Enneagram Instincts

While everyone has all three instincts, most people find that one is dominant (more motivating than the rest), one is secondary, and one is a blindspot or shadow instinct.

The "stacking" of these instincts can color each enneagram Type in significant ways,changing its expression. These combinations of Type + Instinct are called Subtypes.

“sp/sx 9” refers to the Enneagram Type 9 with a dominant Self-Preservation instinct and a secondary Sexual instinct (and a blindspot Social instinct).

Self-Preservation (sp)

• Become especially identified with their evaluation of their well-being and the means by which they shape their lifestyle.

Domains:

▸Body (health and feelings of well-being)

▸Home (domestic nesting, safe spaces, and physical resources)

▸Skills (knowledge, know-how, and practical abilities)

• Driven by this instinct, they become resourceful, and are often practical, evaluating, and cautious.

Sexual (sx)

• Become especially identified with their courtship display and the means by which they elicit attraction and chemistry.

Domains:

▸Fusion (merging with others or tasks, bringing arousal and feelings of emersion, heat, addiction, and ecstasy)

▸Chemistry (awareness of unitive energy, broadcasting their energy to see who bites, seeking after others, seduction and display)

▸Risk (risk-taking, pushing boundaries, jumping-in, and testing connections)

• Driven by this instinct, they become attracting, and are often edgy, intense, emotive, and combative.

Social (so)

• Become especially identified with relating to others, staying affiliated with them, and the means by which to do so.

Domains:

▸Connection (affiliating, maintaining friendships, group bonding)

▸Mindreading (reading what people want, interpreting social cues)

▸Contribution (caregiving, social role, supporting the group)

• Driven by this instinct, they become socially integrated, and are often engaging, likable, and adaptable.

Countertypes

Each Enneagram Type has a Countertype which is the Instinctual variant which looks least like the other two, and often presents elements which seem "counter" to the type. For example, the sp3 may not seek acclaim nor dress to impress and looks a lot like a Type 6. And the sx6 (the counter-phobic 6) attacks their fears, looking more like a Type 8 in bold strength. Countertypes on this sheet are underlined.

8: Challenger

sp: Satisfier: obsessed with desires / do not take frustration well / “Life is a jungle, and those who survive are the strongest” / “Once their objective has been attained, they return to their den.”

sx: Possessor: take possession of others / loud attraction displays / “provocative and proud of their tendency to deviate from the norm.” / “feel betrayed if it seems you won’t go with them to the grave.”

so: Accomplice: the anti-social trying to be social / protective leadership / “extreme loyalty so intense it’s harmful” (complicity) / “Strength without control is the most efficient road to the abyss.”

9: Peacemaker

sp: Distraction: strong appetite / shy, kind, inoffensive / “as they lick their lips in their narcotization and beat themselves down with their robotic doing, their lives become sad and gray.”

sx: Fusion: confusion (con-fusion) of self with other / self identity dissolves / “losing their own interests to put themselves at the service of the chosen other”

so: Belonging: group participation becomes identity / hard-working / “the biggest ‘nice guys’ of the ‘nice guys.’” / the benefactor

1: Perfectionist

sp: Worrier: anguish / warm assertiveness / the pioneer / “‘I have to/I must’ thinking patterns” / “They use a ever-growing, magic measuring stick.”

sx: Zealot: jealousy / vehemence / the evangelist / “agents of perfection” / “Spanish conquistadors” / “Their blood boils with their own [righteous] violence”. Like the sx8, seek to control, yet also seek the one to submit to.

so: Teacher: the social reformer / inadaptability / “the most rigid of the rigid” / “I told you so.” / stiff, awkward, intellectual