How to Determine the Enneagram Personality Type of Others

Ones are known as perfectionists. It makes sense since they are often trying to do the right thing. Again, the One may not see themselves as a perfectionist at first, but once you can see them being correct or correcting others and doing this as a way of relating to the world around them while at the same time noticing how frequently the One tries to fix the wrong in the environment, you can help that One understand themselves as a perfectionist. • It can be good to just ask the prospective types whether they see themselves as a perfectionist. The One has a fixation of attention that looks for error as well as correctness or incorrectness in their external and internal environments. The One watches out for the opportunity to correct themselves or others. If you find a person correcting errors in their surroundings, that person could be a One. Determining Enneagram type is a bit like making an educated guess. It is not a science; rather, it is an art. See if you can figure out the fixation of attention for the One by watching what he or she pays attention to. If you can see errors in your own environment and then see if the prospective One corrects the error, you’re probably going to see correctly that the person is type One. • A great question to ask the One is if he or she experiences an inner critic frequently talking to them. All Ones have an internal critic telling them in their thoughts what should or shouldn’t be done. They are critical people who think in terms of correctness. You might say that everyone has an internal critic, but for type Ones, this is something they strongly identify with. Everyone can think in terms of criticality or correctness, but the One does this as a way of relating to the world around them. Thus, Ones identify with their inner critic as being part of their internal selves more strongly than other types do. A certain amount of the Enneagram involves unconscious behavior that someone may not be fully aware of. For example, the person who is a One but doesn’t realize they have a fixation of attention that watches for errors or incorrectness is typical of that person before he or she comes into the Enneagram material. Once shown their fixation, they can develop an ability to observe their own fixation of attention. Asking the Ones if they pay attention to error in their environment may or may not bring out their type’s energy or intelligence. Instead, showing the person their fixation of attention is to pay attention to error and is a way to educate the person you want to type about his or her internal selves. If you can observe a One’s fixation of attention, you can then bring it out of the One. Point it out right after the One corrects something. When it happens again, point it out again. The fixation of attention is a repeating pattern; it keeps happening and not infrequently. It happens throughout the day, each day, for that person’s entire lifetime. • Ones are judgmental and critical people. Ask if they identify with being this way. • Ones experience themselves as good people, trying to do what is correct, just, or moral. This is another identifier for type One. Their passion on the Enneagram is anger; it does not mean they are angry people or get angry frequently. What it means is that anger, often in subtle ways, comes out of them through their criticality and judgmental selves. A tinge of anger accompanies their critical statements. See if you can observe their anger when they get critical. Ones are sometimes a little bit angry; their anger leaks out of them. You aren’t looking for an outburst of anger; rather, you’re observing slight anger through criticality. This criticality can be towards themselves or others. • If the One has an outburst of anger, the next internal step for the One is to judge that anger. Ask prospective Ones whether they judge themselves after getting it wrong (anger being a “wrong” emotion). Ask Ones whether they judge their anger after getting angry. This is an example of self-criticality. • Ones seek to improve the world in various ways; they are also called reformers. They try to reduce disorder in their environment. Ask if they do this. Something to note: many people might identify with the statement that they try to reduce disorder in their environment. A way to narrow it down to type One is to ask if they do this on a frequent basis and whether they feel part of their personality is to improve the world in various ways. Also, remember to ask if the person identifies as doing this more so in their twenties and thirties (when the grip of the Enneagram Personality Type is strongest). • Integrity, being good, and doing good are values that the One has. Ask them if these values resonate with them. Also, they have a self-image of being sensible, moderate, and objective. Ones reinforce their self-image by trying to live their lives in accordance with their conscience and reason. They are highly ethical and self-disciplined and possess a strong sense of purpose and conviction. Truthful and articulate, they teach by example, putting aside personal desires for the greater good. Ask the One if these statements resonate. If yes, you can conclude that they are likely to be type Ones. • Ones may sometimes feel they are wasting time if they are not improving themselves and their environment in some way. • Ones have intuition regarding doing the right thing. They have an ability to know how to do the right thing, particularly regarding moral values. • Ones frequently engage in self-criticism. They can be very sensitive to their inner critic, feeling as though they need to measure up to it. • Ones care deeply about being good people and are moved into action by wanting to do something about the problems they see around them. This might manifest as wanting to save the environment, alleviate poverty, or do something for those less fortunate. Ones firmly believe they can make a difference. Acceptance Knowing that Ones have a serious inner critic can lead you to have more love, compassion, and acceptance of a type One. You know that they are suffering from their inner critic and basically just trying to do the right thing. They are basically good people and pride themselves on being good people. Their point of view on the Enneagram is to be a perfectionist. If you see their perfectionist behavior as part of their way of relating to the world, you can navigate these people better. You can say to yourself that the criticism they make of others is coming from a desire to make improvements and make things better. You might also find compassion knowing that the One is hard on himself and suppresses his desire for pleasure by being critical of himself and others. You might also understand the passion of the One is anger, and if you notice his criticality coming with some anger directed at you, you can forgive that anger since you know is just part of the One’s personality structure. His passion makes him angry, and he expresses that anger through criticism or criticality. Ones are hard on themselves. Their inner critic makes it this way. Talk to the One about his inner critic and bring out his feelings and thoughts about his inner critic. You will open up to each other. You will develop love, acceptance, and forgiveness by just having an in-depth conversation about the One’s inner critic.