Knowing yourself
By Katie Maxwell, LPC
We all want to know more about ourselves: our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, obstacles. Hey, that’s why you clicked on this article, right? It’s natural to want to get to know yourself, as self-awareness is the key to unlocking potential in your life in many different areas. As Aristotle says, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” Becoming more observant of ourselves and others is insightful and create more understanding and empathy for the natural judgment of others and ourselves. We can take a different perspective, learn about each other, and be honest with ourselves, refreshingly and helpfully. The easiest way to describe all our characteristics is through our personality.
What is Personality?
Personality is defined as our unique patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish one person from another. Our personality stays relatively consistent throughout our lives and contributes to navigating our lives. Personality used to be dominated by nature vs. nurture conversation, but experts can confidently say personality is determined by both nature and nurture. Personality is said to be determined by four factors: genetic/biological determinants (hereditary), social determinants (cultures, communities), psychological determinants (behavior, emotions, thought patterns), and intellectual determinants (values, morals).
Other Personality Tests
One of the modern methods of measuring personalities is through testing or assessments. You’ve probably heard of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (also called the MBTI or Jungian Personality test), separating our personalities on levels of sources of energy (extroverts or introverts), processing of information (sensors or intuitive), approach to decision making (thinkers or feelers), and need for structure (judgers or perceivers). This test was officially published in 1962 but was first developed in response to World War II. Katharine Cook Briggs met her future husband, Clarence Myers, and noted that they saw the world differently. With the war ending and post-war cultures shifting, Myers thought that conflict could be less frequent or avoided if people could understand each other better, leading to the development of the MBTI. This tool has been used to improve communication, build and improve teams/companies/groups, and find beauty in the differences that can diversify and unite us. While very popular at many points in time, the test is seen as not the most reliable. People tend to take it more than once, and, when they do, 75% of people get different results. It is a self-assessment where people may be biased regarding their strengths and weaknesses, possibly distorting our views of ourselves, and giving inaccurate characteristics of ourselves. The test does not account for people falling between these starkly different descriptions, sometimes leading to flaws in categorization. Most horrifically, some companies use this as a hiring tool, possibly dismissing qualified candidates on perceived “weaknesses” or less socially accepted qualities.
What is the Enneagram?
The Enneagram is a test describing the distinct thinking, feeling, and acting patterns within personality systems. These patterns show how different people direct energy and behavior in life while bringing awareness to self and understanding of others. The Enneagram name comes from the Greek word “ennea” meaning nine, and “gram,” meaning something written; this explains the 9-pointed figure within the circle in pictures. While complex looking to the eye, this 9-pointed geometric structure denotes the 9 different personality types. If you draw it on your own, you’ll draw a circle with nine equidistant points surrounding the outside of it. Each point represents a number, with each number representing a personality type. The points are connected by lines, forming triangles, and connecting certain numbers. The numbers are connected in many areas, showing how certain numbers have similar qualities to others. Another thing to keep in mind is growth and stress arrows. When you get the results of your Enneagram test, it will show your basic type and two arrows pointing toward different numbers with the words “growth” and “stress.” The growth arrow refers to when you are functioning at your best or optimal abilities, and it shows you’ll experience traits of whatever number the growth arrow is pointing to. The stress arrow refers to whenever stress, anxiety, depression, or other factors hit, which can bring forth traits seen as negative from a different number.
How Does it Work?
The questionnaire is approximately 105 questions, which can take about 10-15 minutes to complete. It is recommended that those under 14 years of age not take the test, as there are so many developmental, emotional, social, and psychological changes during that time that results may not be completely accurate for their lifespan. The questions consist of statements where you will rate them on a five-point scale from “inaccurate” to “accurate,” with a middle “neutral” area. You are encouraged to think deeply about your answers and to utilize the neutral answer only when needed, as it is a bit harder to distinguish your type from others with many “neutral” answers.
The Enneagram is divided into nine types, with a number indicating each type. Most people have qualities of nearly every number type, but one should stick out as being most like us, which is your basic personality type. These personality types use numbers to remain neutral and unbiased, which provides a personality type to everyone regardless of demographic factors. Lastly, the number order is insignificant; no number is more or less than the others. Remember that the description will not apply forever, as people are fluid and go between healthy and unhealthy levels of functioning throughout their lives. Each type has a unique set of abilities to which one can relate. The goal is to become the best version of you. There are nine types officially, and they are listed below.
Type 1: The Perfectionist
Type 2: The Helper
Type 3: The Achiever
Type 4: The Individualist
Type 5: The Investigator
Type 6: The Loyalist
Type 7: The Enthusiast
Type 8: The Challenger
Type 9: The Peacemaker
Each type comes with a label and a basic list of qualities. You will immediately notice the qualities seen are perceived as both what people consider “positive” and “negative.” One thing to note about this specific personality type test is that it is about complete acceptance. It is important to identify, process, and accept all parts of the self, no matter how difficult the truth can be. Each type will have a brief description, noting a basic fear, basic desire, and how your type acts when under stress and in growth. There are also key motivations listed as well as famous figures (both historical, modern, and fictional) that match each type. Following these categories is a basic overview of each type, exploring the meaning behind the given name/label. This area also holds an example of someone dubbed with a specific type. Another important aspect of your personality type is what is known as your level of development. There are three different sections with the following labels: healthy, average, and unhealthy. Each section has three levels, noting different layers of each section. As one moves down the levels from top to bottom, you will notice the traits and behaviors shift from productive levels of functioning to unhealthy, unproductive levels of functioning. These are structures of behaviors that can account for how people can change for the better or worse. This structure provides a look into how the traits fit into our behaviors and attitudes. This also considers how people are dynamic and fluid, changing based on situations and life circumstances. To know your level of care and wellness, it is important to see where one lies on the different levels of development and be honest about your level of functioning, whether it is productive or not.
The Continuum of the Levels of Development
Healthy
Level 1: The Level of Liberation
Level 2: The Level of Psychological Capacity
Level 3: The Level of Social Value
Average
Level 4: The Level of Imbalance/ Social Role
Level 5: The Level of Interpersonal Control
Level 6: The Level of Overcompensation
Unhealthy
Level 7: The Level of Violation
Level 8: The Level of Obsession and Compulsion
Level 9: The Level of Pathological Destructiveness
https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works
There is also a description of compatibility and misidentification with other types, noting similar characteristics and contrasts. There is also a category following this titled “addictions,” which is essentially a category showing what people with a certain type are at risk of. This is in no way a diagnosis or prediction of behaviors, disorders, or characteristics; it merely shows potential risks due to the qualities and characteristics of certain types.
Lastly, there are personal growth recommendations, where there is a list of potential opportunities to better oneself. By displaying and exploring both strengths, need areas, and qualities, you can look deeper into yourself and read about suggestions for reaching a higher level of self.
Things to Keep in Mind
While I hope the Enneagram can be a fun way to get to know yourself (and possibly a tool to work into your therapy), I want to emphasize that there is more to you than a number. While this is a tool used to measure certain traits and qualities, it does not account for all the uniqueness, unpredictability, and change that comes with being a human. There is a certain part of us that cannot be measured or quantified, and it is important to nurture and cherish that as well. Regardless, I hope that if you do explore your Enneagram, it creates more curiosity and interest in getting to know the awesome person that is yourself. Alright, now that you’ve officially made it through the article, here’s a link to take the Enneagram Personality test if you’re still interested! This test is not to be used as any psychological advice or diagnosis but is just for insight and education. After you take this test, you can look deeper into your type and be given a breakdown of the characteristics listed above at https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions
Enjoy!
https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test
References
Baron, R., & Wagele, E. (1994). The Enneagram made easy: Discover the 9 types of people (p. 176). HarperSanFrancisco.
Cherry, K. (2023, May 1). How personality impacts our daily lives. Verywell Mind.
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-personality-2795416
Daniels, D., & Price, V. (2000). The essential enneagram. Collins.
Determinants of personality. Leverage Edu. https://leverageedu.com/blog/determinants-of-personality/#:~:text=Psychologists%20say%20that%20our%20personality,(your%20values%20and%20beliefs).
Myers-Briggs in the workplace: The good, the bad, and the illegal. UTG. https://utg-llc.com/myers-briggs-workplace-good-bad-illegal/
Riso, D. R., & Hudson, R. (1996). Personality types: Using the Enneagram for self-discovery. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Type descriptions. The Enneagram Institute. (n.d.). https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions
Wagner, J. P. (2010). Nine lenses on the world: The Enneagram perspective. Enneagram