[Traditional Enneagram] Knowing the type of others

[Schrödinger's Name]

This is kind of a random question but eyy...

I noticed that many people on this forum talk about the e-type of their coworker, their friends, or even people they barely know (from school par example),... They will say that that person is X type but I always wonder, how do you know, or how can you be so sure (of yourself)? I doubt that the Enneagram is that popular in America (assuming that most people on here are American) that you can just walk up to a stranger and ask them about their type.

So my question is; how can people be so sure that someone is a certain type? Do you trust on your own judgement? Since you actually might not know a lot about their inner world and their thought process. I know that some types might be easily recognisable (I think of type two and eight par example) but other types might be harder to identify if you're just looking at the surface and when you don't know someone's inner world.

 

[Chad of the OttomanEmpire]

In my case, I usually don't say anything about someone's type unless I have a clear read on them. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I do.

As I'm sure you know, a lot about type is psychological. People can say things, repeatedly, that point to their type. The things that they rant about, what really pushes their buttons, their characteristic ways of reacting to stressors, their values...all of these things point toward type.

So if someone's repeated gripe in life is how much he has been cheated out of and how he's uniquely deficient; if he is constantly probing the nature of misery and how it plays a role in his emotional history; if he is constantly questioning his persona (yes this is a real guy I know)...well, I won't type him as a 7. Each type has its own "thumbprint", or signature set of concerns, ways of interpreting life, and ways of interfacing with it. I can often recognize these patterns in others.

There are also circumstantials that come along with type. For example, people tend to exhibit the basic tendencies of both their wings in a way that underlies and compliments their core. If I can see the patterns of both wings, that typically clarifies or confirms things for me. Issues relevant to triads can shed light. Connecting points. MBTI. There are a lot of clues.

So to answer the last part of your question, yes, I do trust my judgement. And yes, my ideas can be modified as I get more information. People reveal relevant pieces of their inner worlds all the time; it's not sequestered off. I'm relatively practiced with this, and I don't assign type to others lightly.

The more I learn about it, the more I see the constellation and not just the individual stars, if that makes sense. Meaning that I would deny that I actually AM looking at the surface or going by behaviours. I'm looking at a lot of things, and superficial behaviours are the lesser part of that.