I HATE BEING “AVERAGE”
but I’m working my way up!

PREVIOUS: Levels of Development #3a

BOOK: “Personality Types “~ Riso & Hudson (excerpt pages)

MEANING of the 3 Mental Health GROUPINGS (cont.)
AVERAGE (4-6) – ALL Types
LEVEL 4 – Imbalance
♦︎ External Behaviors – We are non-conforming, dilettante or expert, we acquire technique, collect, delay closure, practice, prepare, study, withdraw
♦︎ Internal Attitudes – We are acquisitive, abstracting, encyclopedic, knowledgeable, uncensored, uncertain. We analyze, build models, conceptualize & ‘fine tune’

♦︎ Desire is To – feel safer & more confident by retreating into our mind & imagination (like a Tinker Toy)
♦︎ Basic Fear of this Level – That others will demand too much of us, & then our inner world will be threatened.

At Level 4, we become more attached to / identified with a self-image we’ve created, & tend to reject any of our qualities & actions not consistent with that ‘picture’. Protecting our self-image comes at the price of limiting our options.
● We now believe that by striving for the qualities listed at Level 2, we’ll be able to meet our needs.
● Dissatisfied with reality, we become high-minded idealists, thinking it’s up to us to improve everything, so can become crusaders, critics, advocates. We get into “causes” & try to explain to others how things “ought” to be.
* * * *
LEVEL 5 – Inter-personal Control
♦︎ External Behaviors – We are flighty, high-strung, impractical, mis-interpreting, offbeat, preoccupied, secretive, speculative. We create fantasy worlds, compartmentalizing ourself into parts
♦︎ Internal Attitudes – We are agitated, absent-minded, detached, distant, indiscriminate, intense – complexifying, minimizing & ignoring our needs

♦︎ Desire is To – shut out intrusions (be more ‘in their head’)
♦︎ Basic Fear of this Level – That others are attacking our niche or our competency

At Level 5 we’re afraid of making a mistake, so everything must be consistent with our ideals. We become orderly & well-organized, but emotionally constricted, impersonal & puritanical, rigidly keeping feelings & impulses in check. Often workaholics, can get anal-compulsive, fastidious, punctual & pedantic.

●  In personal relationships we are manipulative & controlling, insisting that people accept our self-image. Unfortunately they don’t always respond the way we want, leading to tension & conflict.
● At this Level, we start to see the Shadow Issue of each type – the hidden elements of our personality that represents the major defect each type needs to correct in order to grow.
* * * * *
LEVEL 6 – Over-compensation
♦︎ External Behaviors – We are contentious, far-fetched, insensitive, prickly, scornful, submissive. We argue antagonize, provoke, rationalize
♦︎ Internal Attitudes – We are cynical, extreme, greedy, impatient, intellectually arrogant, pessimistic, stingy. We are distrusting & jump to conclusions

♦︎ Desire is To – scare off anyone who threatens our niche or inner world
♦︎ Basic Fear (red flag) – That we’re never going to find our place with people or in the world

Throughout the Levels, the strategies we use are a way to ‘manage’ underlying anger, shame, or fear.
At Level 6 we over-compensate for those emotions. We’re so desperate to have others accept our self-image that we end up being offensive –  abrasive, indignantly angry, moralizing, scolding.
● We’re highly critical both of self & others: judgmental, picky, perfectionistic. Impatient, never satisfied with anything unless it’s done according to our prescription.
● Are very opinionated about everything : correcting people and badgering them to “do the right thing” – as we see it.

From:  “The Everything Enneagram Book“ by Susan Reynolds
“While it’s true that part of your type is genetically predetermined, without question our early childhood experiences vastly affect our development.
The quality & style of parenting, in conjunction with environmental givens — health, income, education, location, and wealth or dearth of physical, emotional, or spiritual resources — have everything to do with our ability to function at the higher, the middle, or the lower spectrum of our EnneaType.

We began life whole, but whatever happened in our early life led to a set of adaptive behaviors that suppressed our essence & created a self-constructed ego.
These traits are sustained by habit & the failure to examine our beliefs. If our childhood was particularly dysfunctional, our coping mechanisms will likely be more rigid and more neurotic than those people who had “normal” or idyllic upbringings. Fear grows in proportion to the dysfunction — the greater our early childhood family’s dysfunction the greater our underlying fear, anger, or need for relationship.”

NEXT: Levels of Development – part 3c