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[Traditional Enneagram] A Primer On The Core Gestalts For Each E-Type And More

Tomb1

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Joined
Jun 15, 2011
Messages
1,029
Time to reset, relearn, refresh with a primer on the absolute basics brought to you by Stackemup Typology (enneagram-side). This thread goes over the gestalt for each enneagram character type and gives a thumbnail sketch as to some of the inner logic of each character type. I also include DSM correlations.

Gestalt: The Type's Instinctive truth; principle of unity
Core Vulnerability: the type's Kryptonite

Type 2: the seductive gestalt.
Type 3: the self-confident gestalt.
Type 4: the masochistic gestalt
Type 5: The self-sufficient gestalt
Type 6: the self-protective gestalt.
Type 7: the rebellious gestalt.
Type 8: the aggressive gestalt.
Type 9: the leisurely gestalt.
Type 1: the rigid gestalt.


Type 2: The Seductive Gestalt
Core Strategy: Winning people over
Core Distortion: “I am not capable of validating myself.”
Area of fixation: Manipulation
Core Action Set: adapting themselves to others in the anticipation that they will be rejected if they do not and approaching interpersonal relations through “maneuvers.”
DSM Correlate: Histrionic Personality Disorder
Core trap: encroaching on people’s boundaries and trying to coerce them into doing things that will make the two feel validated.
Core Vulnerability: Rejection; indifference.
1 wingers are altruistic, serious, argumentative and often outspoken. 3 wingers are charming, fickle, and clingy.

Type 3: The Self-Confident Gestalt.
Core Strategy: Outshining others
Core Distortion: “I am a superior being.”
Area of fixation: Expansion/Fantasy
Core Action Set: putting others on notice that they are a superior being and admiration their due, that others need to be rolling out the red carpet for them.
DSM Correlate: Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Core Trap: Weaving together new fantastic rationales for their circumstances in order to recast themselves as the star.
Core Vulnerability: disdain from others
2 wingers are hyper-competitive, bragging, skilled at gamesmanship, and political (they know how to work and motivate people).
4 wingers are poised, calculating, efficient and oriented towards outward self-improvement.

Type 4: the Masochistic Gestalt.
Core strategy: Emotional Intensity
Core Distortion: "I am an Ugly Duckling; defective"
Area of fixation: Self-Absorption
Core Action Set: [withheld for the time being]
DSM Correlate: Masochistic Personality Disorder
Core Trap: [withheld for the time being]
Core Vulnerability: [withheld for the time being]
3 wingers seek emotional intensity through overdramatization. 5 wingers seek emotional intensity through sensitivity and refinement.

Type 5: The Self-sufficient Gestalt.
Core strategy: To know everything
Core distortion: “There’s a gulf/separation between my mind and the physical world around me.”
Area of fixation: conserving energy
Core action set: Avoiding intimacy so as to stay detached and outside the action
DSM Correlate: Schizoid Personality Disorder
Core Trap: Observing and collecting information that has little to no practical value.
Core Vulnerability: Intimidation
Core Weakness: Relationships
Core Passion: Avarice. Avarice is a withholding of the self from relationships.
4 wingers are antagonistic, provocative, and delight in demolishing conventionally held ideas. 6 wingers are comprehensive, pin ideas on people like bulletin boards and invent concepts/interpretations that keep reality aligned with their cerebral landscape.

Type 6: The Self-protective Gestalt
Core strategy: Deterrence/defense; being on-guard and ready to fend off an attack
Core distortion: “The world is a dangerous place. I will be mistreated, duped or harmed in some way.”
Area of Fixation: Rivalry; vendetta
Core action set: Exculpation of guilt onto others and the projection of hostility.
DSM Correlate: Paranoid Personality Disorder
Core Trap (s): Falling behind the 8-ball due to a life pattern of interpersonal conflicts.
Core Vulnerability: Being outnumbered or outmatched
Core Weakness: Distrustfulness
Core Passion: Cowardice. The passion of cowardice manifests either through phobic or counterphobic behavior. Remember that counterphobia is not the opposite of cowardice but an aggressive version of it: i.e. stealing victories, piggybacking on others, blindsiding, back-biting, strength in numbers.
5 wingers are over-partisan, habitually shift blame, scan for deeper/hidden meanings to confirm their suspicion of ill-will, and are quick to call out to the authorities for intervention. 7 wingers are pugnacious complainers, make mountains out of molehills, engage in assertive bluffing (the "all bark and no bite" approach), and are more prone to panic attacks.

Type 7: The Rebellious or Non-conforming Gestalt
Core strategy: doing whatever one wants
Core Distortion: “God is against me. I am against God.” God is anything that can inhibit one's gratification.
Area of Fixation: Having a large variety to choose from
Core Action Set: Being unrestrained and disrupting the social ethic; acting out.
DSM Correlate: Antisocial Personality Disorder
Core Trap: Habitually putting wants ahead of needs and cheating the present moment for more pleasure believing it can be made up for at another time.
Core Vulnerability: Immobilization; restriction
Core Weakness: Commitment
Core Passion: Gluttony. Gluttony is like a "roving eye" as if to bely their insatiable desire to consume everything in sight with no restriction on how the seven will take it.
6 wingers find stimulation through relationships, are monkey-minded in debate, and have a generalist grasp on many different subjects. 8 wingers are bold, adventurous, and see life more in zero sum terms.

Type 8: The Aggressive Gestalt
Core Strategy: Dominance.
Core Distortion: “Might makes right.”
Area of Fixation: Exercising Power
Core Action Set: Enforcing submission from underlings through violent and threatening language or behavior….pushing one’s self to the front of the line through ruthless expedience and being able to inflict pain instrumentally without remorse or guilt. Picking off the competition. Never backing down from a fight.
DSM Correlate: Sadistic Personality Disorder
Core Trap (s): acting with total impunity after having established power through fear.
Core Vulnerability: Eights are out of touch with vulnerability due to the defense mechanism of denial.
Core Weakness: Weakness is like a pit of despair that eights are wired to avoid falling into.
Core Passion: Lust. Because the eight employs the defense mechanism of denial, they are out of touch with being human. Lust fills that space with an appetite/enjoyment/pleasure for prevailing over others in the rough and tumble.
8w7s are always on the move in the conquest of more territory. They exercise power through more subversive means. 8w9s are heavily involved in the consolidation of their own territory. They exercise power through more traditional means.

Type 9: The Leisurely Gestalt
Core Strategy: Seeking support and offering support
Core Distortion: This point on the enneagram has no built-in distortion.
Area of Fixation: Merging
Core Action Set: Seeing things form multiple perspectives, having a disregard for black and white thinking and reflexively finding unity in conflicting stances.
DSM Correlate: Dependent Personality Disorder
Core trap: Going with the flow and staying merged with the agenda of others
Core Vulnerability: Separation.
Core weakness: Inner clarity.
Core Passion: Sloth. The passion of sloth is akin to self-forgetfulness, going on autopilot, falling asleep to one’s will, so to speak.
9w8s have a natural social charisma they use to reach their own objectives but also to make friends and help others reach their own goals; alliance-building. 9w1s have a more emotionally unexpressive and solemn manner, are capable of seeing reality without pretensions to mask it with and bear through these weighty concerns with one's nose to the grindstone. 9w1s are also critical and more drawn towards constant debate, but, in contrast to 1w9s, are just as sharp and unsparing on themselves.

Type 1: The Rigid Gestalt
Core Strategy: Control
Core Distortion: “Somebody must be punished for the world’s imperfections and flaws.”
Area of Fixation: Retribution
Core Action Set: Preoccupation with argumentation, standing up for one’s convictions, and conforming one’s own behavior to an ideal. Finding ways to restrict others in order to correct bad behavior and seeking to right perceived wrongs through the proper channels.
DSM Correlate: Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
Core trap: Stewing in one’s anger.
Core Vulnerability: Humiliation; being depicted in an unfair light
Core weakness: Not letting go.
Core Passion: Wrath. Wrath is essentially hate. Ones wind up in the passion of hate because their anger over perceived wrongs has gone unresolved. As a result, the anger has metastasized into something worse and the object of that anger is no longer just the one who caused the anger.
9 wingers show contempt/disdain for the parts of reality that don't conform to their strong moral principles/ideals and high regard for those that do (the ideological fanatic)…2 wingers are conscientious, like to accomplish stuff through hard work, and ground their connections to others with empathetic concerns.
 

senza tema

nunc rosa cras fex
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sx/sp
Super interesting. Thanks.

I feel like I'm walking into some sort of trap here but I have to ask ... why is so much of the information pertaining to 4s withheld for the time being?
 

Peter Deadpan

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Dec 14, 2016
Messages
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I have a legitimate question that I'm hoping you'll actually address.

I've noticed that you consistently withhold information regarding enneatype 4. You did this on your website for the entire type profile.

There are only two possible reasons for this from my perspective:
1. You don't fully understand 4s yet and thus aren't ready to construct a profile for them.
2. You are doing it to be spiteful because it's amusing to you to exclude the one type that feels inferior, misunderstood, and "special".

Care to provide an explanation so that I may understand?
 

Tomb1

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Oh yeah, I forgot to note something key about core action sets. Core action sets involve behavior not the product of an emotional disturbance but done in a natural, lucid frame of mind. All the core action sets in the above enneagram type "cliffnotes" for self-starters come out of the average levels for each enneagram type. As a general rule of thumb, everybody spends most of their time in the average levels of their type.
 

misfortuneteller

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sp/sx
Seeking support and offering support sounds 6. This is what happens when integrated 6s keep mistyping as 9s, sigh.

Edit: Refinement is a 1 or 1 winger thing not a 5 or 5 winger thing.
 

Chad of the OttomanEmpire

Give me a fourth dot.
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sx/so
Serious question. Why did you leave off "Core Weakness" and "Core Passion" for the image types?
 

Tomb1

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If you're around any person long enough, their core action set will show up over and over again. However, knowing the physical agency/gestalt for each type, wing and stack is the most effective shortcut if you want to size somebody up fast. [At some point I may do a primer on wings and stacking.]

Target Teresa...6w7 sp/so

Core action set: Exculpation of guilt onto others and the projection of hostility.


Quannell X: 8w7 so/sx

Core Action Set: Enforcing submission from underlings through violent and threatening language or behavior….pushing one’s self to the front of the line through ruthless expedience and being able to inflict pain instrumentally without remorse or guilt. Picking off the competition. Never backing down from a fight.


Chael Sonnen...3w2 so/sp

Core Action Set: putting others on notice that they are a superior being and admiration their due, that others need to be rolling out the red carpet for them.

 

Tomb1

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As a general rule of thumb, it's best to learn the core primer for each gestalt before wading through any authors. R & H has some entertainingly written descriptions in their book Ptypes. But many of R & H's descriptions entangle multiple types into single types and confuse motivations. It's creative. The Fauvres just pretty much mainstreamed multiple personality disorder, lol. If you're going to choose any author, choose Naranjo. Based upon my conceptually/structurally/logically flawless 2500+ exemplars break down, I can tell you that Naranjo is better than R & H in so far as just pure accuracy goes. R & H doesn't have quite the clinical eye that Naranjo does but Naranjo doesn't know anything about wings. The good news for self-starters is that buying books on the enneagram is not necessary for learning about the enneagram types. My core primers provide enough of the nuts and bolts that any self-starter can identify types in real life and apply information practically.
 

Peter Deadpan

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1. Tomb made a great point about avoiding typing during emotional disturbance. However, he (and most people under most circumstances) aren't always easily able to determine (especially from the distance of the internet) who is operating in their "lucid frame of mind" or who is hanging on by a string. Coping mechanisms can either make disturbances obvious, or remarkably concealed.
2. Truly accurate typing based on observation from a 3rd party, even a well-qualified professional, is dependent upon intimate access to an individual, so in the very least, videos are imperative. When videos aren't available, it's laughable at best to confidently type someone you've only observed externally with zero one-on-one interaction.
3. Personas are oftentimes powerfully dishonest.
4. "Based upon my conceptually/structurally/logically flawless 2500+ exemplars break down,..." ... ... ... Settle down, Tomb.

I've said it before: The system you've developed is impressive in its breadth, but I feel it's lacking depth and nuance. Quick and dirty typing isn't useful beyond outsider observation for mostly entertainment purposes, but given your own type, I can understand why it'd be of interest to you. I also think you've missed the mark a bit with countertypes, and especially 4s.

And speaking of your type, although I haven't keenly observed you myself, given what I've had exposure to, I'd presume you are an introverted perceiver who doesn't hold preference for Ti. You are a skilled builder of intuitive systems, but it seems to be more of a roadmap than a topographic map. You seem overconfident in your own knowledge and closed off to new information, which I'm attributing to inferior Se.

So, I'd like to attempt to type you:

INTJ 5w6 So/Sp

You don't believe in tritype, but I guess I'd peg you somewhere along the lines of 513 - The Technical Expert.

How'd I do?
 

Tomb1

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1w2: The Conscientious-Rigid Gestalt
1w9: The Contemptuous-Rigid Gestalt
9w1: The Purposeful-Leisurely Gestalt
9w8: The Contrarian-Leisurely Gestalt


Dan Bilzerian: LSE-Te 9w8 sx/sp (The Contrarian-Leisurely Gestalt)
Core Action Set: Seeing things form multiple perspectives, having a disregard for black and white thinking and reflexively finding unity in conflicting stances.


Peter Mandelson: IEE-Fi 9w1 sp/so (The Purposeful-Leisurely Gestalt)
Core Action Set: Seeing things form multiple perspectives, having a disregard for black and white thinking and reflexively finding unity in conflicting stances.

Maria Butina: EII-Ne 1w9 sp/so (The Contemptuous-Rigid Gestalt)
Core Action Set: Preoccupation with argumentation, standing up for one’s convictions, and conforming one’s own behavior to an ideal. Finding ways to restrict others in order to correct bad behavior and seeking to right perceived wrongs through the proper channels.


Ted Nugent: ILE-Ti 1w9 sx/so (The Contemptuous-Rigid Gestalt)
Core Action Set: Preoccupation with argumentation, standing up for one’s convictions, and conforming one’s own behavior to an ideal. Finding ways to restrict others in order to correct bad behavior and seeking to right perceived wrongs through the proper channels.


Margie Phelps: LSE-Si 1w9 so/sp (The Contemptuous-Rigid Gestalt)
Core Action Set: Preoccupation with argumentation, standing up for one’s convictions, and conforming one’s own behavior to an ideal. Finding ways to restrict others in order to correct bad behavior and seeking to right perceived wrongs through the proper channels.


my 2500+ exemplar breakdown for each type, wing and stack grinds out the hard reality that core action sets are immune to differences in wing, stacking, socionics type etc..
 

neko 4

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sp
I'm definitely a Four but also in no way a masochist. If I was into BDSM, I would insist on being the dom.
 

Peter Deadpan

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I'm definitely a Four but also in no way a masochist. If I was into BDSM, I would insist on being the dom.

You're taking it too literally. They inflict suffering upon themselves via attachment to their inferiority complex and perpetual sense of lack/contentment is "over there".
 

neko 4

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sp
You're taking it too literally. They inflict suffering upon themselves via attachment to their inferiority complex and perpetual sense of lack/contentment is "over there".

Oh, okay, thanks for clearing that up.
 
Joined
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MBTI Type
INFP
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3w4
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sp/so
Type 3: The Self-Confident Gestalt.
Core Strategy: Outshining others
Core Distortion: “I am a superior being.”
Area of fixation: Expansion/Fantasy
Core Action Set: putting others on notice that they are a superior being and admiration their due, that others need to be rolling out the red carpet for them.
DSM Correlate: Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Core Trap: Weaving together new fantastic rationales for their circumstances in order to recast themselves as the star.
Core Vulnerability: disdain from others
2 wingers are hyper-competitive, bragging, skilled at gamesmanship, and political (they know how to work and motivate people).
4 wingers are poised, calculating, efficient and oriented towards outward self-improvement.

I thought I just hated other 3's, but now I know it's 3w2's I don't like. They are truly inferior to us 4 wingers.
 

ceecee

Coolatta® Enjoyer
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MBTI Type
INTJ
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8w9
Time to reset, relearn, refresh with a primer on the absolute basics brought to you by Stackemup Typology (enneagram-side). This thread goes over the gestalt for each enneagram character type and gives a thumbnail sketch as to some of the inner logic of each character type. I also include DSM correlations.

Gestalt: The Type's Instinctive truth; principle of unity
Core Vulnerability: the type's Kryptonite



Type 8: The Aggressive Gestalt
Core Strategy: Dominance.
Core Distortion: “Might makes right.”
Area of Fixation: Exercising Power
Core Action Set: Enforcing submission from underlings through violent and threatening language or behavior….pushing one’s self to the front of the line through ruthless expedience and being able to inflict pain instrumentally without remorse or guilt. Picking off the competition. Never backing down from a fight.
DSM Correlate: Sadistic Personality Disorder
Core Trap (s): acting with total impunity after having established power through fear.
Core Vulnerability: Eights are out of touch with vulnerability due to the defense mechanism of denial.
Core Weakness: Weakness is like a pit of despair that eights are wired to avoid falling into.
Core Passion: Lust. Because the eight employs the defense mechanism of denial, they are out of touch with being human. Lust fills that space with an appetite/enjoyment/pleasure for prevailing over others in the rough and tumble.
8w7s are always on the move in the conquest of more territory. They exercise power through more subversive means. 8w9s are heavily involved in the consolidation of their own territory. They exercise power through more traditional means.

I agree with all of this. Naturally many 8's want to reach the better than average levels so, improving those less than ideal distortion, fixation, traps and weaknesses are something we should (I do) strive for. But not all. Some 8's are simply better not being part of this world.
 

Lady Lazarus

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Jun 30, 2014
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MBTI Type
INFJ
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9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Type 9: The Leisurely Gestalt
Core Strategy: Seeking support and offering support
Core Distortion: This point on the enneagram has no built-in distortion.
Area of Fixation: Merging
Core Action Set: Seeing things form multiple perspectives, having a disregard for black and white thinking and reflexively finding unity in conflicting stances.
DSM Correlate: Dependent Personality Disorder
Core trap: Going with the flow and staying merged with the agenda of others
Core Vulnerability: Separation.
Core weakness: Inner clarity.
Core Passion: Sloth. The passion of sloth is akin to self-forgetfulness, going on autopilot, falling asleep to one’s will, so to speak.
9w8s have a natural social charisma they use to reach their own objectives but also to make friends and help others reach their own goals; alliance-building. 9w1s have a more emotionally unexpressive and solemn manner, are capable of seeing reality without pretensions to mask it with and bear through these weighty concerns with one's nose to the grindstone. 9w1s are also critical and more drawn towards constant debate, but, in contrast to 1w9s, are just as sharp and unsparing on themselves.

I don't relate fully enough to each description of either wing. I do have a weird, boisterous sort of charisma despite being very aloof and withdrawn. Though I wouldn't say I am good at building alliances. But I'm also self-critical/identify with the 1 desire to be beyond reproach and I am nose to the grindstone. Yet, I'm not at all unexpressive and excessively solemn or critical of others most of the time.
 

Starry

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May 22, 2010
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Type 7: The Rebellious or Non-conforming Gestalt
Core strategy: doing whatever one wants
Core Distortion: “God is against me. I am against God.” God is anything that can inhibit one's gratification.
Area of Fixation: Having a large variety to choose from
Core Action Set: Being unrestrained and disrupting the social ethic; acting out.
DSM Correlate: Antisocial Personality Disorder
Core Trap: Habitually putting wants ahead of needs and cheating the present moment for more pleasure believing it can be made up for at another time.
Core Vulnerability: Immobilization; restriction
Core Weakness: Commitment
Core Passion: Gluttony. Gluttony is like a "roving eye" as if to bely their insatiable desire to consume everything in sight with no restriction on how the seven will take it.
6 wingers find stimulation through relationships, are monkey-minded in debate, and have a generalist grasp on many different subjects. 8 wingers are bold, adventurous, and see life more in zero sum terms.


Ahhh 7 it's so good to see you. The real you. And not one of your many alien impostors that read a bit like... "A Trip to Disneyland through the Eyes of a Five Year Old"


There was a member here that asked for some insight and advice in order to best deal with her e7 husband's sudden mood shifts...from positive, inspired and hopeful...to suddenly "losing it" with wild ranting...everything sucks ass we'll never make it...

And I said to her that when this happens...something broke through...something's reminded him that he's mortal and it's very painful when this happens. Which I believe in her eyes only made me appear more insane than I actually am... (and she apparently does professional work with enneagram haha but she did seem to possess the trip to Disneyland understanding of 7 so...)

^Oh but I stand by what I say as much as a person can stand by something they said. And so it's so nice to see "God is against me"...and I understand why it is written that way. But the "God is against me" feel only comes once the 7 fully grasps that they aren't a god themselves.
 
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