The Exemplary Subtypes and The Countertypes
In researching the 27 instinctual subtypes, I've found that within each type, there exists a specific subtype which is the most "passionate" in the sense that it embodies and visibly displays that specific type's passion quite readily.
Most type descriptions online are usually biased towards this subtype and try to describe the types as this subtype. As such, most stereotypes of the types usually rely upon this subtype.
Likewise, there also exists a "countertype" for each type, likely to be mistyped or confused for another type. Most type descriptions online generally omit this subtype, making it difficult for these individuals to type themselves correctly.
Therefore, the most "passionate"/stereotypical subtypes for each type are:
Ones: SP
For the Self-Preservation One, anger is most repressed.
In this subtype, the anger of the One, together with defenses against that anger, manifest as good intentions, perfectionism, heroic efforts, obedience to rules, and an obsessive striving for perfection.
In the quest to perfect themselves, Self-Preservation Ones believe it’s bad to be angry and so make a virtue of being tolerant, forgiving, and sweet whenever possible. Underneath, these Ones are very angry, but they control it. Under pressure, however, this One’s anger may leak out as irritation, resentment, frustration, or self-righteousness.
This subtype is the epitome of a true perfectionist, as they are especially hard on themselves if they don’t get things right. As Naranjo points out, Self-Preservation Ones have difficulty loosening their need for control and allowing for a flow to happen. Instead they feel compelled to insert themselves if necessary, to make sure every important detail gets scrutinized and perfected. The quest to do the right thing or to find the perfect solution is how the Self-Preservation One finds safety.
Twos: SX
The Sexual Two is a seducer of particular individuals. Classical seduction is the main approach of this Two, who expresses a driving need to seduce other people as a way of getting their needs met. This seduction—a way of gaining allegiance or inflaming the desire of the other—occurs through the cultivation of an attractive presentation and the expression of feeling.
The Sexual Two displays the clearest tendencies toward seduction in the classic sense, using charm and sexuality as a way to lure in unsuspecting potential suppliers of love, favors, and other gifts.
While the other Two subtypes can be look-alikes to other types, the Sexual Two may be the most recognizable as a Two and is in some ways the “classic” Two described in many Enneagram books.
Threes: SO
The Social Three has a desire to be seen and to have influence with people. This Three acts out vanity through the desire to shine before the whole world: Social Threes enjoy being on stage. This subtype is the most vain of the Threes, and the biggest chameleon.
The Social Three is very concerned with competition and winning. This is the most competitive Three.
The Social Three is also the most aggressive of the Threes, possessing a strong and assertive character. Because they are good at numbing out their feelings, they can—in the extreme—be cold.
Social Threes aren’t likely to be confused with other types, as this Three is in many ways the most obvious Three, especially in terms of how Threes have historically been characterized in Enneagram books.
Fours: SO
The Social Four appears emotionally sensitive (or oversensitive), feels things deeply, and suffers more than most people. For this Four, there is a desire to be witnessed and seen in their suffering. They hope that if their suffering is sufficiently recognized and understood, they might be forgiven for their failures and deficiencies and loved unconditionally.
In this Four, envy fuels a focus on shame and suffering by providing a constant source of pain: a feeling that others have what the Four wants. However, they believe that their suffering is also what makes them unique and special—there is a kind of seduction of others through suffering.
Social Fours are less likely to be mistaken for other Enneagram types than the other two Four subtypes...
Fives: SP
The Self-Preservation Five is the most “Five-ish” of the Fives. These Fives express avarice through their passion for hiddenness or for having sanctuary.
Self-Preservation Fives have a need for clearly defined boundaries. This personality is the clearest expression of the archetype of isolation and introversion. They have a need to be able to hide behind boundaries they can control, and to know they have a place of safety they can retreat to, in order to avoid feeling lost in the world.
Sixes: SP
In the Self-Preservation Six personality, fear manifests as insecurity. Self-Preservation Sixes have a fear related to survival—a fear of not being protected that fuels a driving need for protection through friendship and other kinds of alliances with others. This is the most phobic of the three Six subtypes; this is the Six subtype who feels fear the most.
As the most phobic of the three Sixes, the avoidant Self-Preservation subtype equates love with protection, and in looking for love they search for a source of security to compensate for an inner sense of insecurity. This Six wants to find a strong person to lean on, and they may be excessively friendly and giving as a way of preventing an attack from outside.
Sevens: For Sevens, I found that the common Seven is accurately depicted in both the SP 7:
The Self-Preservation Seven and the Sexual Seven should be easy to tell apart, as they represent two opposite ends of a continuum, from pragmatic and materialistic (Self-Preservation) to idealistic and ethereal (Sexual). The Self-Preservation subtype is more earthy and sensuous—more gluttonous in the literal sense of the word—while the Sexual Seven is more “heavenly” and enthusiastic, more “upward-looking” in terms of both positivity and high ideals. While both of these two characters focus on distinct kinds of excess, the Self-Preservation Seven is the most sly, cunning, and pragmatic personality among the Sevens, while the Sexual Seven is more of a light-hearted enjoyer.
In contrast to the Sexual Seven, the Self-Preservation Seven is not so much idealistic as they are cynically distrustful. They’re not gullible people who are easily hypnotized (as the Sexual Seven is); they are more practical and concrete.
And the SX 7:
While the Self-Preservation Seven character resembles a “playboy” or “playgirl” type of person—an enjoyer of food and sex—the Sexual Seven can be content with the perfume of things.
Sexual Sevens are dreamers with a need to imagine something better than stark, ordinary reality. These Sevens have a passion for embellishing everyday reality, for being too enthusiastic, and for idealizing things and seeing the world as better than it actually is. Their gluttony gets expressed as a need for idealization.
In this way, Sexual Sevens express a need to fantasize, a need to dream, or a need for rose-colored glasses. These Sevens have a tendency to be too happy. They display a need to live in a charmed reality, to fantasize—to live in a world they create in their minds rather than the actual external world. This can be seen as an overcompensation that reflects an unconscious desire to deny or avoid the painful or boring or frightening parts of life. Sexual Sevens tend to experience an underlying fear of getting stuck in these kinds of feelings and so take refuge in optimism.
Sexual Sevens plan and improvise a lot. They believe that they can do everything, and they feel a need to plan or mount successful strategies that will ensure their pleasure. They may experience anxiety, however, about the difficulty of engaging in many scenarios at once and having to give something up. They can have a restless and anxious energy, which can take the outer form of doing things on many fronts and engaging in many activities at the same time.
Eights: SX
Sexual Eights have a strong antisocial tendency. People with this subtype are provocative people who express lust through open rebellion—through declaring in word and deed that their values differ from the norm. Along with being the most rebellious of the Eight subtypes, the Sexual Eight is, interestingly, also the most emotional.
Sexual Eights express a need for dominance and power over others. They don’t want to lose control of anything or anyone, and they want to influence people with their words.
Everything—whether it is a person or a material thing—is an object to possess. These Eights don’t seek material security; rather, they seek to get power over people, things, and situations.
In these very passionate, emotional Eights, there’s often a detachment of the intellect—while Sexual Eights may be very intelligent, they express action and passion more than contemplation in the things they do.
Nines: SX
Sexual Nines tend to be very kind, gentle, tender, and sweet. They are the least assertive of the Nines. However, the tenderness they express, like other gestures of caring that come from the personality rather than the real self, can be, to one extent or another, false. More than the other two Nine subtypes, these Nines can have a difficult time locating their own motivation to act in support of their own initiatives. They can even know they want to do something and not be able to do it for a long time, especially if it involves any kind of conflict with others.
In maintaining the important connections in their lives, they may be so focused on meeting the needs of others that they betray their own needs. When this occurs, they may engage in passive-aggressive forms of rebellion, such as avoiding someone or ignoring something important in a way that affects the relationship.
Whereas the countertypes for each type are:
Ones: SX
This is the only One subtype that is explicitly angry and so is the countertype of the three One personalities. The Sexual One is impatient, can be invasive, goes for what he or she wants, and has a sense of entitlement. These Ones have an intensity of desire fueled by anger that motivates them to want to improve others. This can be expressed as a sense of excitement, passion, or idealism about the way things could be if people would reform their behavior, or if the reforms they envision were enacted by society. This makes them compelling and vehement.
These Ones are avengers; they are not afraid of confrontation. They may be containing a murderous rage that they cannot see. Their anger can be like a volcano that erupts. They perceive themselves as strong. They have great strength and determination and can be very brave. They are also impulsive and do things quickly.
Likely to be confused for: Eights
Twos: SP
This Two has a childlike quality in presentation and emotional expression—no matter how old they are, this Two looks youthful or young. While the Sexual Two can seem overly adult, wild, and seductive in the usual sense of the term, the Self-Preservation Two unconsciously aims to attract love and attention through being cute and expressing a childlike sense of need.
It’s less easy to see pride in this type. The Self-Preservation Two is the countertype of the Twos; it’s a Two that doesn’t look like a Two. While the energetic direction of the flow of the Two personality (with its focus on seduction) is up and out toward others, the self-preservation instinct this Two has causes them to express more ambivalence about relationship. This Two moves toward others, but also has a “counter-move” away from others out of a need for self-protection. This Two is tender and sweet, but more guarded than the other Twos.
Likely to be confused for: Fours, Sixes
Threes: SP
Self-Preservation Threes strive to be the ideal model of quality in whatever they do...
Following the perfect model of how things should be done means being virtuous, and being virtuous implies a lack of vanity. In this sense, the Self-Preservation Three “has vanity for having no vanity.” This means that while this Three wants to look attractive and successful in the eyes of others, they don’t want other people to know they want this—they don’t want others to see that they have actively created an image to look good to others. They don’t want others to catch them in the act of wanting or working to look good because they have an ethic that says that “good,” or virtuous, people are not vain.
In denying the presence of vanity, the Self-Preservation Three represents the countertype of the three Three subtypes—that is, this Three is the “counter-passional” type, the Three that doesn’t necessarily look like a Three. Though these Threes are motivated out of vanity, just like the other Threes, they deny their vanity to some extent, and so their character is shaped more around going against the energetic pull of vanity.
Unlike Social Threes, who will more openly brag about their accomplishments, Self-Preservation Threes avoid talking about their positive characteristics and high-status credentials because they believe it’s bad form to advertise their strong points, even if they also want others to see them as successful.
Likely to be confused for: Ones, Sixes
Fours: SP
The Self-Preservation Four is the countertype of the Four subtypes, and so it may be difficult to identify this person as a Four. Although this Four experiences envy like the other Fours, they communicate their envy and suffering to others less than the other two Four subtypes do. Instead of talking about their suffering, these Fours are“long-suffering” in the sense of learning to endure pain without wincing. These Fours are more stoic and strong in the face of their pain.
Self-Preservation Fours do not communicate sensitivity, suffering, shame, or envy, though they may feel all these things and they have the same depth and capacity for feeling as the other Fours. They learn to swallow a lot without complaining. Endurance is a virtue for them, and they hope their self-sacrifices will be recognized and appreciated, though they don’t talk about them very much.
As Naranjo explains, the other two Four subtypes are too sensitive to frustration. They either suffer too much or they make you suffer too much (as a compensation for their suffering). The Self-Preservation subtype is the countertype Four because they go to the other extreme, developing a high capacity to internalize and bear frustration. They make a virtue of resistance to frustration.
While the other two Four subtypes can be dramatic, the Self-Preservation Four is more masochistic than melodramatic. For this subtype, masochism is the ego or personality’s strategy for getting love.
Likely to be confused for: Ones, Threes, Sevens
Fives: SX
In the Sexual Five, avarice is expressed through an ongoing search for a connection that will satisfy their need for an experience of the most perfect, safest, and most satisfying (idealized) union. This Five may look like the other two Five subtypes on the outside, having all the regular Five inhibitions and introversion in the area of relationship, but the Sexual Five places a special value on one-to-one or intimate connections.
While Social and Self-Preservation Fives are more removed from their emotions, the Sexual Five is intense, romantic, and more emotionally sensitive. This Five suffers more, resembles the Four more, and has more overt desires. This is the countertype among the Fives. It may not be completely obvious from the outside, however—they may seem very much like other Fives until you touch their romantic spot and inspire their romantic feelings.
Likely to be confused for: Fours
Sixes: SX*
Instead of actively feeling fearful, these Sixes have an inner belief that when you are afraid, the best defense is a good offense. As Naranjo explains, anxiety in this Six is allayed by skill and readiness in the face of a possible attack. They go against danger assertively, and even aggressively, as a way of denying and coping with their (often unconscious) fear.
...Sexual Sixes go against danger from a position of strength; therefore, they have a passion for searching for or securing a position of strength. And it’s not just a strong character they seek, but the kind of strength that makes somebody else afraid—they want to assume a powerful enough stance to hold the enemy at a distance. These Sixes display a forcefulness that comes from not wanting to be weak, and they don’t allow for weakness in themselves.
Sexual Sixes have a need not just for strength but for intimidation. As Naranjo suggests, this expression of intimidation is very much the essence of the character: if they appear strong, they won’t be attacked. While Naranjo explains that Ichazo’s title for this subtype, “Strength/Beauty,” originally meant “strength” in men and “beauty” in women, it may also be true that being beautiful is a source of strength in both male and female Sexual Sixes.
Likely to be confused for: Threes, Eights**
Sevens: SO
Social Sevens represents a kind of a pure character that, as the countertype of the Type Seven subtypes, expresses a kind of “counter-gluttony.” Social Sevens go against the Seven passion of gluttony in that they consciously avoid exploiting others.
If gluttony is a wish for more, a wish for taking advantage of all you can get from a situation, there is a hint of exploitation in gluttony. But as the countertype, the Social subtype wants to be good and pure and not act on their gluttonous impulse. This is a person who wants to avoid being excessive or excessively opportunistic, and who works against any unconscious tendency they may have to exploit others. Gluttony may thus be difficult to recognize in Social Sevens because they strive to hide it in altruistic behavior. This purifies them of the guilt of feeling an attraction toward pleasure or toward acting in their own self-interest in ways that cause them to take advantage of others.
In striving for purity and anti-gluttony, they express a kind of ascetic (or Five-ish) ideal. They make a virtue of getting by on less for themselves. In trying to prove their goodness, they typically give others more, and take less for themselves, as a way of going against their gluttonous desire for more. Even though they might want the biggest piece of cake, they go against that impulse and take the smallest one instead, leaving the larger portions for others.
Likely to be confused for: Ones, Twos
Eights: SO
The Social Eight is the countertype of the three Eight subtypes. Social Eights represent a contradiction: the Eight archetype rebels against social norms, but the Social Eight is also oriented toward protection and loyalty. They express lust and aggression in the service of life and other people.
In contrast to Self-Preservation Eights, Social Eights are more loyal, more overtly friendly, and less aggressive. They are helpful Eights —people who are nurturing, protective, and concerned with the injustices that happen to people—yet they also display an antisocial aspect with regard to the rules of society.
Overall, this Eight appears more mellow and outgoing and less quick to anger than the other Eights. They tend to rebel in less obvious ways. They are very active, and they may lose themselves through constantly being in action. They may display a disproportionate lust for projects or for collecting things.
This Eight often doesn’t look like an Eight.
The Social Eight subtype is the most intellectual of the three, but these Eights also rebel against the dominant (patriarchal) culture. This rebellion necessarily involves a mixture of authority and intellect because the dominant authority in patriarchal societies tends to promote the intellectual control of impulses and excess. While the Sexual Eight is the most overtly anti-intellectual of the three Eight subtypes, the Social Eight goes up against the power of authority out of a desire to protect the oppressed...
Likely to be confused for: Twos, Nines
Nines: SO
Social Nines express the passion of psychological laziness (or sloth) through merging with the group, working hard in support of group interests, and prioritizing the group’s needs above their own.
In contrast to the other two Nine Subtypes, who tend to be more subdued characters, Social Nines are very outgoing and energetic—this is what makes this the counter-type Nine. Social Nines have a special brand of strength because they feel motivated to fight for the needs of the group. Social Nines are extroverted, expressive, and forceful, and so they go against the inertia typical of Type Nine in some ways—but on the inside they still have a sense of laziness about their own needs and wants.
Likely to be confused for: Twos, Threes
Everything I quoted comes from Beatrice Chestnut's The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge (2013).
Interestingly enough, the concept of "countertypes" and "counterphobic" types has also been referenced in Discovering Your Personality type: The Essential Introduction to the Enneagram, Revised and Expanded (2003) by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson, and I felt it necessary to mention this even if these are my least favorite authors regarding the Enneagram.
*This "counterphobic" Six is the most commonly known countertype. However, what is less known, is that the counterphobic Six is specifically the Sexual six, while the "phobic" Six is the Self-Preservation Six. The Social Six is the "Prussian" Six, a third, less referenced style of Six which is more akin to a One than an Eight.
It should also be emphasized that not all counterphobic Sixes focus on strength exclusively; some counterphobic Sixes may focus on developing beauty instead, or alternatively, strength and beauty. Either way, the goal here is to intimidate.
**In differentiating between the counterphobic Six and the Eight, Chesnut writes that "while Eights like to create order, Sexual Sixes often like to disrupt order by stirring up trouble" which is one of the few things I disagree with in her assessment, both because I disagree with the assertion that Eights generally enjoy creating order, and that Sexual Sixes prefer to disrupt order—though I do agree that of all the Sixes, counterphobic Sixes have the highest tolerance for chaos, and are the most likely to generate it.