Subtypes, centers of intelligence and instincts

The enneagram subtypes, instincts, and centers of intelligence are important concepts in enneagram work. The instincts affect how we survive in the world, and the centers of intelligence affect how we take in and process information and interact with everything around us.

Briefly of the history

The enneagram symbol is ancient, and its precise origin is unknown. The modern enneagram started spreading to more common knowledge in the 1970s. As a model for development and transformation concepts described by the enneagram can also be found in many of the world's religions, psychology, literarute, and belief systems even though the enneagram is separate from those. Today the enneagram is widely used both in companies and in personal lives as a means for growth and healing.

Subtypes

Subtypes bring a more grained level to the enneagram types. We all have three crucial evolutionary survival instincts: the self-preservation instinct, the social instinct and the sexual instinct. The sexual instinct is also sometimes referred as one-to-one instinct. Each one of us overuses one of these instincts (dominant instinct), and represses one that can end up so repressed that we don't even realise we've done so. Ideally - as with the centers of intelligence - we'd use each of these instincts in the right context with the right intensity.

Our enneagram type and our dominant instinct fuse into our subtype. Each instinct presents some commonalities but depending on our enneagram type, the way we express our dominant instinct tendencies vastly varies and depends on our subtype.

The current enneagram theory stands in the view that we are born predisposed to our enneagram type and instinctual sequence, i.e. the order in which the three instincts operate in us. As we grow, certain experiences we have affect us more than others, depending on your enneagram type and subtype. Thus our ego structure starts forming and getting stronger and we lose touch with our true inner self. Asleep in our ego personality we easily take comfort in the defence mechanisms of our enneagram type and subtype.

Starting in childhood we have needs that stem from our instincts, and if those needs are not met we can try to cope with that in a couple of ways. Either we deny the need altogether (repressed instinct), or we overcompensate on making sure the need gets met by taking the matter into our own hands and tyring to ensure ourselves that the need gets met (dominant instinct). The middle instinct in our instinctual sequence usually operates on a more regular level but it can also lean towards either overused or underused. The order of our instincts, i.e. the instinctual sequence, by default doesn't change throughout our lives but we can learn to balance them, become more aware of them, and learn to utilize them more healthily.

The self-preservation instinct is what keeps us alive and safe. Issues around the self-preservation instinct often revolve around concrete essentials for life such as food, warmth and shelter.

People with the self-preservation instinct as the dominant one in the instinct sequence tend to be more independent, organized, perfectionistic, reserved, anxious, concrete, practical, and focused on material aspects than people of the same type but different subtype.

Repressed - i.e. the weakest and last in the instinct sequence - self-preservation instinct can manifest as trouble in upholding routines, losing items, disregard of one's safety, recklessness, and indifference towards the essentials of life.

What is important to notice is that even though the self-preservation instinct is the dominant instinct it does not mean that the person is good at self-care, as many times the person has more or less problems in this area of life.

The social instinct makes us seek safety and survival within groups. The social instinct focuses on the sense of belonging, our place and status withing a group, the well-being of said group, and also how we are accepted to be a part of the group and what kind of appreciation we receive within the group.

People with a dominant social instinct tend to be more outwardly focused, idealistic, focused on status, focused on other people, manipulative and inclined to solve conflicts when compared to people of the same enneagram type but different subtype.

A repressed social instinct can manifest as trouble trusting communities and causes, rebelling against group-identity, self-sabotaging one's reputation within a group, belittling belonging, as a sarcastic view of group goals, tactlessness, getting cast out of groups, and not realizing the impact of one's own status and actions within the group.

The sexual instinct makes us seek safety and survival from intimate connections to other individuals. The sexual instinct focuses on creating intense connections to selected individuals. It revolves around continuing the line, magnetism, being the center of attention, affection, attraction, and bonding. Even though the instinct is called the sexual instinct, the connections we create through it can very well be other than sexual in nature.

People with a dominant sexual instinct tend to be more intense, flamboyant, competitive, eager to win, possessive, and jealous compared to other people of the same enneagram type but different subtype.

A repressed sexual instinct can manifest as withdrawal, problems in forming or maintaining relationships, timidness, lack of self-confidence or as a general lack of vitality.