# Enneagram: nature or nurture?



## Capsicum (Mar 17, 2010)

I'll admit I don't know much about the Enneagram, and in doing a little research I've gotten confused. 

I always thought Enneagram types were a result of our childhood experiences, and yet one site which I've found very useful (Enneagram Institute: Enneagram Testing & Training) and yet this page(The Enneagram and Brain Chemistry) basically says that Enneagram types are determined neurologically.

So as I'm an Enneagram n00b I'm hoping some people could shed some light on this.


----------



## Capsicum (Mar 17, 2010)

Anyone know?


----------



## Paradigm (Feb 16, 2010)

Opinions differ on the subject, but I _think _the most common idea is that it's based off childhood experiences. Even R&H, in their book _Wisdom of the Enneagram_, detail possible childhood scenarios.

Me, I think it is mostly nurture with a healthy dose of nature--predisposition, you might say. It's one of those things that will never be proven, anyway, so it's best not to linger on the concept too long.


----------



## TigerCookie (Aug 15, 2011)

I actually posted a thread loosely related to this issue just a moment ago, wondering whether traumatic experiences in childhood can impact an individual's personality. From my (somewhat limited) reading on the Enneagram, I always deduced that, while experiences can have some role in developing the personality, the essence of a person is certainly present from Day 1. The ways in which that essence is shaped by the world would, of course, differ from person to person.
I think it's an important distinction, even if it can't ever be decided whether nature or nurture plays the larger role; I would think parents who knew their actions would have a heavy hand in deciding their child's personality might be a lot more thoughtful in their decision-making.


----------



## aestrivex (Mar 7, 2011)

Paradigm said:


> Opinions differ on the subject, but I _think _the most common idea is that it's based off childhood experiences. Even R&H, in their book _Wisdom of the Enneagram_, detail possible childhood scenarios.
> 
> Me, I think it is mostly nurture with a healthy dose of nature--predisposition, you might say. It's one of those things that will never be proven, anyway, so it's best not to linger on the concept too long.



true, though these childhood scenarios are not purported to be causal and to my knowledge R&H have no official position on whether etypes are nature or nurture (if anyone knows that i'm wrong, please correct me). it is perfectly plausible to me that type is inborn and causes the child to be put in positions that reinforce the childhood scenario rather than the nurture environment actually causing the type.

i do happen to know that katherine fauvre theorizes that types are inborn -- which she says she knows because of longitudinal observations of infants and young children, where she was able to guess their types and then come back years later and assessed that she was right. when i asked her for details about how she conducted these assessments, what were her age cutoffs and what was the ratio of her correct guesses, and things like this, she was distracted by other comments and didnt get back to me.


----------



## Capsicum (Mar 17, 2010)

Cheers guys. :happy:


----------



## timeless (Mar 20, 2010)

I'm inclined to say that enneagram is inborn but I don't know either way.


----------



## Miracles seeker (Dec 10, 2010)

timeless said:


> I'm inclined to say that enneagram is inborn but I don't know either way.


I agree with you .


----------



## Introspiritual (Mar 12, 2010)

This link points at it being a combination of nature and nurture. So far, it's the best explanation I've found.


----------



## unico (Feb 3, 2011)

I tend to think the enneagram is inborn and it is expressed in different ways, based on how you grew up. I do think I was born a 4w3 and just happened to have some of the traits of that come out more based on my early family experience especially.


----------



## caramel_choctop (Sep 20, 2010)

I think it's both to some extent, but mostly nurture, but without knowing exactly how genetics play into personality traits, I have no idea how much is inborn and how much simply the result of learned behaviors in early childhood, from out parents, siblings and close friends.


----------

