Enneagram
Nine types, nine core motivations
Free, no account needed.
The Enneagram describes nine ways of being human, each built around a core motivation: a deep desire and the fear that shadows it. Because the same behaviour can come from very different motives, many statements ask why you do things, not just what you do. Some questions ask you to choose between two statements; pick the one that is closer, even if neither fits perfectly. A separate set of items measures your three instincts.
Answer as you have been for most of your adult life, not as you would like to be, and be honest about the less flattering parts. Every type has gifts and blind spots.
What it measures
Type 1 · Integrity
The drive to be good, right and responsible, shadowed by the fear of being corrupt, careless or wrong.
Type 2 · Connection
The drive to be loved and needed, shadowed by the fear of being unwanted or unworthy of love.
Type 3 · Worth
The drive to feel valuable through achievement and image, shadowed by the fear of being worthless.
Type 4 · Identity
The drive to be authentic and significant, shadowed by the fear of having no identity or being ordinary.
Type 5 · Understanding
The drive to be capable and competent, shadowed by the fear of being helpless, depleted or overwhelmed.
Type 6 · Security
The drive for security and trustworthy support, shadowed by the fear of being left without guidance or protection.
Type 7 · Freedom
The drive to be satisfied and free, shadowed by the fear of being trapped in pain or deprivation.
Type 8 · Strength
The drive to protect yourself and stay in control of your life, shadowed by the fear of being harmed or controlled.
Type 9 · Peace
The drive for inner and outer harmony, shadowed by the fear of conflict, loss and separation.
Self-preservation
Attention to safety, health, comfort and material security: the instinct to keep yourself going.
Social
Attention to groups, belonging, roles and standing: the instinct to find your place among others.
One-to-one
Attention to intensity, chemistry and deep connection with particular people, often called the sexual or intimate instinct.
Possible results
About this test
The Enneagram of personality arranges nine types around a circle, each organised around a core motivation: something you deeply want and a fear that shadows it. The nine-pointed figure was first taught in the early twentieth century by G. I. Gurdjieff, who presented it as ancient, though no clear earlier source is known; the personality system grew from the teachings of Oscar Ichazo in the 1950s and 60s and was developed by the psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo, who linked the types to character structures from clinical psychology. Later authors elaborated wings (the neighbouring types that colour your main one), lines of growth and stress, tritype, and the three instinctual variants: self-preservation, social and one-to-one.
This test scores each of the nine motivations with statements about desires and fears, plus paired choices that contrast commonly confused types (4 and 5, 6 and 9, 1 and 3, and others). The three instincts are measured separately. Your type is the highest-scoring motivation, your wing is the stronger of its two neighbours, your dominant instinct is the highest of the three, and your tritype is the leading type in each centre of intelligence (gut, heart and head).
Honest caveats: the Enneagram is a rich tradition for self-reflection rather than a scientifically validated model. Research on its reliability and validity is limited and mixed, and several types overlap with Big Five traits. Motivations are partly hidden from ourselves, which makes self-report harder than usual. Scores are relative to the range of possible answers, not to population norms. Treat your result as a hypothesis: read your top two or three types and ask which core fear you recognise from the inside.
References
- Riso, D. R. & Hudson, R. (1999). The Wisdom of the Enneagram.
- Naranjo, C. (1994). Character and Neurosis: An Integrative View.
- Palmer, H. (1988). The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life.
- Chestnut, B. (2013). The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge.
- Hook, J. N., Hall, T. W., Davis, D. E., Van Tongeren, D. R. & Conner, M. (2021). The Enneagram: A systematic review of the literature and directions for future research. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 77(4), 865-883.
For self-reflection and curiosity, not diagnosis. Scores describe how you answered, relative to the possible range; they are not compared with population norms.
Enneagram
About 13 minutes · 95 questions
More tests in this area
- Sixteen Types
The Jungian four-letter type, MBTI-style
72 questions · About 9 minutes
- Twelve Archetypes
The Jungian story you are living
82 questions · About 11 minutes
- The Four Temperaments
Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic or Phlegmatic?
28 questions · About 3 minutes
- Cognitive Functions
The eight Jungian functions behind the four letters
64 questions · About 9 minutes