Type 7

Dominant Center: Head

As a Head Type, 7 is primarily concerned with its own mentalized function of how to operate in the world with everything that is unknown to the self, managing the Fear that arises when the psyche must guess at what is yet to be discovered. For Type 7, the response to Fear is a denial, a reframing of their own perception of reality so as not to have to bear the weight of their anxiety. While 7s can be anxious people (particularly those with a 6 wing), 7 in neurosis is hinged upon convincing itself that the world will work in its favor, that bad things are not really coming for them, and that the things they yearn for are just around the corner. 

This mental reframing can make 7s fun for others to be around, at least for most – they are conventionally optimistic, high-spirited, and ready to engage in any sort of stimulating activity that can occupy them sufficiently. In contrast to the narrow focus and depth of intellectual pursuit of Type 5, which sits at the bottom of the Head Center, Type 7 utilizes breadth and variety as a way of searching for information. There is a tendency for 7s to want to “try it all,” hoping to get a glimpse of every enjoyable thing that life has to offer. The consequences of this are extensive – there are few things that they won’t try at least once, and they seem invested in enjoying life, but they also are prone to functioning in a flaky and inconsistent fashion, jumping from experience to experience with little consideration for what enjoyment and beauty might still exist in what they’ve just left behind. In Type 7’s pursuit of every good and lovely thing, many are overlooked and forgotten. For many 7s, this creates a relational dynamic where others feel that 7s aren’t really that committed to who their loved ones are as people, but rather to what they offer the 7.

It’s important to remember that as a Head Type, 7’s priority at all times is to have a mental framework of the world that sufficiently deals with their fears and concerns. Not all 7s desire to leave their world (and their friends and family) behind; rather, their hopping from one stimulating thing to the next is a compulsive response to any feeling of Fear or anxiety. If 7s can sufficiently distract themselves with all the pleasures of the world, they feel they will never have to face the things that are too difficult to stomach.

Passion: Gluttony

Their self-distraction techniques land 7s with the Passion of Gluttony. While for some 7s it can be a physical Gluttony, this Passion more broadly refers to 7s’ attitude toward the world. No matter the arena of life in which they exist, Type 7’s ego will be hellbent on more. Their neurotic cycle can be summed up as this deceptive thought: “What I have now is not enough.” Gluttony sends 7s further into the world, moving past the beauty around them in pursuit of their projected hopes, never content with what the present has to offer. 

As a Head Type, 7’s dissatisfaction is being filtered through a lens of mentation – as such, Gluttony often is more about the conceptual stimulation 7s experience as they rush toward “more” of life. This yearning for more heady entertainment leads 7s to gorge themselves on the idea of whatever is next, rather than the actual experience of it. This reflects the Frustration affect of Type 7; no experience can be enough to satisfy the psyche’s hunger, or else its stimulating quality would end, and 7 would be left to confront the Fear inherent to the Head Center. 7s’ unconscious shifting of their attention to whatever is next means that life can never be something with which they have full, present contact. Gluttony occurs not in the moment of “eating;” rather, Gluttony lives in the anticipation of such consumption. 

This emphasis on anticipation of the next delightful moment makes Type 7 constantly on the lookout for shortcuts out of the present moment. Gluttony is not just the yearning for 7’s next mental “meal,” but also their abandonment of the nourishment that might exist presently. This dissatisfaction with “now” is something 7s are not usually aware of; rather, Type 7s think of themselves as merely excited for they’ve been mentally occupied with. This blindness to their own yearning can make 7s particularly avoidant of acknowledging or receiving blame when others are upset with their inconsistency and flippancy. For more “other-oriented” types, it can feel as though Type 7s are always moving past or around them, as though one can never really be with 7s. This tendency to be absent to the present moment in favor of the future is central to the makeup of Type 7,  and their Gluttony is the self-indulgence and self-focus that accompanies their mode of operation. 

Hornevian Stance: Assertive

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 7, as an Assertive Head Type, is demanding their sense of security by moving past the real world toward an idealized world of thought.

Assertive Types have been deemed by some to be future-oriented, taking initiative to usher themselves into their desired outcome. In contrast to their other Assertive Stance siblings (Types 3 and 8), 7s must learn to demand what they desire (as a Head Type, security) by reinforcing an overly positive mental perspective, functionally doing intellectual gymnastics to convince themselves that the next moment is more real than the present one. Type 7s rarely perceive themselves as in denial; rather, they typically just think that they are choosing to see the best in the world around them. 

There’s a certain speed that’s intrinsic to the way the Assertive Stance operates – 3, 7, and 8 all have an attitude that is pushing toward what’s next, keeping their eyes on the future. While the other Assertive Types tend to be goal-oriented in a more classical sense, motivated and focused, such a unidirectional style of future-orientation rarely suits Type 7. Because 7s are a Head Type, this speed is funneled into mental activity, and they often lack the concentration and reliability necessary to have explicit goals that move beyond ideation into actuality. For 7s, particularly those with a 6 wing, their Assertive “demands” don’t usually appear forceful; instead, 7s seem to get what they want by refusing to see reality for what it is; rather, the real world is a means to an end for 7s – their sense of fulfillment and entertainment.

Along with the other Assertive Types (3 and 8), 7s tend to overestimate the impact they can have on their external reality. As such, this rushing toward their desired future makes the Assertive Types too fast for the world around them. This doesn’t necessarily manifest as physical speed; they can be rushing through activities, events, obligations, etc. to get back to whatever it is they, the Assertive Type, want to be doing. The Assertive Types’ speed creates an effect where other, “slower” types may feel as though they are moving around or past them… there’s a tendency for 3s, 7s, and 8s to all miss the world before them in favor of whatever they want next.

Harmonic Style: Positive Outlook

The Harmonic Styles refer to how the nine types learn to unconsciously handle life as it confronts them with unpleasant realities. While the Reactive Types (4, 6, and 8) use pessimism, emotional expression, and skepticism, and the Competency Types (1, 3, and 5) use neutrality, mastery, and unemotionality, the Positive Outlook Types (2, 7, and 9) use optimism, denial, and reframing to handle their problems. This positivity is almost never an intentional delusion; rather, the Positive Types – even when they are unhealthy – distort their experience with pleasantness as they struggle to stomach the darker parts of reality.

It’s vital to remember that all the triads of a type are subjected to the primary theme of its Dominant Center of Intelligence. For Type 7, that means its Positive Outlook is funneled through the Headspace, using brightness and play as a tool to manage Fear of the unknown. 7s often are confused to find out they’re Head Types preoccupied with managing Fear, since many 7s see themselves as being naturally resistant to feelings of stress or anxiety. This confusion is a theme for all three Positive Types – they each “underdo” the dominant emotion of their core Center – thus, 2s rarely see themselves as Shameful people, 9s rarely see themselves as Angry people, and 7s rarely see themselves as Fearful people. 

This underdoing of Fear becomes the primary tool of 7’s ego to stay afloat. Type 7s learn early in life that the easiest way to manage frightening thoughts is to reshape, reframe, and reorient their perception of reality until it is palatable enough for them to function. 7s become addicted to a mentality that tells them the grass is always greener on the other side.  At some level, they refuse to take the world and its dangers at face value. Instead, they unconsciously transmute Fear of the unknown into excitement, which convinces them the world is something to excitedly explore. Head Types will often talk about their intellectual pursuits, but there’s a particularly carefree and playful orientation toward learning that 7s have – they will often express how learning is fun for them when discussing what they enjoy or love. That doesn’t mean they’re academics by nature – in fact, usually the opposite is true – rather, they tend to engage in the informational world only as they want to. Type 6, by contrast, will feel obligated to also research all the things they don’t find interesting to stay prepared. Type 7 has a consistently flippant orientation toward information, spitting out the seeds and keeping only the ripest parts of whatever content they’re consuming. This often makes them delightfully adventurous, confident, and impulsive people.

Unfortunately, 7s often remain out of touch with the true dangers of their Positivity. They may think, Why would enjoying life be a bad thing? 7’s problem is their deep inflexibility in their commitment to their own fantastical viewpoint of their life and the world around them. When information that feels negative, too sad, or overwhelming appears within psychic view, it tends to disappear from 7’s perception, remaining forever incompatible with the beliefs that they have about reality. Consequently, Type 7s often permit themselves to remain free of responsibility for handling negative information, and this can result in patterns of avoiding blame, making excuses for their own selfishness, as well as (unintentionally) dismissing the grief, anger, fear, or sadness within themselves and others.

Object Relation: Frustration
(with the Nurturing Object)

Type structure is built through a learned way of orienting toward the world called an Object Relation, a dynamic that forms as a child discovers how they relate to their parent(s). 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 sufficiently. As an Assertive Type, 7s are oriented toward the Nurturing Object, the Mother who fulfills an infant’s hunger and cares for, sees, cherishes her child. 

As an Object Relational affect, Frustration refers to the ego response that departs from the parent’s insufficient provision, causing the child to try securing these resources for themselves. However, the child’s immaturity causes them to seek in excess the resources they once lacked, not knowing when enough is enough. The Frustration Type’s psyche remembers what they initially wanted and refuses to accept reality in any form that does not match their “memory”, meaning life for them becomes a never-ending search. An inner target persists within the Frustration Type, transforming everything into an arrow flying toward it. This dynamic produces a sensitive and constant measuring of how close or far reality is to the target’s bullseye – the psyche’s ideal. Needless to say, Frustration Types become hinged upon finding the arrow that hits the bullseye, and dismissing all the “misses” in favor of the rare and precious “hits”. 

For Type 7, that missing resource is Mother’s nurturance – food and fulfillment. A graphic but effective metaphor is Mother as one who breastfeeds her child – Type 7 feels unsatisfied by the milk Mother can offer, and they refuse to ever latch again, insisting on only ever feeding themselves from then on. 7 consequently functions as a child running loose at a grocery store. They know they’re hungry, and they’re ready to buy food. But having refused Mother’s help, 7 has no understanding of what foods are nutritious and filling, let alone when it is time to stop consuming. So the child goes to self-checkout with 143 items in their cart, all of them colorful and sweet but none truly as nutritious as Type 7 needs in order to feel satisfied. They then ravenously devour every piece of junk food, ever dissatisfied with the present bite while believing wholeheartedly the next bite will fill their stomach.

One can intuitively understand how such a psychic blueprint allows a person to “treat” themselves all too often. 7s tend to find shortcuts for themselves, looking for ways to get the most of any situation, often at the cost of more practical opportunities. It can be hard for 7s to convince themselves to do things they don’t already have interest in doing. A boring task is functionally Type 7’s nemesis. Others often become irritated with Type 7’s overly self-permitting “whatever” or “no big deal” attitude, and more controlling types will try to put limits on 7’s self-indulgence. This creates a fear within Type 7 of being controlled or limited in their access to every good, fun, interesting, or stimulating option. 

The buffet-style approach 7s have to life is reflected in their thought process. The convergence of Frustration in the Head Center means 7s don’t feel obligated to subscribe to conceptual systems as 6s do. Instead, they take the ideas that they like and use those parts as their roadmap to reality. Obviously this leads to a rather incomplete picture of life, but this distortion is what 7s unconsciously prefer. When confronted with information that suggests their viewpoint or expectation is inaccurate, 7s remain faithful to their optimistic delusions.

Type 7 is the meeting point of this Frustration affect and the Assertive Stance, so their idealism is pointed forward, pulling them into the next moment. This means their ego’s response to dissatisfaction is to immediately jump another step, forsaking the present moment in search of a more pleasurable circumstance. This means others often find them to be a bit absent-minded, distractible, and preoccupied, since 7s can easily get taken with their fantasies of all the events that are about to go their way. Unless they’re mentally stimulated or entertained, it’s likely others won’t find Type 7s to be listening very carefully. As a Head Type, all of 7’s idealistic motion is funneled into the world of mentation and ideation, and they can appear to be in their own world rather than this one.

The personality’s inner world is not reality; Type 7’s ideal world necessarily creates constant friction with the actuality of the world outside of them – this pattern of incongruence between the personality’s sense of ideal and the disappointing nature of reality is the defining trait for the Frustration affect of Types 1, 4, and 7. Because this ideal is crystallized within the Head Center, 7’s Gluttony is not their literal consumption so much as it is the mind’s insatiable yearning for more mental stimulation. The physical world becomes a means to an end: Type 7’s true addiction is to the mental state of excitement and anticipation for whatever they believe will fulfill them.

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 7, we hope to re-illustrate some of the more confusing or inaccurate conceptions of this type.

While 7s are the type least likely to mistype themselves, a couple of distinct mistypings can occur when other types reduce Type 7 to the “fun type.” 3s with a 2 wing are the most common type to misidentify themselves as 7s. Both types are Assertive Types, pursuing what they want with swiftness and purpose. However, 3s are ultimately Heart Types, meaning any playfulness, narcissism, or self-indulgence is part of their psyche’s need to be seen by the Nurturing Object. 7, by contrast, has no interest in winning back Mother’s favor, but insists on satisfying themselves. 7s dwell in the Head Center, and they ultimately never preoccupied by a need to be seen by others. 

9s also mistype themselves as 7s – both types tend toward laziness and ease, using their Positive Outlook as a tool to keep themselves comfortable. But unlike 7s’ pursuit of stimulation and excitement, 9s primarily want to minimize intense feelings. As Assertive Types, 7s move faster than the world around them, but 9s are part of the Withdrawn Stance, so they ultimately move away from others to get what they want.