2023/06/22

The Enneagram: A systematic review of the literature and directions for future research - Hook - 2021 - Journal of Clinical Psychology - Wiley Online Library

The Enneagram: A systematic review of the literature and directions for future research - Hook - 2021 - Journal of Clinical Psychology - Wiley Online Library

Journal of Clinical Psychology
Volume 77, Issue 4 p. 865-883
CRITICAL REVIEW

The Enneagram: A systematic review of the literature and directions for future research

First published: 17 December 2020
https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23097
Citations: 5

Abstract

The Enneagram is a typology that many clients use to understand their personality and interpersonal patterns, despite some concerns about its validity. Thus, the purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive and clinician-friendly review of the extant empirical work on the Enneagram. After reviewing 104 independent samples, we found mixed evidence of reliability and validity. In terms of strengths, some factor analytic work has shown partial alignment with prior theorizing, and subscales show theory-consistent relationships with other constructs such as the Big 5. Also, several studies found the Enneagram was helpful for personal/spiritual growth. However, factor analytic work has typically found fewer than nine factors, and no work has used clustering techniques to derive the nine types. Also, there is little research supporting secondary aspects of Enneagram theory, such as wings and intertype movement. We conclude by highlighting directions for future research and implications for clinical practice.

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Enneagram personality test: Why experts say it is "pseudoscientific at best"

Enneagram personality test: Why experts say it is "pseudoscientific at best":

Why one popular personality test is "pseudoscientific at best"

What experts in the study of personality say about the enneagram test.
BYSARAH SLOAT
SEP. 28, 2020



According to the free enneagram personality test I took online, I am a Type Three. Depending on where you’re looking, type threes are categorized as “the achiever” or “the performer” — the goal-focused, efficacy-oriented cousins of Type Fours (“the romantic”) or Type Nines (“the mediator”). It’s not a great look for me, but ultimately, unsurprising and oddly comforting in the way horoscopes can be.


While the enneagram test has been around for decades, its popularity is picking up speed. In work settings, it’s used for team-building and bonding. On social media, it’s used as a way to describe one’s place in the world and is popularized as a tool for introspection. On TikTok, for example, the hashtag #enneagram is associated with more than 50 million views, with users sharing enneagram-based videos with captions like “apparently this test is supposed to make you cry” and “when someone calls out an enneagram 3/7/8 for making themselves the center of attention.”

But is the enneagram test actually legit?

In two words, not really. The experts I contacted were less than enthusiastic about it. Sanjay Srivastava, the director of the Personality and Social Dynamics Lab at the University of Oregon, says it doesn’t originate in a validated scientific theory, and his skepticism is largely based on an absence of evidence. Rodica Damian, the director of the Personality Development and Success Lab at the University of Houston, explains that if someone was interested in a valid and reliable personality test, they should take a look at the Hogan Personality Inventory or the Big Five personality test — though there is also criticism of its universality.

Luke Smillie is the director of the Personality Processes Laboratory at the University of Melbourne. He tells me: “Frankly, the enneagram is probably at the top of the list of ‘tests I would not recommend.’ It is pseudoscientific at best.”
What is the enneagram test?

Its approach is based on the teachings of Óscar Ichazo, who Smillie describes as a “kind of spiritual guru.” According to a 2020 paper published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, its basic elements were synthesized by Ichazo in the mid-20th century and were adapted and introduced into the United States in the early 1970s by psychiatrists who were excited about using it as a part of psychoanalytic training.

The nine numbered personality types are associated with specific strengths, core beliefs, limitations, and approaches to relationships. The idea is that people are a core type and then neighboring “wing” types. My test told me I’m a 98 percent match with Type Three and a 96 percent match with Type Two — that would be my wing.

But while the enneagram test is used across an array of contexts, ranging from human services to some academic communities, it’s generally agreed that there’s a lack of rigorous scientific research on its application.


Smillie explains that its classification of categorical types is problematic because personalities vary by degree, not by kind. The categorical types are also not derived empirically from data; they are not the result of an effort to carefully observe and quantify the different ways people are psychologically different from each other. Instead, he describes them as “‘top-down’ projection of ideas that particular individuals [like Ichazo] had about the human condition.”

“Those ideas might not be inherently ‘bad’ or ‘wrong,’ but they were not developed and tested out scientifically,” Smillie explains. “This means that their validity as descriptions of what people are actually like, and how people differ psychologically from one another, is highly questionable.”

The point of personality — Not all personality assessments are created equal, and there’s risk of misapplication.

Decades of research supports the existence of a multidimensional framework of personality consisting of about five to six traits, Smillie says. He considers the leading models to be the Big Five and the HEXACO, a six-dimensional model developed by psychologists in 2000. He also believes there’s “a wide range of practical settings where personality assessment can be useful,” including advertising, educational settings, dating services, and organizational psychology.

There’s also criticism that some companies overly rely on personality tests for personnel choices and diagnosing office issues. At McKinsey & Company, for example, incoming associates are asked to take the Myers-Briggs test, which experts say is lacking in evidence for accuracy. And while studies show the Big Five test effectively predicts behavior, there’s argument that many of its online versions are designed to give sexist results, reports Quartz.

Evaluating how personality tests can be misused is a valuable exercise, Srivastava says.

"To use personality assessment well in the workplace, it is not enough to pick a good test," he explains. "You need to be ready to consider a wide range of ethical, legal, and technological factors that guide how you are using it."

Critique of these tests doesn’t mean that the examination of personality isn’t worthwhile.

“For me, personality is the most fascinating topic in psychological science,” Smillie says. “It’s the study of what people are like, and seeks to describe and understand human individuality.”

Psychology, he notes, is ultimately about people, and personality plays a role in many phenomena that psychologists examine. Smillie explains the answer to many questions in psychology is “it depends” — meaning, it depends on who you are and what you are like.


Understanding your personality can also be helpful. It gives you insight into your strengths and limitations, the kinds of pursuits you might be suited for, and why you might react to various stressors and challenges in your own unique way.

Srivastava notes that if people want to use personality tests for their curiosity or amusement, they should go ahead. But when these tests are applied in high-stakes situations like workplaces and schools, and issues of ethics and fairness become involved, that's when it becomes necessary to work with experts and make sure you're using a test that's based in science.
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Don Richard Riso - Wikipedia

Don Richard Riso - Wikipedia

Don Richard Riso

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Don Richard Riso (17 January 1946 – August 30, 2012[1]) was an American teacher of the Enneagram of Personality who wrote and co-wrote a number of books on the subject.

Early life and education[edit]

Riso grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. He studied English and philosophy and received a M.A. from Stanford University.[2] Around 1962,[citation needed] he joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) of the New Orleans Province, but later left the order without being ordained.

Enneagram work[edit]

In the early 1970s, some members of the Jesuit order came in contact with Enneagram of Personality materials as it was beginning to be taught in Jesuit and other Roman Catholic institutions in North America. In 1974, as a Jesuit seminarian in Toronto, Canada, Riso first learned of the Jesuit teachings on the Enneagram from Jesuit priest Tad Dunne. Riso said the Jesuit teachings on the Enneagram "consisted of nine one-page impressionistic sketches of the personality types"[3] and fascinated him. In the following year, 1975, he left the order and began developing the brief type sketches into more detailed descriptions.

Riso developed a number of original ideas regarding understanding the Enneagram, such as nine "levels of development" from "liberated" or "healthy" to "pathologically unhealthy". Riso spent 10 years in the Harvard library almost daily from 10am to 5pm developing these ideas.[4]

In 1987, Riso published his 12 years of Enneagram thinking in his first book, Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery. This work showed the influence of Carl Gustav Jung and also of Karen Horney. Three years later he published Understanding the Enneagram.

In 1991, Russ Hudson joined Riso, originally to create a questionnaire for indicating people's Enneagram types. The result was the Riso–Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI). Several versions have since been developed, the present complete version consisting of 144 pairs of forced-choice statements.[5]

In 1995, Riso and Hudson founded the Enneagram Institute in New York City. The institute has since moved to Stone Ridge, New York, where it offers workshops and trainings as well as publishing materials pertaining to the Enneagram.[6] It is represented by the Enneagram Institute Network in more than 15 countries.[7] Hudson participated in revising the book Personality Types for the second edition, which came out in 1996.

Riso considered himself to be Enneagram type Four.

Death[edit]

Riso died on August 30, 2012, at 2:07 am, from metastasized pancreatic cancer.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Don Richard Riso: Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery, 1987
with Russ Hudson: revised ed., Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1996. ISBN 0-395-79867-1. ISBN 978-0-395-79867-6. books.google.com (preview)
  • Don Richard Riso: Understanding the Enneagram, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1990
with Russ Hudson: Understanding the Enneagram. The Practical Guide to Personality Types. revised ed., Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 2000. ISBN 0-618-00415-7. ISBN 978-0-618-00415-7. books.google.com (preview)
3. revised and enlarged edition, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 2003. ISBN 0-618-21903-X. ISBN 978-0-618-21903-2. books.google.com (preview)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Enneagram Institute announcement of Don Riso's passing". Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2022-07-09.
  2. ^ "Biographies of Don Riso, Russ Hudson & Faculty of The Enneagram Institute". Archived from the original on 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  3. ^ Don Richard Riso, Russ Hudson; Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1996, p. 21.
  4. ^ "Remembering Don Riso, by Marshall Æon". YouTube. Retrieved 2022-07-09.
  5. ^ "Guide to Riso-Hudson Personality Tests". Enneagraminstitute.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-18. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
  6. ^ "About The Enneagram Institute". Enneagraminstitute.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-20. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
  7. ^ "The Enneagram Institute Network". Enneagraminstitute.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-18. Retrieved 2012-09-01.

External links[edit]

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Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions

Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions

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Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions Kindle Edition
by Richard Smoley (Author), Jay Kinney (Author) Format: Kindle Edition


4.4 out of 5 stars 55 ratings




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Contemporary seekers on the hunt for an overview of the Western mystery traditions often face a small selection of dense, out-of-date tomes. Alternatively, Hidden Wisdom is a fresh, coherent, and accessible work that expounds many of the teachings of Western esotericism, examining its key figures and movements.






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From other countries
C. Richard
4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but ...
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 10 April 2012
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This is a review of Hidden Wisdom by Smoley and Kinney. The subtitle of the book is A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions.


Overall, I liked the book, and it was well written for the most part. My only real problem with it is that it often left me wanting to know more on the various traditions it covered. That might actually be a good thing depending on one's point of view, however. Also, the authors did supply lists of Suggested Reading at the end of each chapter where more relevant information could be found.


There were 12 chapters, each on a different tradition or different set of related traditions. There was quite a range, starting with Jung and the Unconscious and ending with the New Age. Lots of useful and interesting background was provided, along with explanation of the main points of the traditions.


Reading this book inspired me to make further investigation into 3 of the traditions covered. I'll get started on that very soon.
11 people found this helpful
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Balanced Reader
4.0 out of 5 stars Jay Kinney wrote the better parts
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 22 June 2011
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Writer Jay Kinney did a better job of writing than Smoley in this book, but the book overall is informative, well written and very interesting.


There is a bit of an "I love the Golden Dawn magical stuff" going on and I can't personally stand Crowley...so in that regard the book was a miss and I knocked it down from 5 to 4 stars for the Crowley love.


Crowley was an idiot who took advantage of people. Any genius he found, he did so by accident or from stealing ideas.


Buy this book, you will enjoy it and you will be well informed for it. Ignore any positives about Crowley and you are on your way.
6 people found this helpful
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Beverly S.
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent overview of major religious approaches
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 18 September 2021
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Easy to understand text about the many ways to approach religion.
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S
3.0 out of 5 stars Very Subjective to the Author's POV, not reliable as a source
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 6 December 2015
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This book is interesting, but it contains a lot of statements that are not provable or are clearly the author's view, with no references to back them up or show where they came from. I am quite excited by the section of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, but I need way better informed sources before I can begin to feel I know something about it all. This is a nice book to read but it is not one to rely on.
4 people found this helpful
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Gerald Porter
5.0 out of 5 stars A Mature Primer on the Western Mystery Traditions
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 27 June 2014
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A wonderful book. Well written, thoughtful, well researched. Smoley, the former editor of the magazine, Gnosis,has written an excellent introductory overview of some of the main themes of the Western mystery traditions such as gnosticism, alchemy and hermeticism, kabbalah, shamanism, and esoteric Christianity. Each of the 12 chapters explores a different topic and serves as an excellent springboard for deeper more serious study of the subject. The subjects are well-researched but not scholarly in tone. An enjoyable read for the casual reader and a useful preliminary resource for a more serious student.
8 people found this helpful
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Oberver
5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 10 May 2013
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For anyone interested in the unseen world, theology and the people who traverse and write


about it all, this book is the ticket..


Smiley ties together famous figures, historical events and relevant topics


you may know a bit about yet feel the need for more knowledge.


Smiley, a Seeker par excellence, offers you his invaluable peek into the world


we all guess at, beyond everyday experience.
3 people found this helpful
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MermaidMorrigan
5.0 out of 5 stars a must-read for anyone wanting this deeper knowledge
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 24 December 2015
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This book will educate everyone about Western Inner Tradtions, and oh my goodness the types presented here are many. Richard Smoley is one brilliant author and his explanations are both easily understood and poignant. He makes no judgments upon anything here, but presents it all as gifts to us. This is a must-read for anyone wanting this deeper knowledge.
4 people found this helpful
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The Book Guy
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 22 May 2016
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Richard Smoley and Jay Kinney have produced a book that gives a person an excellent over view of the different strands that compose the western esoteric tradition. They're writing is factual and balanced. The suggested reading at the end of each chapter provides people with an excellent jumping off point for further study.
3 people found this helpful
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clay
5.0 out of 5 stars ... Western Esoteric tradition and one can not pick a better introductory text than this
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 22 March 2015
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Smoley is one of the clearest and coherent writers on the Western Esoteric tradition and one can not pick a better introductory text than this, even for one familiar with the esoteric tradition this is a good general reference and the recommened reading list is excellent as well.
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Professor Gillian White
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 4 October 2017
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Fascinating and thought provoking discussions
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