The Enneagram in this approach is built on two equally important dimensions: what your attention is unconsciously drawn to, and how you go about getting what you want.
Two dimensions:
What and how the Instinctual biases describe what we are unconsciously focused on: preserving comfort and resources (Preserving), understanding and navigating groups (Navigating), or making an impact and being noticed (Transmitting).
These are deep, non‑conscious patterns of attention and motivation, not choices we think our way into.
The nine strategies describe how we try to get what we want, nine habitual ways of striving to feel a certain way (Perfect, Connected, Outstanding, Unique, Detached, Secure, Excited, Powerful, Peaceful).
In this sense, you can think of it as “three instinctual types with nine strategy subtypes,” but because this work sits inside the Enneagram tradition, it is usually described as “nine strategies with three instinctual subtypes.”
How fixed is type?
No one can say with evidence exactly when or how a type is formed; biology, temperament, and environment are likely all involved.
Popular claims in mainstream Enneagram teaching that type is straightforwardly “created by childhood wounds” or a specific relationship with caregivers are not supported by solid research and can be easily challenged.
What is more useful than guessing causes is noticing current patterns: which instinctual bias dominates your attention, and which strategy you rely on most to navigate daily life. Over time, awareness lets you loosen those habits rather than arguing about where they came from.
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