Personality Development and the Enneagram?

Based on neuroscience, I see personality as genetic, but the genetics may not be expressed. Telomeres which sit on the ends of chromosomes, may or may not be expressed depending on environment, as supported by epigentetics (Siegel, 2016). Without the benefit of neuroscience Freud did a nice job of explaining personality development.

Personality has fascinated the world as a nine-pointed figure pointing to various personality types, floods social media. This shape gives us a window into our natural proclivities towards personality traits. Today, many parents seek personality development classes for kids to help their children better understand and enhance these traits from an early age. This personality system originated when Claudio Naranjo, originally a student of Fritz Pearls, met with a mystic in Chile named Oscar Ichazo (Kale et al., 2003). Upon returning to the states, notes of his teachings were passed along in Jesuit circles then translated into the popular Enneagram by Helen Palmer and later by many others (Matisse, 2007).

In a separate study with no knowledge of the Enneagram, Chess and Thomas did a similar study on children mapping out nine personality types that could be broken down into three categories; easy, difficult, and slow to warm up (Siegel, 2011). Each category has a largely unconscious emotional bias towards our natural instinct of anger or rage, the feeling of shame or the thinking center which is based on fear. This matched the Enneagram types which broke these three categories down as follows; the instinctive, the feeling and the thinking (Matise, 2007).

I do agree with Freud that the first five years shape our personality. However, how that personality expression is reinforced depends on events in life. There is a predisposed aspect to personality. For those seeking to further explore this, personality development classes near me can offer valuable insights and guidance. I think neuroscience and the Enneagram founders support the idea that Freud was on the right track.

• References

  • Kale, S. H., & Shrivastava, S. (2003).
    The enneagram system for enhancing workplace spirituality. The Journal of Management Development, 22(4), 308-328. Retrieved from https://proxy.amberton.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.amberton.edu/docview/216299847?accountid=7009

  • Matise, M. (2007).
    The enneagram: An innovative approach. Journal of Professional Counseling, Practice, Theory, & Research, 35(1), 38-58. Retrieved from https://proxy.amberton.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.amberton.edu/docview/212437328?accountid=7009

  • Siegel, D. J., & Bryson, T. P. (2011).
    The whole-brain child: 12 revolutionary strategies to nurture your child's developing mind. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

  • Siegel, D. J. (Producer). (2016, December 7).
    Brainstorm: The power and purpose of the teenage brain. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1pf1xTMUng