Do you ever wonder why you are the way you are? Like, what motivates you and how to categorize yourself? I’m not talking about genetics, nurture versus nature, or even astrology—I’m talking about your basic personality style. Enter: the Enneagram, which is Greek for “nine points,” says Suzanne Stabile, a speaker, teacher who’s taught the Enneagram for over 25 years, and co-author of The Road Back To You.
The Enneagram is an “ancient personality typing system that teaches that there are nine basic personality styles in the world,” says Ian Morgan Cron, a psychotherapist and co-author of The Road Back To You. The teaching is around 3,000 years old, Stabile adds, and it's been openly taught as an oral tradition since the 1970s, when people started doing research on it. (In fact, several in-depth papers and dissertations have been written about the Enneagram since then.)
Meet the Experts:
Suzanne Stabile is a speaker, teacher who’s taught the Enneagram for over 25 years, and co-author of The Road Back To You.
Ian Morgan Cron is a psychotherapist and co-author of The Road Back To You.
The teaching goes a little something like this: During childhood, we gravitate and adopt a personality style “type” to protect ourselves and navigate relationships, Cron explains.
“The deeper you go, the more you learn about how much [the Enneagram] offers us in terms of honestly finding our way back to who we were before,” Stabile says. “We had to put on so much protection and personality to make our way in the world.” Enneagrams are based on motivation, not behavior, she explains, and each type has an unconscious motivation that influences how they act.
Ahead, learn all about the Enneagram, including all of the different types, the triads that go along with them, and what the Enneagram test is like.
What is the Enneagram test?
The Enneagram test is a psychometric test, which is a scientific method used to measure an individual's mental capabilities and behavioral style. Essentially, psychometric tests are designed to assess “candidates' suitability for a role based on the required personality characteristics and aptitude (or cognitive abilities),” according to the Psychometric Institute. The best ones are created by those with PhDs who know psychometric construction, says Cron. He recommends the Intelligent Enneagram Questionaire (IEQ9) “because it's so scientifically well-validated against a large sample pool.”
Stabile, however, isn’t a big supporter of Enneagram tests because they identify behavior instead of measuring motivation. But if you opt to take one, she recommends The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator.
If you’re curious about your Enneagram type but don’t want to take either test, you can also read a book and figure out which one you identify with.
How many Enneagram types are there?
There are nine different Enneagram types.
Type One: The Approver
Some might also call Type One a “perfectionist,” Cron says. This type is ethical, meticulous, and detail-oriented. Their way of “seeing the world is that they see what's wrong, and they think it's their responsibility to fix it,” Stabile adds. “That could be any injustice, and it could be a picture that's hanging crooked on the wall.”
They have an internal critic voice, and they’re always trying to do things perfectly—in fact, they struggle with non-productive thinking, Stabile explains. “They're morally heroic people, and they're motivated by a need to perfect themselves, others, and the world—and to avoid fault and blame,” Cron adds.
Celebrity examples: Natalie Portman, Emma Watson, Julie Andrews, Michelle Obama, and Kate Middleton
Type Two: The Helper
These people are warm, caring, and giving, and highly motivated by a need to be liked and needed. (Have you ever been told you’re a people pleaser? Yeah, you may be a Type Two.) “They typically want to avoid acknowledging their own needs,” Cron adds.
Their need to help others is also a weakness, adds Stabile. “It's frightening for them when they're really tired, and they don't have anything to give because they're not sure of their own values and their own worth without that,” she says. It’s ideal for The Helper types to stay in their lane, Stabile adds, so they don't end up regretting taking on more than they can handle.
Celebrity examples: Jennifer Garner, Dolly Parton, Maya Angelou, and Kristen Bell
If you're a Type Two, it's important to care for yourself, too. Watch this video for tips:
Type Three: The Performer
These success-oriented people are driven by productivity and are highly-valued in American hustle culture, Stabile says. Motivated by a need to succeed, they’re image-conscious and try to avoid failure, Cron explains.
“They're all about efficiency,” Stabile says. “They can transform into whatever an audience wants them to be in any ground work.” They're like a social chameleon, easily acting differently in front of different groups of people.
Celebrity examples: Kim Kardashian, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, and Meghan Markle
Type Four: The Romantic
Type fours are “creative, sensitive, moody, [and] very imaginative,” Cron says. (They’re also the most complex number, Stabile adds.) You might see a lot of them taking on a career in the arts or with other creative endeavors. “They're motivated by a need to be special and unique really to compensate for what they perceive as a missing piece,” he adds.
They're also very emotional. "Feelings are really important to them, and they like to have deep conversations—they're not good with small talk," Stabile says.
Celebrity examples: Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Kate Winslet, Sheryl Crow, and Kurt Cobain
Type Five: The Investigator
Type fives are independent, analytical, detached, and private, Cron says. “They’re motivated really by a need to conserve energy to gain knowledge,” he adds. (They like to be with people who are experts in their field.) Fives also try to avoid feelings of inadequacy and ineptitude, and they work out most things in their head.
Fives have a specific amount of energy every day, and each time they encounter someone, a bit of it decreases. “They don't like the insecurity of being in the world and running out [of energy], so we see them sometimes as distant and loose when they're really connected,” Stabile explains. “They're the only number that is capable of true neutrality.”
Celebrity examples: Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Diane Sawyer, Steve Jobs, and Tina Fey
Type Six: The Loyalist
As the name suggests, type sixes are committed, practical, and witty. They’re the most concerned about the common good than the other numbers, Stabile says.
“They are the people who make up the fabric that hold together all of the relationships and organizations that we're a part of,” she explains, listing workplaces, churches, and other organizations as examples. “They stay even if things get testy unless it involves their integrity.”
Many sixes are teachers. In fact, a lot of sixes do things that just need to be done behind the scenes that other people don’t want to do, Stabile adds.
However, “they tend to be ‘worst case scenario’ thinkers, and they're motivated by fear and the need for security, safety, and support, Cron adds.
Celebrity examples: Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks, Prince Harry, and Princess Diana
Type Seven: The Enthusiast
Type sevens are fun, spontaneous, and adventurous, and do their best to avoid distressing or unpleasant feelings, thoughts, and situations. They're also big on planning stimulating experiences because they're motivated by a need to be happy, says Cron.
But they’re also “systems people,” so they understand the world by noticing where systems overlap and trying to create a whole out of several things, Stabile adds. In relationships, people love their humor, but might not bother getting to know them on a deeper level.
Celebrity examples: Robin Williams, Kristen Chenoweth, Andy Samberg, Jack Black, and Jim Carrey
Type Eight: The Challenger
Commanding, intense, and confrontational are all ways to describe type eights. They’re leaders who are also “notoriously blunt” and can be intimidating. “They're really motivated by a need to assert strength and power over the environment,” Cron explains. But it’s all to hide their vulnerable feelings from others and themselves.
Stabile explains that society doesn’t value female eights that way male eights are valued, even in this day and age. “They have the same leadership gifts and they use them, but they do it with the reality of people not understanding them or their motivation as they move through life,” she says. (Is “The Man” by Taylor Swift stuck in anyone else’s head RN?)
Celebrity examples: Martin Luther King, Jr., Barbara Walters, Dr. Phil, Chelsea Handler, and Dax Shepard
Type Nine: The Peacemaker
These people are just straight-up pleasant, laid-back, accommodating, and they go with the flow. “Their gift is that they see two sides to everything, but that's also their problem,” Stabile says. They’re also called mediators, so they’re unsurprisingly great at helping groups in conflict with one another—even though they dislike conflict—so they’re often concerned about it.
“They're motivated by a need to keep internal and external peace—they tend to merge with others or groups and individuals,” Cron says.
Celebrity examples: Zooey Deschanel, Marie Kondo, Ariana Grande, Queen Elizabeth, John F. Kennedy, and Keanu Reeves
What is the rarest Enneagram type?
Type fours are the least represented, per Cron and Stabile. “They're the most difficult Enneagram type to understand,” Stabile adds.
What is the most common Enneagram type?
"We think there are more type sixes in the population than any other type—that's purely speculative, but I think there's some merit to it," Cron says. Stabile agrees, citing it as the most common Ennegram type. After sixes, type nines are the second-most represented in the population.
What is the hardest Enneagram type to be?
Short answer: There isn't one. “Every number finds it difficult and hard to be their number,” Stabile says. “We know ourselves by what we get wrong.”
Can you be more than one Enneagram type?
Technically, you contain all nine Enneagram types. “We carry the energies and the traits of all of them,” but “one of them sounds like it is more like you than the other eight,” Cron explains, calling it your “dominant type.”
So, if you’re normally a one, you could be an eight when you’re on the phone with your landlord about your increased rent. Or, if you’re manning a project at work, you could take on the attributes of a five.
Can your Enneagram type change throughout your life?
The way the Enneagram is traditionally taught is that you are one type for life, Cron explains. So while your dominant Enneagram type can't really change throughout your life, you can evolve into a different version of your type, he says.
So if you’re a four, you’ll always be a four—but the four you were at age 20 may behave differently than the four you are at age 40. Still, your motivation—which, remember, is the root of each Enneagram type—will remain that of a four.
What are the Enneagram type triads?
The nine types are divided into groups of three, all related to a part of the body, or a center of intelligence, says Cron. “All of us are three-brained people,” he adds, meaning that people tend to think not only with their brain, but also with their heart and gut. (Have you ever made a decision based on a mix of logic, emotion, and intuition? You used your "three brains" to do that!) Ahead, Cron explains each of the three Enneagram triads:
The Gut Triad
Also known as the anger triad, this triad houses types one, eight, and nine. They “typically approach the world, process information, [and] respond to the world at the level of the gut,” Cron explains. This triad relies on their gut first and foremost, "preferring intuition and instincts over feelings or facts," he adds. If you ever make a decision based on a gut feeling, you might belong in this triad.
The Heart Triad
Nicknamed the feeling triad, types two, three, and four are in the heart triad. It’s made up of people who are emotional and “greet the world and process the world principally through the heart, through feelings,” Cron explains.
The Head Triad
Types five, six, and seven are all in this triad, also known as the fear triad, and they take in information from the environment, Stabile says. They act based on their mind, so they’re “thinkers and planners,” sometimes doing a bit too much of both, Cron adds.
When it comes to compatibility among the triads, you won't automatically get along better with fellow members of your group. "Any number can get along with another number," says Cron. "But the most compatible individuals are those who are self-aware and can own who they are—their strengths and weaknesses—and can also accept others as they are."
So regardless of you and a friend or partner's Enneagram types, you'll get along just fine... so long as you acknowledge and appreciate your differences. After all, each Ennegram type brings a delicious dish to life's personality potluck.
Addison Aloian (she/her) is an editorial assistant at Women’s Health. When she’s not writing about all things pop culture, health, beauty, and fashion, she loves hitting leg day at the gym, shopping at Trader Joe’s, and watching whichever hockey game is on TV. Her work has also appeared in Allure, StyleCaster, L’Officiel USA, V Magazine, and Modern Luxury Media.
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