling” or experiences perceived as trauma, as they may affect basic personality, which I experienced in young adulthood. I won’t go into details, but after a particular experience which I internalized as trauma I incurred a greater distrust of human beings in general, as well as a certain level of social anxiety, which mixed with my desire to be altruistic in an unusual way. Although I still do try to be kind and considerate of other people, I do not have the idealism I once did. In fact, I have taken on a good number of 5 traits. I have difficulty trusting people to the extent that I often feel uncomfortable in social settings, as well as feel inadequate/unprepared to function within them. Some people have noticed that I come off as awkward and intelligent. I usually compensate with my insecurities of having nothing prepared to contribute to social settings by reading and or gaining knowledge, but I feel I do not have nearly enough information to be fully functional/ comfortable in the world. I have intense feelings, but rarely express them and feel very uncomfortable doing so. I still enjoy regarding myself as unique, which leans more toward the 4. Generally, I dislike conflict if it threatens interpersonal relationships too much (a 9-like quality), but enjoy debate when it’s among trusted friends/family members. I lack practicality and focus unless it's a subject in which I'm particularly interested, but will attempt to be knowledgeable in order to function/contribute to the world.
So, what do you make of this? And on a different but related note, how subject do you think human personality is to change when stressed? An interesting psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, suggested that we form personality by connecting our self-image (which we misrecognize in young childhood when we distinguish ourselves from our environment) to particular signifiers. For instance, one attaches oneself to the signifier "man," and thus now "his" identity is partially structured around that particular signifier. In my mind, this is largely an accurate assessment of human nature. I would add that we solidify our identity by repeatedly engaging in behaviors that reify the idea that we are connected to particular signifiers. Obviously, we could change the signifiers with which we associate and thus change our identity, but strong signifier-self connections exemplified through behavior would be difficult to break I imagine.
Thanks!
I’ve never posted on this message board before, but having recently become interested in the enneagram (despite its questionable validity) and not wanting to annoy my family too excessively with my introspection, I turned to the internet. Even though I question the enneagram’s validity, and see personality as somewhat (though not entirely) changeable, I have a strange need for closure on this question. For purposes of attaining this, I will make references to myers briggs (a system I’m more familiar with, and hopefully you may know about too). As a warning, this will be long. And probably pretty dry, as I want to remain as objective as possible. Read at your own risk.
I’m having difficulty deciding whether I’m a 4, a 5, a 6 or a 9. I most often type as a 5, with 4 and 6 also prevalent in my testing results to warrant consideration, but I also see similarities between myself and the 9 type. Instinctual variants are soc/sx (scores of 52/50, so fairly balanced and quite a sound assessment in my opinion). Myers briggs type is either INFP or INTP depending on whether the socionics approach is used or not (socionics scores generally have me at excellent Ni and Ti, good to excellent Ne, good Fe, average Fi and Te, and unused to little use Si and Se).
Because the enneagram seems to have some connection to psychoanalysis in terms of looking at family history to explain personality development, I’ll provide some information about my background. My father is an ESFJ with strong F and J preferences and less expressed E and S preferences. My mother is an INFJ with strong N and F preferences. I don’t remember much about what my relationship was like with my family, unfortunately, so I won’t be able to offer much information regarding that, but you may be able to make some connections with how an ESFJ father and INFJ mother might relate to an INXP. As a child, I liked to read a great deal and often imagined how a story would alter if other characters (myself or others) were introduced. I also enjoyed studying objects in nature, such as leaves, which I could examine for long periods of time. When I was younger I considered myself intelligent, individualistic, and humane/altruistic. I considered the world and the people within it to be overall trustworthy and well-intentioned. At this stage, looking back, I was more clearly a 4 or a 9.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, it might also be of import to look at experiences incurring “deep feeling” or experiences perceived as trauma, as they may affect basic personality, which I experienced in young adulthood. I won’t go into details, but after a particular experience which I internalized as trauma I incurred a greater distrust of human beings in general, as well as a certain level of social anxiety, which mixed with my desire to be altruistic in an unusual way. Although I still do try to be kind and considerate of other people, I do not have the idealism I once did. In fact, I have taken on a good number of 5 traits. I have difficulty trusting people to the extent that I often feel uncomfortable in social settings, as well as feel inadequate/unprepared to function within them. Some people have noticed that I come off as awkward and intelligent. I usually compensate with my insecurities of having nothing prepared to contribute to social settings by reading and or gaining knowledge, but I feel I do not have nearly enough information to be fully functional/ comfortable in the world. I have intense feelings, but rarely express them and feel very uncomfortable doing so. I still enjoy regarding myself as unique, which leans more toward the 4. Generally, I dislike conflict if it threatens interpersonal relationships too much (a 9-like quality), but enjoy debate when it’s among trusted friends/family members. I lack practicality and focus unless it's a subject in which I'm particularly interested, but will attempt to be knowledgeable in order to function/contribute to the world.
So, what do you make of this? And on a different but related note, how subject do you think human personality is to change when stressed? An interesting psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, suggested that we form personality by connecting our self-image (which we misrecognize in young childhood when we distinguish ourselves from our environment) to particular signifiers. For instance, one attaches oneself to the signifier "man," and thus now "his" identity is partially structured around that particular signifier. In my mind, this is largely an accurate assessment of human nature. I would add that we solidify our identity by repeatedly engaging in behaviors that reify the idea that we are connected to particular signifiers. Obviously, we could change the signifiers with which we associate and thus change our identity, but strong signifier-self connections exemplified through behavior would be difficult to break I imagine.
Thanks!
