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[so] You know you're so-first when.....

Such Irony

Honor Thy Inferior
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Messages
5,059
MBTI Type
INtp
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
You want everyone to like you- even those you barely know and will likely never see again.

The worst fear you have is being ostracized by society.

You can't bear the thought of being useless to society.

You are aware of the interpersonal politics going on even if you don't take part.

You were disappointed to find that there aren't too many threads dedicated to SO first.

When you are at a party you are instantly aware of the most powerful person in the room.

You are well of your social status in any group you partake in (including this forum).

You would rather have a large circle of acquaintances to draw upon than a few close-knit friends.
 

ThatsWhatHeSaid

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
7,263
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w4
I don't know what SO means, but I can relate to most of what you said.
 

Such Irony

Honor Thy Inferior
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Messages
5,059
MBTI Type
INtp
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
SO is an abbreviation for social variant, one of the three variants in enneagram theory. The other two are self-preservation (SP) and sexual (SX). The theory is that one of the three variants in a person is dominant, one is secondary, and the third one doesn't get used as much. This is where variant stacking comes in. There are six possible stackings- ways to rank the variants from strongest to weakest. So a SO/SP/SX would have social as the dominant variant, SP as the secondary, and SX ranked last.

You can read more about the variants (sometimes also known as instincts or subtypes) here:

http://www.enneagram.net/instsub.html
 

6.4

New member
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
90
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
8w9
Was listening to this as I clicked the thread, seems appropriate.

[YOUTUBE="cehLiGxguQI"]Power in a Union[/YOUTUBE]

Then was looking at that Deb's quotes page, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs it's literally social-first porn

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind then that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; and while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
What a legend
 

Southern Kross

Away with the fairies
Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
2,910
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
Some of these may be more so/sp but here goes:

... you secretly assess social dynamics at work or parties to work out how popular everyone was in high school
... you feel obliged to be congenial and friendly, and will keep up the front even if you despise doing so and wish you were a million miles away
... you are keenly aware of any personal deficiencies in social interaction and are highly self-critical of such lacking
... you feel so overwhelmingly embarrassed by every faux pas that it resembles physical pain, and frequently re-live, and suffer over, past embarrassments
... you despise it when people argue or make a scene in public and will go to great lengths to quell it
 

Speed Gavroche

Whisky Old & Women Young
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
5,152
MBTI Type
EsTP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
When when you are alone and withour group, you feel like if you were only the tenth of what you are or could be.
 
B

brainheart

Guest
... you're always thinking about what other people will think, and that's as important to you as what you think of them.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
People who are so-dom:

...are incredibly useful in a social situation to regain control and harmony
...know who to talk to about what in order to get stuff done
...tend to be better than me at saving themselves a lot of public embarassment
...are incredibly skilled at networking and often capable of building professional careers due to that while helping out society
...tend to be the backbone of each and every community.
 

PeaceBaby

reborn
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
5,950
MBTI Type
N/A
Enneagram
N/A
I find it an interesting dichotomy to be an INFP and so-dom. Glad to see the thread created; considered making it myself.

I'll go through the thoughts so far:

You want everyone to like you- even those you barely know and will likely never see again.

I like for people to think well of me at least - I know not everyone can like me ... :cry:

The worst fear you have is being ostracized by society.

Hmm, not sure if it's the worst fear, but to be excluded can be hurtful.

You can't bear the thought of being useless to society.

Agreed, I like to make a difference.

You are aware of the interpersonal politics going on even if you don't take part.

Yes.

You were disappointed to find that there aren't too many threads dedicated to SO first.

No.

When you are at a party you are instantly aware of the most powerful person in the room.

Yes. At a party I can assemble a very complex inner map of all the dynamics at play in the room. What each person thinks of themselves and of others, and determine the cliques / sub-cliques / degrees of ostracism. I find each group of people has a very different feel depending on the people (ingredients) mixed together.

You are well of your social status in any group you partake in (including this forum).

Sure, but I would caution that it's easier to sell oneself short, to think one is of a lower status than in reality.

You would rather have a large circle of acquaintances to draw upon than a few close-knit friends.

No. That's probably an introvert thing though. I have a love - hate thing going on with groups.

-----

... you secretly assess social dynamics at work or parties to work out how popular everyone was in high school

Sure, it's interesting that people bring the past to the present and sometimes undermine themselves or overestimate themselves accordingly.

... you feel obliged to be congenial and friendly, and will keep up the front even if you despise doing so and wish you were a million miles away

Depends on who and why, but yes, I agree with this.

... you are keenly aware of any personal deficiencies in social interaction and are highly self-critical of such lacking

When I was in my teens and twenties even, this was a nightmare. There were rules I understood and rules I didn't, and groups that were impossible to gain traction in. And I kind of beat myself up over it when things weren't smooth, rather than see that people simply aren't always nice.

... you feel so overwhelmingly embarrassed by every faux pas that it resembles physical pain, and frequently re-live, and suffer over, past embarrassments

Maybe that's Fi - Si so-dom there ...

.
.. you despise it when people argue or make a scene in public and will go to great lengths to quell it

I do dislike people who "make a scene" or who are being difficult .... I do always try to smooth social interactions. It's like a dance ...

-----

When when you are alone and withour group, you feel like if you were only the tenth of what you are or could be.

No.

-----

... you're always thinking about what other people will think, and that's as important to you as what you think of them.

Yes. But not as much as when I was younger.

-----

I'll try to think up a few extra ones myself. :)

EDIT: I identify with this blurb on being an so-dom 9, describe my love - hate thing going on:

Social Nines tend to gravitate toward groups and then have conflicts about joining or staying apart. Can enjoy group energy and interests but may be also aware of the group's expectations. These the Nine will both play along with and resist. When immersed in a group, social Nines can lose themselves, trying to become all things to all people. Gregarious but may start to resist being too heavily influenced, to compensate for their sense of lost identity. Can sometimes resent how the group doesn't really see them. May fixate on what others think of them. Or resent the group and make fun of it. Some social Nines stay basically uninvolved but hang out at the group's edge. Frequently there's lots of activity. May get caught up in roles - a stronger connection to 3 goes with this subtype.

For more: http://webspace.webring.com/people/cl/lifexplore/chvar.htm
 

onemoretime

Dreaming the life
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
4,455
MBTI Type
3h50
When you're so/sx...

- You feel torn between wanting lots of friends, but also wanting intimate friends, and wonder why most of your friends don't want that intensity
- When unhappy, you think it's because you're not being invited out by your friends, or because you're not with a certain special someone
- You're like a social magnet: when things are going well, all sorts of people are drawn to you, and when things go badly, people keep their distance without prompting
- You need to find a group to belong to, but it's got to be the right one, and you can be somewhat exclusive in friendship (leading to conflict with the first trait)
- When you develop a close friendship with someone, unfortunately, you can get bored with it fairly quickly
- You can be somewhat possessive of friends, in that friends of the gender you're attracted to can date other people, but if you don't approve of the person, you're unhappy
- As a corollary, you harbor somewhat-hidden desires to date said friends, if only to see if it could work out (and because of sexual attraction)
- Sometimes, the nightlife is fantastic. Other times, it just leaves you feeling empty and unfulfilled
- Groups larger than three or four are annoying, because there's no rhythm to it
- You want to have sex often, but find that sex without love is unfulfilling
- You know a lot of people, a whole lot of people say that they know you, but both are exaggerations
 

CzeCze

RETIRED
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
8,975
MBTI Type
GONE
I'm so happy this thread exists (FINALLY!) Imma cry :cry:

So strange there aren't more SO's on the forum, but maybe not. Maybe SO's are too busy doing stuff 'out there'.

I can relate to most of the things listed.

Especially the embarassment from faux pas. Sometimes when I am in groups with 1 or 2 persistent 'faux pas' people it seriously makes me wanna *cringe*. This is also why real life attention whoring trolly types get on my last nerve. I want to beat sense into them.

Actually I think I'm So/Sx (or maybe Sx/So) but I didn't agree with these

- When you develop a close friendship with someone, unfortunately, you can get bored with it fairly quickly

NEVER! I never get bored of my friends. Apparently this is a unique trait amongst ENFPs :p

You can be somewhat possessive of friends, in that friends of the gender you're attracted to can date other people, but if you don't approve of the person, you're unhappy

Hmmm...don't think I get 'jealous'. Though if someone I didn't like was taking up a lot of my friends time so that they had less for me I might be jealous or more that I just would like the gf/bf even less.

As a corollary, you harbor somewhat-hidden desires to date said friends, if only to see if it could work out (and because of sexual attraction)

Hmmm...I actually prefer not to be attracted or have sexual tension with my friends

Sometimes, the nightlife is fantastic. Other times, it just leaves you feeling empty and unfulfilled

Only if they were playing crappy music at the club. Otherwise, I love the nightlife!

Groups larger than three or four are annoying, because there's no rhythm to it

I like hanging out in groups regardless of size, it's more about whether or not I vibe with the people and what we're doing.

You want to have sex often, but find that sex without love is unfulfilling

Sex without love is pretty groovy as long as there's mutual respect and we're on the same page, oh yeah, and it's fun :D
 

Nomenclature

New member
Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Messages
135
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
3w2
Was listening to this as I clicked the thread, seems appropriate.

[YOUTUBE="cehLiGxguQI"]Power in a Union[/YOUTUBE]

Then was looking at that Deb's quotes page, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs it's literally social-first porn


What a legend

"Damn." It vaguely reminds me of Howard Zinn (maybe an SO 6):
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html
Seriously, even just the titles sound SO-ish...
  • 1. Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress
  • 2. Drawing the Color Line
  • 4. Tyranny is Tyranny
  • 5. A Kind of Revolution
  • 6. The Intimately Oppressed
  • 9. Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom
  • 10. The Other Civil War
  • 11. Robber Barons And Rebels
  • 12. The Empire and the People
  • 13. The Socialist Challenge
  • 14. War Is the Health of the State
  • 16. A People's War?
  • 21. Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus
  • 24. The Coming Revolt of the Guards

As for myself, I'm not sure if I'm SO/SX or SX/SO.
 

Goosebump

New member
Joined
Aug 25, 2010
Messages
129
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
9
There aren't many SO topics so this is great.

My take as So/sx

You feel self-conscious often during social situations, especially when you don't feel included.

If not feeling accepted, you can feel really down.

The need to belong is very strong and you're yearning for it as long as you first started to be socially aware.

You usually spend time observing how a group works before actually joining it.

You can adapt yourself to relate to different people.

When meeting new people, you hope people to confide in you, but feel slightly pressured if you feel the person gets close too quickly.

One of your goals to is to have many close friends.

Just being in a group, without actually involving in it, is sometimes good enough. Maybe its' just because I like to observe people.

You don't mind either small talks or intimate conversation.

You care about social issues that might not involve you particularly.

You prefer to spread your energy to many people instead of focusing on just one.

Within a group, you need someone as your "base person" (the one person you relate to well) or you would feel uncomfortable.
 
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