Can Your Enneagram Change Over Time?

If you've done the Enneagram personality test more than once, you may have found yourself confused because you got a different result each time. So, naturally, you may wonder—can your Enneagram change over time?

The answer to this question is not so simple; it requires a bit of a deeper understanding of how the Enneagram works. Luckily, our article covers the answer to this and some more dilemmas related to the matter, so dive in to discover more about yourself and your Enneagram type!

Can Your Enneagram Change Over Time?

The latest scientific breakthroughs, especially in the field of epigenetics, all point to one fact—we can change, and we do change significantly over a lifetime, even on a genetic level. But does this conflict with the fact that the Enneagram theory teaches us that our primary Enneagram type does not change over time?

Well, Enneagram also teaches us that each of us has the essence of all nine personality types, meaning that we can develop traits and strategies of any Enneagram type we don’t score high for.

Your Enneagram type mainly describes the first life strategy you developed to survive and have your needs met, and it also speaks about your primary reaction to life. Yet, can Enneagram change as you get older?

Though it may seem like your Enneagram type has changed over the years, it is much more likely that you’re using the energy of your Enneagram wing or just functioning on a different developmental level.

Moreover, since we all know at least one case when a person changes dramatically after going through some kind of trauma, you may also ask yourself—can trauma change your Enneagram?

It makes sense to assume that severe trauma can prompt you to develop different coping mechanisms, provoke a different reaction to life in you, and, therefore, significantly affect your personality. However, it will not change your core personality type.

The common reason why you may feel like your Enneagram type changes is that you are experiencing different levels of development or using the strengths of your wings, which may give off the impression of a different Enneagram type.

What Is the Enneagram System?

The Enneagram system is a personality theory that describes nine different personality types. It explains the life strategies each type develops based on their strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, it also explains how these nine types relate to one another and how each interacts with the world.

Here’s a brief overview of the nine Enneagram types:

1. Type One—The Perfectionist: These people are eager to change and improve the world, led by their strong sense of right and wrong. Needless to say, they always strive for perfection.
2. Type Two—The Helper: These compassionate and caring individuals value relationships above anything else and are capable of carrying a lot of responsibility.
3. Type Three—The Achiever: Ambitious and driven by the need to be seen, Threes are pragmatic goal-getters who value success above anything else.
4. Type Four—The Individualist: Artistic and imaginative, Fours are driven by the need to explore their identity and express their uniqueness.
5. Type Five—The Investigator: Fives are independent thinkers eager to understand the workings of the world and unbothered by social expectations.
6. Type Six—The Loyalist: Besides being great trouble-shooters, Sixes are traditional, hardworking, and driven by the need for security and belonging.
7. Type Seven—The Enthusiast: Sevens are enthusiastic, free-spirited, and driven by curiosity. They are thirsty for excitement, always bubbling with creative ideas.
8. Type Eight—The Challenger: Power-hungry and self-assured, Eights want to hold the key to their destiny in their own hands.
9. Type Nine —The Peacemaker: Besides being compassionate and accepting, Nines strive to maintain harmony, support people, and soothe conflicts.

How Does Enneagram System Work?

The Enneagram System offers a holistic approach to understanding different personality types. It is based on the findings of Oscar Ichazo, a Bolivian spiritual teacher who integrated knowledge from the world’s most impactful spiritual and philosophical traditions and applied it to the psychology of personality.

The result is a system that distinguishes nine personality types grouped in triads based on the core feelings each group experiences when faced with challenges. The triads are also often called the intelligence centers, and they are described below:

Apart from triads, the Enneagram also recognizes three different kinds of emotional processes, which are internalization, externalization, and repression. In other words, the three types that share the same core emotion within a triad are further differentiated based on how they process it.

The table below shows which core emotion and what type of process is typical of each Enneagram type:

Of course, all of us experience all these core feelings. Still, we are more prone to experiencing one of them, just as we use one of the processes more often than the other two. This way, if you know yourself well, you can even determine your Enneagram type based on which emotions you experience under stress and how you handle them.

This is the basic breakdown of how the Enneagram analyzes personality. Yet, even though just this information provides a wealth of specifics about each Enneatype, there are many more nuances and variations—such as levels of development and instinctual variants—that describe your personality.

Enneagram Levels of Development

People often confuse functioning at a different developmental level with changing their Enneagram type. As we mentioned, the Enneagram type, if determined properly, does not change, but you may learn different ways to cope with situations, people, and feelings, which may give off the impression your type has changed.

In addition, the Enneagram theory states that each type can function at nine different levels of development. These nine levels are further broken down into three categories: healthy, average, and unhealthy.

If you are functioning at a healthy level, you are likely to exhibit all the most positive traits of your Enneagram type without particular effort. You feel at peace with yourself and have enough energy to pursue your aspirations.

Most people function at an average level, exhibiting a mix of their strengths and weaknesses, depending on the situation. At this level, a person usually feels they can do much better, and some struggles are imminent as they grow and develop.

Ultimately, if you reach an unhealthy level, you enter survival mode, activating all your vulnerable areas. At healthier levels, engaging in activities like yoga, gardening, or music—hobbies favored by Enneagram Nines—can help maintain balance and inner peace.

At the same time, your primary life strategy is fully engaged, but it takes the form of an unhealthy pattern that is insufficient to deal with the objective circumstances of your life at the moment.

Going through different levels of development is inevitable, as life knows no stagnation. You either grow or deteriorate, and at each level, you may carry the traits of some other Enneagram type.

Enneagram Wings

Every Enneagram type has two wings, which are the types that surround your core type on the Enneagram circumference. If, for example, you are an Eight, you may have a Seven or Nine wing. In most cases, a person has a preference for one of the two wings and easily taps into its power.

In general, wings act as sidekicks to your core Enneagram type, but they do not alter it completely. It’s more about subtle nuances, like sprinkling your vanilla ice cream with cinnamon.

You can check your Enneagram test score to determine which of the two neighboring types you had a higher score for and which of your wings is currently dominant. And, logically, you will probably exhibit many traits of your dominant wing.

Through the course of a lifetime, it may also happen that you start relying more on the weaker wing, consequently making it stronger. So, the answer to the question “can your Enneagram wing change” is definitely yes—it indeed can. In fact, wings often change constantly throughout one’s lifetime.

Enneagram Instincts

Instincts are an important aspect of the Enneagram personality system. This is the area in which the Enneagram touches biological science and dives deeper into human psychology.

Enneagram distinguishes three basic instincts that are inherent and vital for all Enneagram types. However, though we have all three instincts, one will be more dominant than the other two.

The self-preservation, sexual, and social instincts are rooted in our physical existence and embodied as our drives to survive, connect, and belong. The dominant instinct points out what matters most to us and what our deepest need and drive in life is. The second most dominant instinct is also evident, while we usually repress the third.

Each Enneagram type can have either of the following three instincts as the dominant one:

• Self-preservation, which propels us to ensure we have enough physical resources for survival
• Sexual instinct, which motivates us to bond with others
• Social instinct, which reflects our need to be part of something or belong somewhere.

Key Takeaways

According to the Enneagram theory, our core personality type does not change, but we develop, mature, and adopt different skills and strategies in life, which result in a change of view, behavior, and attitude.

So, before deciding whether your Enneagram type has changed or not, you might want to consider all aspects of your core type, such as your dominant wing, developmental level, and instinctual variant.

Generally, it is safe to conclude that even though significant life experiences, such as severe traumas, have the potential to bring about such a radical change in our personalities, the reality is that this type of transformation is exceedingly uncommon.