Trifixation

The Centers

Three Centers of Intelligence divide the Enneagram of Personality into its primary set of triads: the Body (or Gut) Center, the Heart Center, and the Head Center. These Centers represent the personality’s “machines” that each respond to different negative emotions that emerge within the psyche.

The Body Center is the form and frame of the personality: the psyche’s tool of managing Anger that arises when we are affected by the world in ways we don’t like. The Body Center aims to maintain autonomy and separateness from its environment; it represents the boundaries we establish that shape our actions. For core Gut Types (8, 9, and 1), issues of maintaining boundaries and protecting their independence become the primary subconscious focus of their psyche. For Body Types, their main life problems orbit the ways they either over- or under-assert themselves.

The Heart Center is the self-concept and image of the personality: the psyche’s tool of managing Shame that surfaces when we feel deficient in value. The Heart Center tries to produce and advertise to the world a crafted character that we believe will replicate the value we feel we lack. For core Heart Types (2, 3, and 4), issues of being the “self” we hope we are, and of managing an image that’s consistent with our sense of identity become the main event of the personality. They end up obsessed with solidifying and clinging to their idea of who they are, lest feelings of worthlessness overwhelm them.

The Head Center is the personality’s sense of orientation and understanding: the psyche’s tool of combatting Fear that materializes when we encounter the unfamiliar and unknown. The Head Center builds for us a mental reference, a way of guessing or theorizing about what the unknown means, and it determines for us how much concern or preparation we feel is necessary for managing such things. Having a mental map as a substitute for the blankness of things we don’t understand allows the Head Center to quell anxiety. For core Head Types (5, 6, and 7), using thought and mentation to diminish Fear becomes the ultimate issue of their personality.

The Interaction of the Centers

While the Centers of Intelligence each perform crucial functions in the makeup of the personality, no one has just one of these machines; rather, our personalities consist of the combination of these functions. In our research, we’ve found many different sorts of people who all utilize the same primary fixation. Put simply, we found that, despite sharing some fundamental behavioral patterns, people of the same core type can have excessive variation in personality, sense of motivation, and affect. 

Because of these findings, we subscribe to the theory of trifixation, which suggests everyone’s personality setup consists of three distinct functions interacting with each other – one function in the Body, one in the Heart, and one in the Head. We’ve learned not only how to identify each of these nine functions, but also how to notice what behaviors arise when they interact with each other. For example, there’s a specific set of behavior we look for if someone’s Head fix is dominant, as well as a different set for when it’s last.

This means that we type by identifying someone’s “trifix” – the combination of their three fixes – in an individualized order. For example, a 6w7 with 1w9 and 3w4 fixes would have a trifix of 613, and the order of those fixes would affect that person’s behavior. Your trifix creates a gestalt “feel” that others will have when they interact with you. Some would argue that one’s trifix represents the archetypal role we fill in the world. Two people with the exact same fixes in the exact same order will appear quite similar in their behavior, but another 6w7 with 2w1 and 8w9 fixes would appear extremely different than someone with a trifix of 613.

There’s too much information to explain here what behaviors we look for in the fixes and how we spot their order, but purchase a full typing and commentary to learn more thoroughly how we see them manifest in your behavior!