Type 6
Dominant Center: Head
As a Head Type, 6s are primarily concerned with constructing a mental framework that can effectively manage the Fear that arises within their psyche when confronted with the unknown. Their framework is thorough, considering every potential outcome and strategizing a defense against each outcome’s threats, relying upon previous experience and belief to inform the best path through the present moment. Type 6’s style of thinking requires them to be responsive to external information that might safeguard them from danger, consequently creating a belief that in order to have all their bases covered, 6s need to look outside of themselves to find trustworthy guidance. As opposed to leaping into exploration like the other Head Types (Types 5 and 7), Type 6 navigates the unknown by depending on the known. The conceptual trust given to known information lends 6s a cautious approach to most things as they aim to ensure that their baseline of perceived truth is reliable, sure, and unswaying.
In order to feel secure, Type 6s need a correct framework that is carefully tested and proven worthy. 6s are the perfectionists of the Head Center, hoping to protect themselves from any mistaken beliefs. They greatly fear misplacing their trust, because 6s know that the people, institutions, and sources of information to which they open themselves have the power to shift their sense of orientation in reality. If 6s depend on an untrustworthy pillar, their mental and moral conceptualization will be at the mercy of a negative influence. To combat this implicit reliance on external sources, Type 6s approach the world with a wary edge, keeping everything at arm’s length until they can ensure they (and their thinking) are not at risk of being misled.
While their process is certainly honorable and careful, 6s can be needlessly thorough in their double-checking, overly suspicious and even paranoid when trapped in neurosis. 6s are excessively committed to their trusted sources, remaining deeply loyal to the beliefs, people, and structures that proved to be most dependable in their world. Unfortunately, this can also lend them to an overcommitment of self, becoming too willing to defend their touchstones to the death in order to reinforce their sense of mental stabilization.
Passion: Unbelief
Their need to locate the most reliable sources begins innocently, teaching 6s to do their homework to ensure they’ve found the most accurate and reliable information. But this relentless search for truth breeds a hidden belief that forms Type 6’s life problems: they come to think that the answers to their countless questions always lie outside of their known information, and not within. This falsehood is Type 6’s Passion of Unbelief, which tricks them into implicitly feeling that they will never be sufficiently prepared or knowledgeable in order to handle the unknown.
Without sufficient gathering of perspectives, 6s believe they will not see the whole picture and thus remain one-sided and uninformed. This creates in 6s a desire to grasp opposing perspectives of a single topic to guarantee the most thorough understanding available to them. However, in a room full of voices (with varying degrees of perceived credibility), 6s struggle to discern which voice is worth believing. The same Unbelief that 6s have of themselves is projected outward toward all the perspectives they are trying to amalgamate into one cohesive, tested, and true answer. A skeptical eyebrow is raised first at the self, then at everything around it.
This is why decision-making is so hard for Type 6, and why, when faced with an important choice, 6 will often want the viewpoints of others. They figure more information will allow them to construct the safest conclusion. While sometimes this does placate Type 6’s mind, it will often do the opposite, especially if their sources supply conflicting input, making them feel unanchored in a sea of voices. Therein lies a circular pattern of 6’s suffering: the need for certainty perpetuates endless doubt. After searching and weighing such a high volume of perspectives, 6s must decide what they believe is true. But before long, Unbelief leaves 6s doubting themselves again – and consequently, those voices, establishments, and people they once chose to trust.
In order to combat Unbelief, Type 6s must actively choose to believe that they can answer their own questions. This is difficult for them, because they want to avoid bearing the responsibility of fallout from a bad decision. 6s subconsciously outsource their autonomy, blaming any bad decisions on faulty advice, and this allows them to dodge shouldering all the blame for any fallout from their choices. When life goes south, Type 6s have a tendency to blame the people, institutions, and ideas to which they have pledged their loyalty, but will likely blame themselves later for being too dependent on external inputs. If 6s can put their faith in the process of learning from their own mistakes and honoring their own voice, they can live less worried and more intentional lives.
Hornevian Stance: Compliant
Karen Horney developed three types of personality that map effectively on to the Enneagram. Her theory suggests that everyone learns one of three responses in an attempt to get what they want. The Assertive Types (3, 7, and 8) move past (or against) others, the Compliant Types (1, 2, and 6) move toward others, and the Withdrawn Types (4, 5, and 9) move away from others in order to get what they want. Each type does this differently within their respective dominant Center. Type 6, as a Compliant Head Type, is earning security by moving toward others sources of orientation, sacrificing their desires to trust the agenda of their protective forces.
The Compliant Types struggle with an overinflated superego which utilizes guilt, duty, and obligation to propel the personality forward in life. Consistent with their mode of thinking, the rules that 6s consider come from their life experience and trusted belief structures. Since everyone has a distinct life, no two 6s carry the same compass; consequently, this type is one of the most diverse in its behavior and presentation. Anything from an abstract adoption of culture or familial norms to a literal authority figure can inform a 6’s understanding of how things “should” be. Type 6s themselves may not be aware of where all these rules come from, but they become an automatic standard in the Head Center, and 6 know they must either be obeyed or overturned.
Type 6s are excessively attuned to finding and removing inconsistencies in order to make logical sense of the world. When others (or even 6s themselves) display behaviors, thoughts, or narratives that appear incongruent with their preexisting position, 6s perceive a lack of dependability and spring into action to confront and locate any hidden truth. This does not need to be physical action; on the contrary, it is more often a mental response, since Type 6’s Compliance is tethered to the Head Center. They feel the need to double check the reliability of what they previously believed, aiming to bring incongruent information back into alignment with their preexisting belief structures and perceived tenets of truth. If this proves to be impossible, 6s reevaluate and sort accordingly.
For Type 6, their Compliant Stance in their thinking necessitates one of two outcomes: new information is deemed “good” and incorporated into their mental framework, or it is deemed “bad” and blacklisted within 6’s mind. This sorting of information feels imperative to 6s in every setting where the unknown presents itself. If Type 6s are not careful in their vetting process, they believe they are putting themselves at risk of allowing false information to poison their perspective and lead them to dangerous choices. Their obsession with doing the “right” thing is rooted in an implicit need to think the right way – the only way to ensure that mistakes are avoided.
Harmonic Style: Reactivity
The Harmonic Styles refer to how the nine types learn to unconsciously handle life as it confronts them with unwanted circumstances. While the Positive Outlook Types (2, 7, and 9) use optimism, denial, and reframing and the Competency Types (1, 3, and 5) use objectivity, neutrality, effort, and mastery to handle their problems, the Reactive Types (4, 6, and 8), by contrast, use pessimism, emotional expression, and cynicism to manage the issues they face. The Reactive Types’ quick responses cause them to “overdo” the primary emotion of their dominant Center of Intelligence. For Type 6, that means they overexpress Fear, expecting things to be worse and more dangerous than they are in actuality. This is the Reactive Types’ best attempt at seeing reality appropriately, but they inevitably skew their perspective to be more jaded and wary of life and other people than needed. This brings a tangible defensiveness or mistrust of others in Type 6.
This Reactive style is what makes Type 6 so immediate, as well as why they have a hard time concealing their opinions or feelings, which usually show quickly on their face. Type 6’s Reactivity is rooted in a sensitivity and watchfulness that scans for untruths, seeking to appropriately orient the Head Center and guarantee safe passage through the unknown. Their quickness to react makes Type 6 one of the most emotionally expressive types on the Enneagram, and they often find themselves at the mercy of their own overwhelming feelings.
The Reactivite Types assume an oppositional style of interaction between themselves and their world, meaning a me-against-you attitude is implicit to much of how they engage with others. When their Reactivity combines with their Attachment affect, 6’s outsourced Head Center projects their perspective on to the psychic authorities by which they orient themselves. This is why Type 6s are either the most obedient followers or the most insubordinate rebels – whether they trust or distrust a person or institution with authority, 6s still feel obligated to respond to their directives, yielding their will to those they deem trustworthy, and relentlessly working to undermine the position of those they deem untrustworthy. Their need to react to their attachments means 6s learn polarized responses to anything and anyone that has the potential to influence their perception of reality.
As Attachment Types, 6s unconsciously tether their sense of security to the position of their trusted sources. Consequently, when those sources are praised or maligned, at some psychic level, Type 6s will feel as though they themselves are being praised or maligned. For this very reason, many of the world’s greatest scholars are 6s who unknowingly gave themselves to the defense of their authorities, committed to tirelessly protecting the tenets of their intellectual security. 6s unconsciously know this projection is occurring, and the quick defensiveness of their Reactivity exists to project the fragile, overly-receptive mindset of their outsourced Head Center.
Object Relation: Attachment
(to the Protecting Object)
Type structure is built through a learned way of orienting toward the world through an Object Relation, which is a dynamic that forms as a child learns how they relate toward their parent(s). As a Compliant Type, 6 is oriented toward the Protecting Object, who metaphorically is Father, the one who provides the child with a sense of confidence in their own ability to move into the world to pursue their own dreams, agendas, and plans, guiding them along the way. However, every child receives and absorbs some form of wounding from their parents, and their psyche consequently learns to orient toward the world through an internalized Object – a distorted minimization of what should be the parent. This Object is not a full person; rather, the Object is a representation of the supplier of the child’s needs that did not do its job. The Protecting Object is meant to be a function that encourages and brings independence to the child by cultivating their individuation, a need which Type 6’s psyche does not perceive to be met.
The Compliant Types experience a perceived wound from the Protecting Object when they begin to learn how to move toward the things they desire, but feel unsupported in their attempts to make autonomous, self-motivated decisions. This sense of hurt from being overlooked by Father leaves the ego feeling as though it is unable – or perhaps, unallowed – to charge toward its own goals and wants. As such, the Compliant Types learn to do not what they most want, but what they feel is morally obligatory or necessary. This means that a pattern of guilt underpins Types 1, 2, and 6. When the Protecting Object fails to support and guide the child, Type 1 becomes Frustrated with Him, Type 2 Rejects Him, but Type 6 Attaches to Him. Rather than continuing toward their desired location, 6 stops dead in their tracks and refuses to move forward until Father has looked back at them and resumed His cheering and support.
In congruence with the other Attachment Types (3 and 9), 6 unconsciously assumes that the sudden loss of their Protecting function is a byproduct of their own failure. 6 believes if they could only adjust their behavior to suitably regain Father’s support, then they could once again have His shepherding and pursue their autonomy. The problem, however, is that Type 6 loses sight of their originally wanted endpoint by their preoccupation with reestablishing the connection that they once had to the Protecting Object. This extends far into adult life, and as such, 6s classically struggle with feeling that they do not have sufficient support or protection (from those who unconsciously represent the Protecting Object) to make decisions and keep moving toward their goals. Instead, 6s typically get caught up in the process of “correctly” following the Protecting Object’s instructions in order to feel supported.
When submitting to a perceived “should” from the Protecting Object, 6s prefer an “yes” or “no” response. 6s are addicted to clarity of thought, so if an authority’s direction feels vague or confusing, Type 6s will seek to gain further understanding of what is required of them. This creates within 6s an intolerance of ambiguity that fuels their suspicion of unfamiliar people, ideas, and institutions. They orient toward authority figures with extreme responses, needing to locate the best path forward. This translates to their moral judgments as well – if 6s believe something is wrong, they can easily slip into thinking it is always wrong, and the inverse can be true for “right” behavior.
Type 6’s attachment to the Protecting Object is what makes them loyal. Their addiction to certainty and support means 6s can latch on too tightly to the guardrails established by their trusted authorities, believing that by committing themselves they prevent wrong decisions. Guiding principles keep Type 6 anchored in the world, providing orientation of perception. To doubt those principles (or the people and institutions which informed them) sends Type 6 back into a sea of voices, unmoored, looking again for safe harbor.
Like the other Attachment Types (3 and 9), 6s are both dominant and repressed in the same Center of Intelligence. For Type 6, that’s the Head Center, meaning that they are preoccupied with mentalizing and concluding what is truly trustworthy, real, and accurate, but committing to such a process forces them to hide their true mind from themselves. As with 3’s falsified Heart and 9’s falsified Body, Type 6 crafts a falsified Head whose ideologies and thoughts are always ready to bend to the demands of the most reliable Protecting Object. All the while, the true Head that contains 6’s deepest aims and goals is locked away and concealed from them – it remains wounded, trapped by the unconscious belief that its ambitions will leave Type 6 unsupported and unprotected. The Passion of Unbelief follows such a trapping of 6’s capable and intuitive mind.
Unfortunately, even Father’s most ardent and heartfelt support of 6 will fall on deaf ears, as Type 6’s Attachment to the Protecting Object is where the ego finds its sense of orientation. For 6 to truly, fully receive Father’s support – and to then be healed of their wound – would cost them their ego’s foundation. Every answer they seek out is instantly questioned because of Type 6’s Passion: Unbelief in themselves. This is the key to the theory of Object Relations – even though every neurotic structure has its own motivation and agenda, the ego will unconsciously perpetuate its orientation toward the world through the lens of its learned Object Relation. And without that lens, the ego ceases to exist. For Type 6, the ability to change their thinking in order to Attach is the only known way to live.
Common Misconceptions
Enneagram type structure is rarely understood at an elemental level. Without knowing the “bones” of a type, many supposed Enneagram teachers have written terribly misleading descriptions of each type. No type is an exception to this issue, so by examining the specific parts of 6, we hope to re-illustrate some of the more confusing or inaccurate conceptions of this type.
Many times Type 6 has been reduced to the caricature of a hypochondriac or a nervous wreck – and while such people often are core 6s, this doesn’t by any means suggest they are representative of the type at large. Rather, it’s important to note that 6’s fears and concerns are necessarily tied both to their dominant instinct and their environment (both of upbringing and current existence). Most people are dominant in the Self-Preservation instinct, so most 6s will be concerned most with the tangible world. But for Social- or Sexual-dominant 6s, their desired resource of security is not connected to tangible or practical safety.
Their dualism of thought leads many 6s to mistype as 1s, as the Compliant Stance lends itself to an “either-or” perspective. It’s important to note that, unlike Type 1 (a Body Type), Type 6’s dualism is necessarily tied to the Head Center. If 6 thinks something is wrong, this becomes the fundamental metric of right and wrong. Obviously, this way of thinking is exhausting, as situations that are ambiguous or secretive often trigger for 6s a looming feeling of being unsupported, tricked, and left without dependable support. Unsurprisingly, Type 6s tend to be uncomfortable with surprises and bothered by a lack of clarity, and they can spiral into pessimistic thinking in their best attempt to make sense of every unknown coming their way.
As an Attachment Type, 6s’ obligations are coming from outside of them, sourced from whatever object their ego has attached to. Type 6’s responsive and attentive focus on “should”s from external inputs contrasts starkly with their Compliant cousins (Types 1 and 2), whose internal “should”s lack external orientation, and thus are not nearly as adaptable. Type 6, however, has obligations formed by the perceived demands of their attachments, forcing them to look outward for affirmation that these demands are being met. This contrast is most observable in the general overconfidence of the assertions of Types 1 and 2, as opposed to the general underconfidence of the assertions of Type 6.