The new and improved Enneagram! From the sponge and evan.

[Magic Poriferan]

Originally Posted by Haphazard

So, if somebody pursues anything, are they pursuers? What if they avoid anything?

Well, this is too extreme a definition to be reasonable, since all human beings pursue, avoid, and anticipate. It is extremely important to understand that this is a list of priorities. I may have used the terms myself, but now that I think about it, we should avoid ever calling people "pursuers" or "anticipaters" because it immediately paints too simple a picture, just like the fiasco with Thinker/Feelers that has come about with the MBTI. That's kind of why I like still calling people 1s or 5s for example. It makes people think more about the whole type, and the whole person, instead of narrowing it down way too far.

Originally Posted by Haphazard

What sort of things weigh more heavily?

That should be partially determined by a person's motivational and emotional variables.

Originally Posted by Haphazard

Or is this a general trend?

All things conscerning personality traits are general trends, young grasshopper.

Originally Posted by Haphazard

Do things that go in the opposite direction oppose each other?

The question is too vague. Which things?

[Haphazard]

Let me think for a moment...

Where do we classify our starving artists, who focus on one thing at expense of all else? What about those who pour their lives into a single pursuit and have a job to support themselves on the side (they don't want to starve, like the aformentioned artist) but decide they have little time on the weekends to hang out with friends?

If somebody has a few specialties that they pursue with everything they've got, does this make them pursuing? Is pursuit allowed to have focus? Where are the obsessives? The aggressive dreamers? Is there a place for them?

[Evan]

Originally Posted by Haphazard

I am so confused about the pursuing/anticipating/avoidant thing.

So, if somebody pursues anything, are they pursuers? What if they avoid anything? What sort of things weigh more heavily? Or is this a general trend? Do things that go in the opposite direction oppose each other?

I don't understand the breakdown.

These are all supposed to be general trends, which is why we include the order of the three preferences.

There are explanations on the first page of the variable values.

[Evan]

Originally Posted by Haphazard

Let me think for a moment...

Where do we classify our starving artists, who focus on one thing at expense of all else? What about those who pour their lives into a single pursuit and have a job to support themselves on the side (they don't want to starve, like the aformentioned artist) but decide they have little time on the weekends to hang out with friends?

Well it depends on the artist in question. But they would probably be avoiders or anticipaters. Pursuers are more like EPs. New potential ideas for action come up and pursuers weigh the pro side higher than the con side. Ancipaters sit around weighing the pros and cons and then decide whether or not to act. Avoiders weigh the con side higher than normal.

[Haphazard]

Originally Posted by dissonance

Well it depends on the artist in question. But they would probably be avoiders or anticipaters. Pursuers are more like EPs. New potential ideas for action come up and pursuers weigh the pro side higher than the con side. Ancipaters sit around weighing the pros and cons and then decide whether or not to act. Avoiders weigh the con side higher than normal.

Where is normal?

[Magic Poriferan]

Originally Posted by Haphazard

Let me think for a moment...

Where do we classify our starving artists, who focus on one thing at expense of all else?

While it may sound rather specific at first, odds are that "starving artists" come in multiple forms. The term still leaves up many, many forms. I can tell you that focsuing on one thing at the expense of everything else implies more about a person's motives, or their instincts, probably more than it does about their behavior.

Originally Posted by Haphazard

What about those who pour their lives into a single pursuit and have a job to support themselves on the side (they don't want to starve, like the aformentioned artist) but decide they have little time on the weekends to hang out with friends?

Well, specifically to make an example of hanging out with friends probably means a lack of Intimacy. If their pursuit is one for the whole society then the person is probably social, otherwise they are more like to be self-preservational. As for this "pursuit" of theirs, how are they going for it? Let's not commit the fallacy of equivocation. A pursuit does not necessarily have anything to do with pursuing in this case, because the two actaully have rather different definitions, thought they sound similar. The answer here still depends on what that person's pursuit actually is.

Originally Posted by Haphazard

If somebody has a few specialties that they pursue with everything they've got, does this make them pursuing? Is pursuit allowed to have focus? Where are the obsessives? The aggressive dreamers? Is there a place for them?

Pursuit can certainly have focus. Why woudn't it? The idea of pursuing pretty much requires some focus by definition, because you need a target. As for obsession and narrow interests, that again has more to do with motive than behavior. That comes down to the balance of the instincts.

Keep in mind that the emotional values also play a part here. Turbulent types for instance, are likely to be more risky than the other two emotional types, because they get more carried away with temporary feelings.

[Evan]

Originally Posted by Haphazard

Where is normal?

Middle of the bellcurve, I guess.

[Magic Poriferan]

Originally Posted by dissonance

Well it depends on the artist in question. But they would probably be avoiders or anticipaters. Pursuers are more like EPs. New potential ideas for action come up and pursuers weigh the pro side higher than the con side. Ancipaters sit around weighing the pros and cons and then decide whether or not to act. Avoiders weigh the con side higher than normal.

Keep in mind that a "starving artist" could even be a pursuing type, seeking their one ideal dream so much as to ignore the cost it has on everything else. As I said, the term is too ambiguous.

Originally Posted by Haphazard

Where is normal?

Where normal always is. The dead average of all people polled together.

[Evan]

Originally Posted by Magic Poriferan

Keep in mind that a "starving artist" could even be a pursuing type, seeking their one ideal dream so much as to ignore the cost it has on everything else. As I said, the term is too ambiguous.

True.

[Haphazard]

I think the cold medicine is getting to me.

Fine then, MP. I yield. I am either 3, 1, or 5.