The Enneagram and the MBTI: In Search of Common Ground, Part 3
Abstract
We proceed now to show how descriptions of the prototypical pairs bear remarkable likeness to the descriptions of the enneagram points with which we have associated them. Please keep in mind, in reading the following descriptions, that there are really two (closely related) meanings of the phrase 'inferior function'. It is often used as a synonym for the 'fourth function' of an MBTI type [Feeling is the 'fourth function' for the ESTJ, who has a T-S-N-F preference order]. But by calling a function 'inferior' it also implies that the function is underdeveloped in the individual and is, when compared with other functions, not under the conscious control of the individual. The individual's 'fourth function' is the function, for that individual, that is comparatively underdeveloped. But other functions may also be 'inferior' in this latter sense.
We must also remain aware of the fact that the 'inferior' function of an individual may be experienced with intensity and frequency, and might thus be mistaken for the individual's 'superior' (or 'primary' function). For instance, if an individual revels in eating (an 'S' function) this may not be because he is a 'sensing' type - and may even be an indication that 'sensing' is his inferior function, to the extent that it is through the sensing function that he falls 'into the grip' of the unconscious (to use Von Franz's phrase). For such an individual eating is experienced as 'numinous', mysterious, compelling - it is experienced with intensity and threatens to overwhelm the individual. With this in mind we can see that gluttony (a commonly cited characteristic of 7s), is a pitfall of intuitives (who have sensing as an inferior function), and not of sensory types, as is usually assumed by enneagram theorists (who consequently mis-interpret 7s as 'sensory' types).
2s are the 'helpers', openly declaring their love for others. They have highly developed feeling functions, a capacity for sympathy and compassion, and a sensitivity to the feelings of others. Like the MBTI 'extraverted feeling types', the E(S/N)FJs, they above all else want 'harmonious human contact' (p. 92, Myers). They want to please others and be of service to them. (p. 94)
Both 2s and the 'extraverted feeling types' that are prototypical of zone 2 make friends easily. More often than other types 2s also seek their identity in other people. Palmer describes the 2 as suffering a related confusion in identifying personal needs. The 2 remarks 'I can become what you want, but what do I really feel for you?' (p.103, Palmer).
Along similar lines, Myers tells an anecdote about one EN FJ, who reputedly said, 'So-and-so asked me what I thought of type, and I didn't know what to tell her, because I didn't know how she felt about it' (p. 95, Myers). Von Franz says of extraverted feeling types,
It is not surprising, then, when Quenk observes that they are particularly susceptible to developing co-dependency relationships with others (p. 137, Quenk). Their weakness, in this regard, is associated with their inferior thinking function, which deprives them of a stable 'point of view' or 'intellectual position'. They are, so to speak, 'intellectually groundless', and so they seek their reference frame in others.
The inferior introverted thinking of the E(S/N)FJs manifests in their dislike for abstract or philosophical thinking. Thinking is neglected and thus underdeveloped (p. 131, Quenk) rendering it 'negative and coarse'. The E(S/N)FJs Inferior thinking is exhibited in hypercriticalness and judgments 'which they never allow really to come out'. In those infrequent introverted moments when he allows himself to think, the E(S/N)FJs thoughts are self-critical and disparaging:
Quenk describes the inferior thinking of the E(S/N)FJs as manifesting in excessive criticism, convoluted logic, and compulsive search for exacting truth:
Inferior thinking can involve complicated and improbable scenario-building, according to idiosyncratic personal 'logics', rigidity and over-organization in the external world. Or feeling types may choose to get out of the difficulty of having to think by '...simply selling their souls to some already established system'. (p. 58, Von Franz). When they do think, Von Franz tells us, it tends to be in platitudes and banal phrases.
9s are the introverted partners of 2s in the above pairings. They are the enneagram types described as peacemakers and mediators. The I(N/S)FPs that are the MBTI 'introverted feeling' types protypical of zone 9 are likewise described as peacemakers and mediators. ISFPs, like their extraverted counterparts (ESFJs) 'value harmonious human contact' (p. 92, Myers). They are friendly, tactful and sympathetic. It is said of ISFPs that
The INFPs, the other introverted-feeling type, can
'generally exert a positive secret influence on their surroundings' without even knowing it. Jung described the INFP as one in whom 'still waters run deep'. Riso uses this identical phrase to distinguish 9s from others in his type identifier (RETI). Like the extraverted feeling types associated with zone 2, the introverted feeling types have 'thinking' as their inferior function. Their weakness is in 'not knowing what it is they are thinking'. [Just as 8s or 5s, when asked what they are 'feeling' may have to look very closely before they can make such a determination, 9s and 2s may have a problem identifying what they are thinking at any given moment]. For 9s this manifests in 'not having a position'. Palmer describes this:
In order to compensate for inferior thinking, the 9 may set up rigid routines, or give allegiance to simplistic ideas. In this way Inferior extraverted thinking (in the INFP or ISFP) can be manifest in 'intellectual mono-mania' - a one track mind (as exhibited by Freud, according to Von Franz): 'In all his works the basic ideas are few. With them he has raced through an enormous amount of material'.(61) Such thinking can become 'tyrannical, stiff, and unyielding'.
Like the extraverted feeling types, their introverted counterparts can become self-critical, nit-picky, judgmental (p. 97, Quenk). They become focused on their own incompetence. Their actions can be precipitous - in an attempt to act in a controlled and decisive fashion (in the attempt to compensate for weak 'thinking').
3s are interested in their presentation to others, their accomplishments, and credentials. They are 'performers', projecting an image to others: 'Rather than do what they think or feel, they do what will be acceptable and applauded.' They adapt to the cultural norm and are self-promotional (p. 143, Palmer). They are ambitious, pragmatic, and goal oriented (p. 67, Riso). Intuition, which would put them in touch with 'possibilities' and make them comfortable with change and open-endedness, is underdeveloped. Their inferior intuition manifests itself, therefore, in their leanings toward opportunism (as opposed to opportunity) and exploitation of others. They can be deceptive and devious. For them, unattractive work environments include 'creative projects that require introspection or periods of trial and error before a product emerges' (p.152, Palmer), as these are precisely the environments in which one would have to call on developed intuitional capacity to ferret out the possibilities embedded in a situation. 3s are 'in the present', doing. Unless they are occupied with an activity in the present moment, they are threatened by premonitions of non-existence (which are, in fact, primitive intuitions into the emptiness of the underlying self). As Palmer says, 'They fear that nobody's at home when meditating; that the real self does not exist' (p.167).
The MBTI types prototypical of zone 3 are extraverted sensing types, ES(T/F)P, who are 'matter of fact and practical' people. They also value custom and convention, and a capacity for enjoying life as it is. (99) They are curious about anything new that is presented to their senses. They 'value material possessions and take the time to acquire, care for, and enjoy them' (p.100, Myers). 'Among ESFPs are the students whose high school class voted them 'the friendliest' or 'the best sport'.
'Intuition', for the extraverted sensing type is 'just the realm of crazy fantasy', Von Franz tells us (p. 28, VF). 'If such a person had intuitions at all, they would be of a suspicious or grotesque nature' . '...His intuition, being inferior, [is] like a dog sniffing in garbage pails'. (p. 29) Although they are curious about anything new that is presented to their senses, for the individual with introverted inferior intuition, 'anything mysterious is rather distasteful'. Such a person often has an underlying negative, self-depreciative attitude (because they, also, fear that 'nobody is home'!) Their fantasy life is 'primitive', archaic, and they can thus easily become involved in strange social movements, 'occult phenomena' and 'fantastic sects'. (p. 30) There is tremendous creative energy (and danger) in primitive intuition, wild and fantastic in nature. (p. 31) Von Franz describes how inferior intuition can take concrete shape in the telling of fantastic stories (ghost stories and the likes) by individuals with inferior intuition, who must 'concretize' their intuitions. (p. 33)
The ISFJ, a prototypical 6, 'emphasizes loyalty, consideration and the common welfare' (p.104, Myers). Sometimes enneagram type 6 is, similarly, labeled 'the loyalist'. 'Trust and social affiliation' characterize the 6, according to Riso. They have 'the potential for emotional bonding with others, group identification, sociability, industriousness, loyalty to others, and commitment to larger efforts'. (p. 82)
The situation for introverted sensation types [IS(T/F)Js], who embody inferior extraverted intuition, is similar to their extraverted complementary types [the ES(T/F)Js]. Inferior intuition manifests itself as suspicion of the outer world, paranoia and doubt. Inferior introverted intuition has a 'weird, eerie' quality (p.34, Von Franz):
...That is how the fight looks between the superior and inferior functions in the introverted sensation type. If you try to force him to assimilate intuition too quickly, he gets symptoms of giddiness or seasickness. He feels carried away from the solid ground of reality, and because he is so stuck there, he gets actual symptoms of sea-sickness. I knew one introverted sensation type woman who had to go to bed to do active imagination; otherwise she felt exactly as if she were on a boat.
Because the introverted sensation type's superior function is introverted, his intuition is extraverted and therefore is generally triggered off by outer events. Such a type might, while walking down a street, see a crystal in a shop window, and his intuition might suddenly grasp its symbolic meaning: the whole symbolic meaning of the crystal would flood into his soul. But that would have been triggered off by the outside event, since his inferior intuition is essentially extraverted. Naturally he has the same bad characteristics as the extraverted sensation type; in both, intuitions are very often of a sinister character, and if not worked upon, therefore, the prophetic contents that break through will be pessimistic and negative. (p. 35-36)
The introverted sensation type described in the passage above, it will be remembered, is prototypical of zone 6. Enneagram type 6s are often described in similar ways . 6s can spot the weak points in arguments, feel as if they can 'see through slick images and false presentations' (Palmer, 238). They are characterized by skepticism and doubt. They are described as 'scanning the environment for potential threats' (p. 241). And although they are said to have 'an intuitive style that depends upon a powerful imagination', it is a style that comes out of 'a fearful mind', and (we suggest) is actually a manifestation of inferior intuition, intuition steeped in the numinous reaches of the unconscious, as the 'inferior' function characteristically is. To put it succinctly, when 6s imagine, they 'imagine the worst' (p.247). And such 'worst case imaginings' can 'become believable enough to replace reality in a paranoid episode', according to Palmer (p. 246).
Inferior intuition in IS(T/F)Js is described by Quenk as manifesting in lack of control over facts and details, impulsiveness, and 'catastrophizing':
7s are individuals who are continually on the outlook for new opportunities. They detect unborn future possibilities, not yet visible but present in seed form in 'the background of the situation'. The 7 is the extroverted intuitive par excellence, continually seeking out adventure in the environment. The prototypical 'ENTP' is similarly described as original, ingenious, operating by 'impulsive' energy. He/she is usually involved in 'a succession of projects', and is versatile, enthusiastic and 'full of ideas about everything under the sun' (p.106, Myers).
7s are similarly seen as enthusiastic (p. 82, Riso). They characteristically 'escape into the limitless possibilities of imagination' (p. 275, Palmer). 'There is a chemistry for peak experience, as if champagne, not blood, were running in the veins', according to Palmer. They are the creative ones who have learned to hone their intuitive skills, but as intuition and sensation are 'polar opposites', it is at the expense of the development of the sensory function that intuition is developed. They are
It is the 7 whose attention is habitually '...attracted to fascinating ideas and dreams', making it very hard for them 'to slow the mind down in order to focus on a single point' (p. 297, Palmer).
This situation is similar to the one that the 'extraverted intuitives' [EN(F/T)P] - who also 'sow but rarely reap' - find themselves in. The inferior introverted sensing function is often manifest in a tendency to ignore the body. The intuitive does not know when he is tired or hungry. Indeed, 'If he is an exaggerated one-sided type he does not know that he has any endosomatic feelings' (p. 39, Von Franz). The 'gluttony' that is associated with 7s may, then, be but an attempt to experience the body by someone whose sensory functions are 'inferior'. It is not surprising that Palmer should similarly describe the gluttony of the seven as a 'bodily hunger' for excitement and experience (p. 298). She says,
The INFJ is an introverted intuitive, prototypical of zone 4. She connects inwardly, using her intuitive capacity to perceive the infinite within. There is a 'spiritual' air to the INFJ, what might even be called a romantic 'absence'. She is not primarily 'in' the sensory world (due to her inferior sensory function) - she is in an interior world of intuitive vision and infinite possibility. Myers describes the INFJ as 'driven by their inner vision of possibilities' (p.110). Riso similarly describes the 4 as having a 'potential for intuition and ...self-revelation'. (p. 80)
Here is Von Franz's description of the 'inferior extraverted sensation' of Swedenborg, a mystic (and an introverted intuitive):
Von Franz also describes Neitsche's introverted-intuitive problem in approaching sex in a similarly uninhibited fashion (another bodily function capable of coming under the influence of the inferior sensing function steeped in the individual's 'unconscious').
In the same vein, Riso says of 4s that they can gradually come to feel different from others:
The role of the inferior sensing function is again emphasized (via a propensity toward 'sensual decadence').
For 8s, the primary issue is control and power.
The E(S/N)TJ s that are prototypical 8s are the 'executives', who enjoy 'administration'; they have a natural interest in control and 'in running things' (p. 85, Myers), and demonstrate a 'willingness to issue strict orders'. They want to be the ones who make the decisions and write the rules by which others live. They are not shy about requiring conformity of others. They have no compunction about 'inflicting [their] own judgment upon other people'. (p.87) They are analytical and impersonal - decisive, logical, strong in reasoning power. Their emotional life is described as 'accidental', and underdeveloped.
Palmer similarly recognizes the excessive nature of the primitive feelings of 8s. They are prone to the 'open expression of anger' and also lust. Theirs is an 'all or nothing' style. Excess is an 'antidote to boredom', and (we might add) to underdeveloped feeling. 'Late hours, heavy entertainment, bingeing. Too much, too loud, too many.' They exhibit inferior feeling:
5s experience similar problems, due to their inferior feeling function. The prototypical type 5 is the I(N/S)TP, whose primary function is thinking. This is the individual who ponders internal thoughts. His inferior function is feeling, according to the Myers-Briggs indicator, and he will typically withdraw from social contact, as his relational skills are underdeveloped. Riso calls the associated enneagram type 5 'the thinker' - whom he characterizes as inventive, interested in the acquisition of knowledge, etc. It is frequently pointed out that 5s are prone to withdrawal and have problems derived from absence of adequate feeling skills. According to Myers, INTPs
The I(N/S)TPs are introverted thinking types, whose inferior feeling function can characteristically lead to hypersensitivity to relationship, emotionalism, and an extreme emphasis on logic, according to Quenk (p.113).
Riso describes 5s in the following similar way:
Do MBTI types that are 1s cluster around a single 'inferior' function, like the types in other zones do? Statistically this does not seem to be the case. What then is the 'issue' with respect to zone 1 - the theme around which MBTI family members might be clustering in this zone? . Perhaps what 1s are trying to do is synthesize opposites: in order to make the ideal real. Riso says:
At first glance, this would imply that 1s are intuitives, interested in the possibility of what does not yet exist. But they are also described as being equally attentive to detail, fact, and the 'real' (ie 'sensory') world. Is it possible, then, that the 'issue' in this zone is one of synthesis of intuition and the sensory world (N and S), and perhaps thinking and feeling (F and T) as well? For Jung a balancing and synthesis of the four functions would comprise 'individuation', the ultimate goal of personal development.
But Jung also believed that the four functions consist of two pairs of opposites - feeling and thinking are mutually exclusive, as are sensing and intuiting. Individuals, he believed, use and develop one polar opposite function at the expense of the other. We dealt with these Jungian infrastructural assumptions in Part 1, where we called them 'J3' and 'J4'. It is these assumptions that preclude the possibility of an 'E\N-S-F-T' MBTI type (among other 'non-legitimate' combinations), since for Jung if intuition is the dominant function, sensing must be the inferior one, and cannot be the auxiliary one. Let's consider what would happen if we threw these assumptions (J3 and J4) out, permitting permutations like the one directly above.
Well, it would expand the number of permissible types to 48. And amongst the types would be ones that have intuition and sensing as dominant and support functions respectively! Might individuals of these types be the ones whose primary mission (and 'issue') in life is the reconciliation of intuition (possibility) and sensing (reality)? These 'non-traditional' types could be the ones that are 1s.
This is just speculation, of course. Nevertheless, others have chosen to seriously entertain the possibility that J3 and J4 might be questionable assumptions. Jungian analysts Singer and Loomis themselves dropped these assumptions after meeting a number of individuals who seemed to 'break the rule'. We also have come across individuals who score, for instance, as ENTPs on the MBTI and should have a N-T-F-S ordering pattern, but who in fact have an N-T-S-F pattern [which is not a legitimate MBTI option!]. Indeed, Singer and Loomis devised a type identification system (the 'SLIP') which can distinguish the additional 36 types that are left out of the MBTI by assumptions J3 and J4. Following Spoto's thinking about this, individuals amongst these additional types might be considered to be especially creative and/or conflicted. This offers some evidence for the hypothesis that the 'paradoxical' task of the 1s may be correlated to these 'non-traditional' MBTI types.
Since this revision of the Jungian infrastructure further complicates matters (we would now need to distribute 48 different types across the 9 points of the enneagram), we have left mention of it until now. If Singer and Loomis are right about the existence of such types, however, they must be accounted for. And their presence may also help to explain why some INFPs (for example) are 6s instead of 9s: IF we assume that the non-traditional 'I\F-N-T-S' (which would have sensing for the inferior function, and therefore find allegiance with other 6s) might test as 'INFPs' using the MBTI (and be thereby misunderstood as having 'I\F-N-S-T' patterns).
Myers, Isabel Briggs, & Myers, Peter B. (1980, 1993). Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type. Palo Alto, California: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Palmer, Helen (1988), The Enneagram: The Definitive Guide to the Ancient System for Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your life. San Francisco: Harper and Row.
Quenk, Naomi (1993), Beside Ourselves: Our Hidden Personality in Everyday Life. Palo Alto: CPP Books.
Riso, Don Richard (1992), Discovering Your Personality Type: The Enneagram Questionnaire. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Spoto, Angelo (1995), Jung's Typology in Perspective, Revised Edition. Wilmette, Illinois: Chiron Publications.
Von Franz, Marie Louise (1971), Lectures on Jung's Typology: The Inferior Function. Dallas: Spring Publications.
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