Guide to the Enneagram Personality Types: Origins and Influences

Enneagram with Arrows

Enneagram Personality Type Origins and Influences

Whereas the history of the Enneagram symbol begins with G.I. Gurdjieff, the origins of the Enneagram personality types begin with Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo.

Click on a topic below to learn more.

  • Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way
    Although G.I. Gurdjieff introduced the Enneagram symbol to the world, he used it very differently than the Enneagram personality types.
  • Oscar Ichazo and the Ego-Types
    The Enneagram personality types find their roots in Oscar Ichazo's five enneagrams which together described nine ego-types.
    • Enneagram Fixations
      Our habits of mind constrict and limit how we interpret and interact with the world around us.
    • Enneagram Traps
      The trap is the false remedy for our fixation, perpetuating the fixation instead of resolving it.
    • Enneagram Holy Ideas
      The holy idea is the true remedy for our fixation by allowing us to see through the fixation.
    • Enneagram Passions
      The passion represents the emotional energy that supports the corresponding ego-type fixation.
    • Enneagram Virtues
      Developing the type's virtue allows us to move beyond the passion supporting our ego fixation.
    • Enneagram Sins
      The seven deadly or capital sins of Christianity are sometimes correlated to the Enneagram passions.
  • Claudio Naranjo and the Enneatypes
    Today's Enneagram personality types come directly from Claudio Naranjo's enneatypes which evolved from Oscar Ichazo's ego-types.
  • Karen Horney and the Stances
    The Hornevian groups or stances come from Karen Horney's three types (compliant, detached, and aggressive).

Click here to learn more about the nine Enneagram personality types, type variations, type origins, and how the types use the Enneagram symbol.

Click here for additional Enneagram tests on type, wing, instinct, and centers.


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