Enneagram 4
The Artist | The Romantic | The Melancholic | The Aesthete | The Special One |
The Artist | The Romantic | The Melancholic | The Aesthete | The Special One |
You might be a Type 4 if…
You value authenticity, uniqueness, symbolism, meaning, and significance.
You are introspective and appreciate deep, unbreakable, authentic connections with others.
You understand the perplexing puzzle of human suffering.
You see yourself as unique and want others to perceive you that way, too.
You feel your emotions deeply and express them often, especially through creativity.
Sometimes you have a superiority complex, and other times an inferiority complex.
You want to be seen and known by others, but sometimes you feel misunderstood.
You fear disconnection, having no personal significance, and being “just like everyone else.”
You daydream often and have a strong imagination.
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Introspective, sensitive, embracing, self-revealing, creative.
Release the belief that they are more flawed than others and enjoy deep, authentic connections.
Achieve their basic desire of finding their sense of identify and significance.
Release the narrative that they are victims in need of “saving” and the self-absorption that comes with the comparison game and superiority and inferiority complexes.
Self-aware and introspective about both the negative AND positive.
Express their individuality and emotions in healthy ways, often through creativity.
Healthy 4’s reinforce their self-image by expressing their individuality through creative action. They are eloquent and subtle, exploring their feelings and impressions and find ways of sharing them with others. Their creativity is highly personal but often has universal implications.
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Romanticizing, individualistic, self-absorbed, temperamental
Use their imaginations to continue and intensify their moods, fearing that their true feelings aren’t enough to sustain them
Fantasize and romanticize to bolster their individuality.
Embrace a victim mentality, believing that their fragility will attract a rescuer to come along and “save” them.
Play the comparison game, leading to a superiority complex, inferiority complex, or both.
Test others and play hard-to-get to get validation that others find them special and unique.
Can be aloof, self-conscious, and melancholy, they believe that their fragility will attract a rescuer and keep others away.
Envy others and fear that they are missing out on life.
Exempt themselves from “the rules,” which can lead to pretentiousness, sadness, and poor productivity.
Fear that life’s demands will force them to give up on their dreams, sometimes leading them to give up on them preemptively.
Fear that they will never be rescued.
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Can be hateful, alienated, self-rejecting, clinically and depressed.
Emotionally volatile and prone to fits, melodrama, lashing out, isolation, and other unpleasant expressions of emotion.
Fear that they are missing out and wasting their life.
Reject everyone and everything that doesn’t support their view of themselves and their emotional demands.
Become unable to repress their rage any longer, leading to depression, apathy, and constant fatigue.
Engage in self-loathing and self-sabotage.
Resentment those they think failed to “save” them, and may become self-destructive in an attempt to attract a rescuer.
In extreme cases, desperation can lead to depression, self-harm, or crimes of passion.
Wings
4w3
“The Aristocrat”
Combine the 4’s creativity and originality with the 3’s ambition, affinity for accomplishing goals, and personal advancement.
More sociable, direct, and image-concious than 4w5’s, wanting to be both successful and distinguished.
Feel the need to communicate themselves and their creative efforts to others, carefully considering both the message and mode of expression.
Create with the audience in mind, avoid anything off-putting or in poor taste, and are more aware of the way they’re perceived by others.
Want recognition for themselves and their work.
Extravagant and love refinement, culture, elegance, and sophistication.
Can be competitive, envious, grandiose, narcissistic, performative, and pretentious.
4w5
“The Bohemian”
Combine the 4’s creativity and originality with the 5’s introspection and perceptiveness.
More introverted, eccentric, withdrawn, unusual, and imaginative.
Less concerned with image and status.
Create more for themselves than for an audience, enjoying the process of creativity and discovery more than the presentation.
Defy convention and authority and break the rules whenever self-expression is an issue.
Have active imaginations and find the real world less interesting than their inner landscapes.
Attracted to the exotic, mysterious, symbolic, eccentric, and unusual.
Prefer downbeat scenes, minimalism, and privacy.
See themselves as rebellious outsiders with brilliant flashes of insight, but can sometimes struggle to sustain practical efforts in the real world.
Subtypes
There are 3 instincts: Self-Preservation, Social, and One-to-One (AKA Sexual). We each use these instincts throughout our lives to survive and thrive. We tend to use one of these instincts quite often, one not enough, and the other is somewhere in the middle. The strongest instinct is known as your “Dominant” instinct, which determines your subtype.
Self-Preservation 4: “Reckless/Dauntless”
SP 4’s bear their suffering in silence to prove that they are good enough by virtue of enduring pain. They engage in nonstop activity or reckless behavior as a way to feel excited and energized.
Can be confused with a 7 or a 3
Social 4: “Shame”
SO 4’s focus on their deficiencies and on earning understanding and appreciation for their suffering, particularly from the groups to which they belong or lead, yet they still feel marginal to these groups.
One-to-One/Sexual 4: “Competition”
SX 4’s express needs and feelings outwardly and intensely, while being highly competitive in order to gain attention, to be heard, and to be acknowledged.
Can be confused with a 1-to-1 8
Arrows
Each Enneagram type has 2 arrows connecting it to 2 other types. These arrows express your direction of Growth and Stress, determining how you will likely act int hose situations. Understanding your type’s arrows is one of the best ways to use the Enneagram as a tool for growth (learning about your growth number) and how to cope with stress (learning about your stress number).
Growth Arrow: 1
When moving in a direction of integration, envious, emotionally turbulent Fours become more objective and principled, like healthy.
Attributes of the 1 for 4’s to adopt:
Independent and emotionally grounded
Disciplined visionaries
Live in the moment and experience things fully
Have a healthy separation of KNOWING but not BEING their feelings
Allow themselves to feel more positivity, joy, and presence
Stress Arrow: 2
When moving in a direction of disintegration (stress), aloof Fours suddenly become over-involved and clinging at 2.
Unhealthy attributes of the 2 a 4 might adopt under intense or prolonged stress:
Dependence on others
Feeling unsure of who they are outside of what they do for others
Getting their way through manipulation
Making others feel guilty or deficient in some way
Want to dive deeper?
Get support on your inner work through 1-on-1 coaching, relationship coaching, group workshops, or figure out your type in a typing interview!
Resources:
The Wisdom of the Enneagram:
Book by Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson
Do It for The Gram Podcast:
Podcast by Coach Milton Stewart
The Art of the Enneagram:
Book by Dr. Ginger Lapin-Bogda
The Enneagram Institute:
Organization & Website
The Art of Typing:
Book by Dr. Ginger Lapin-Bogda
Random Acts of Caroline:
An Enneagram Podcast