Customer Reviews

Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As someone constantly obsessed in self-analysis and discovery, I was attracted to Riso's enneagram book, which I saw as an alternative or a step up from Keirsey's temperament sorter. Whereas Keirsey has sixteen different types, four variants of four personalities, the Enneagram has nine different personality types, grouped into three Triads, the Feeling Triad (2,3,4), the Thinking Triad (5,6,7), and the Instinctive Triad (8,9,1). And within each triad, each group either overexpresses, underexpresses, or is most out of touch with that dynamic. For example, as a 4, my ability to feel is underexpressed.

The symbol for the enneagram is a circle with nine equidistant points drawn around the circumference, with 9 at the top, an equilaterial triangle drawn by connecting points 3,6,9, and another line by following this sequence, 1,4,2,8,5,7,1, which ironically is the sequence of numbers correlating to one-seventh, which is .1428571 repeated.

The concept of wings come in, which expands the nine types into eighteen different types, because one may be a mixture of two adjacent types, which is called a wing. For example, I am a 4W5, termed a Bohemian, meaning that traits that straddle both a Type 4 and 5 are in my makeup.

However, the most important thing Riso does is explaining the healthy traits in each type, and what happens when the unhealthy traits become emphasized. He lists nine levels, with levels 1-3 being healthy and psychologically balanced, 4-6 being average, where the ego starts to inflate and overcompensation begins, and 7-9 being unhealthy, dysfunctional to downright self-destructive and pathological. Someone at the latter 3 levels slides down to the personality next in the 1428571 sequence. For example, in my darkest hours, as a 4, I'll take on the characteristics of a 2. However, a healthy person will integrate to the number before. In my case, I'll integrate to a 1, meaning I'll be more opened up to people, and will either stay introspective or become outrospective.

In Chapter 14, he uses other psychologists works to further define the personalities. For example, he uses Karen Horney's "general neurotic solutions" (compliant, aggressive, withdrawn) and Freud's anal/oral/phallic, retentive/expulsive/receptive designations.

One thing he explains is translating Jung's intelligence and functional types into his typology. I'm duplicating this here, but this time using Keirsey's system, Horney's solutions, and Freud's designations.

2, Helper, ESFJ, ENFJ, compliant, a-exp
3, Motivator, no equivalent, aggressive, p-rec
4, Individualist, INFJ or INTJ, withdrawn, o-ret
5, Investigator, ISTP or INTP, withdrawn, o-exp
6, Loyalist, ISFP or INFP, compliant, a-rec
7, Enthusiast, ESTP or ESFP, aggressive, p-ret
8, Leader, ENTP or ENFP, aggressive, p-exp
9, Peacemaker, ISFJ or ISTJ, withdrawn, o-exp
1, Reformer, ESTJ or ENTJ, compliant, a-ret

Although he lists no equivalent for 3's, in looking at the examples of Type 3's, I noticed they were all celebrities, those in the Artisan type to use Keirsey's terminology, so SPs who may not be in Types 5, 6, or 7.

The appendix includes a diagram for each type, listing parental orientation, behaviours, attitudes, basic desires, and basic and secondary fears at the healthy, average, and unhealthy levels,
Riso also includes examples of famous people or characters from novels in each type. People like me include Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Woolf, Bob Dylan, Johnny Depp, Joni Mitchell, D.H. Lawrence, and Yukio Mishima, so am I in good company or what?

Riso claims that not everyone's personality is totally set within one type, plus that's it's not THE panacea to becoming a whole individual. Rather, the Enneagram is a tool which helps people understand themselves as they are at their best and worst in the middle of a lonely, terrifying, and impersonal world.

Don Riso is one of the key figures and innovators in the field of Enneagram studies. This is not the first of his books (and here he has partnered with Russ Hudson), nor is it the most recent, but it does represent refinement and improvement over his earlier works. There are several other authors who have written books on the Enneagram, but I don't think anyone else has done it as well. Riso is a highly articulate guy who doesn't sugar coat things, and reading his descriptions of personality types such as the average or unhealthy three is a bit unsettling. I'd say he has, for better or worse, great insight into human nature. A minor criticism is that I disagree with his classification of certain famous people, although in most cases he seems to get it right. Anyone interested in personality and human behavior in general will find this a fascinating read. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

The author finds fault with the usual types of personality tests and categorizations because he claims they are too abstract or only focus on mental diseases and not normal behaviors.

This book is very descriptive and accurate. It is a good tool to help you learn about yourself and the people around you. According to the enneagram, you are classified under one of nine different types. Each type has sub divisions known as "wings." The book is written in clear simple language and is easy to understand. I highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to learn more about themselves.

This book is one of the best I've ever read. I bought Dicsovering Your Personality Type along with this book. I scored a 26 in my dominant trait (8), and when I read it was like someone has been watching me my whole life. I think I have said or thought just about everything it says typical 8's do. Even back to my childhood and events that shaped and made me an 8, unbelievable! I also picked out exactly what my wife was before she took the test and when she took the test she scored a 28! It was uncanny on how accurate it is. This book makes me want to carry that test around and give it to every person I meet and deal with. Especially if your in a relationship or think you have found someone, but that someone has issues DO NOT PRESS ON until you discover what personality type they are!!!! I tell ya, if I had found this book years ago, I would have been able to spot who is a potential pyscho, especially when coupled with stuff that they went through in the past, they are destined to fall exactly like the book says. Truly is unreal!

The description of my personality type (five) is like a report on the most intimate secrets of my psyche. It seems as though it had been prepared personally for me by a psychologist. It's all there...coping methods, defense mechanisms, thought habits, tendencies, reactions to other people, strengths and challenges. I instantly recognized myself even as it revealed aspects of my personality that I hadn't previously acknowledged.

Since I first read Personality Types a few years ago, the book has helped me in many significant ways. First, it has helped me to understand and accept myself. Second, it has moved my relationship with my wife (a six) to a place where we no longer judge each other. (To paraphrase another Enneagram author, "Everybody thinks everyone else is their same personality type, just a defective version of it." Third, it has helped me to open paths of communication with people who interact with the world in a completely different manner than I do. (Not everybody lives by facts!)

This book takes a psychological approach to the Enneagram and does not pull punches when it talks about paths of disintegration. This suits a "five" just fine, but if you prefer a spiritual approach you might try Helen Palmer. I personally don't go for that, but hey...it takes all types.

The only thing more I could ask for is an extensive enneagram test. I'll just say that when I found out my type, I was surprised at how much this book said about me! Great for self exploration and understanding, and if you are willing to put the work in, it is the best tool I know to understand others (espcecially "crazy" others).
This book is useful for friends and family as well, even though they might deny your categorization of their personality.

After being skeptical about the Enneagram for about 4 years, my friends finally convinced me to pick up the book and read it. It was incredible how well the book seemed to describe my most secret thoughts. It is wonderfully organized with each chapter becoming more in depth as it progresses. Reading this book really helped me understand the people around me. This is definitely a must read for any educated person!!!

As a long-time student of the Enneagram, I am frequently reminded that this book is my best-- and most frequently used-- reference on the subject. Almost every time I pick it up, I gain new insights-- even after six years of diligent use! Apart from its thorough usefulness, I think that what makes "Personality Types" my personal favorite, is the fact that it views humanity, the psyche and personality types from a "neutral" position-- unlike other writers in this field, who seem predisposed to focus more on the negative aspects. This is a MUST HAVE for anyone seriously interested in the Enneagram!

At 500+ pages; this book offers comprehensive coverage of many different aspects of the Enneagram, drawing on Riso's 25+ years of research and experience in the field. The book starts with some background information and a short history of the Enneagram; then offers a set og thorough guidelines for understanding and using the Enneagram.

The bulk of the book is, of course, dedicated to nine chapters that thoroughly describe each of the nine Enneagram types. These descriptions go well beyond your basic "thumbnail sketch," to include characteristics of each type along a scale of "mental health" from healthy, to average, to unhealthy. The authors also cover the major "subtypes" of each type, as well as the dynamics of "integration" and "disintegration."

The final part of the book goes into more advanced concepts; combining and comparing the principles of the Enneagram to Freudian and Jungian Psychology; examining mental health and the Enneagram in the context of psychological pathologies; and generally offering more advanced theories and techniques for exploring the psyche with the Enneagram.

If the book has ANY flaws, it would be that it does not include a version of the RHETI (Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator) questionnaire, which has become the de-facto "quick and easy" standard used to "test" for personality type. This, however, is a very minor "niggle" since the descriptions of each of the nine Enneagram types are so comprehensive that readers will have little trouble identifying their, and someone else's, personality type.

Final thoughts: 9.5 bookmarks out of a possible 10-- and the half-point is only for the ommission of the questionnaire. Perhaps not the easiest choice for those *just* starting to explore the Enneagram on a casual level, but highly recommended for everyone else!

This book is a "must read"! The book really breaks down the personality types from the healthy to the unhealthy which I found insightful, truthful and very accurate. If you want to gain more insight into your personality and the personality of those around you this book is a very good first step in that direction.