The Attachment Bias within Enneagram Studies
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Attachment Bias
The central purpose for studying the Enneagram is to see oneself. However, biases of all kinds negatively impact our capacity to observe and understand ourselves. Attachment Bias is a major obstacle that impacts how the Enneagram is explored, understood, and applied and prevents awareness in the guise of deepening it. In one sense, it’s an Enneagram-specific version of the Barnum effect, but a bit more nuanced. The short of it is that it’s an assumption that all people are seeking out common ground (or rudely against common ground), adapting, and multi-faceted. This isn’t the only such bias within the Enneagram, but it’s probably the most widespread and unquestioned.
This bias bends the use of the Enneagram to further “finding common ground”, thus confusing inner work with self-regulation and co-regulation. Sharing about the Enneagram, then, takes on the emotional stakes of mutual validation and trying to make one another feel supported and attached to, which can make intellectual discussions difficult and delicate. Validating and soothing the personality becomes confused with inner work. This stalls deeper learning and seeing.
