The information on this page was compiled by an unknown enthusiast and I downloaded it from the net several years back -  if it was you, please write to me,  so that I can give due credit for the hard work - CMcL, 2007

Don Richard Riso, Discovering Your Personality Type: The Enneagram Questionnaire, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992

The Functions

"I have given two names to each Function because each personality type represents two major areas of activity -- a Function that characterizes an internally held attitude of the type and a Function that characterizes the type's observable behavior."

Type One

The Functions of Rationality and Social Responsibility:
The potential for moderation, conscience, maturity, self-discipline, and delayed gratification.
Negatively, the potential for rigid self-control, impersonal perfectionism, judgmentalism, self-righteousness, and intolerance.

Type Two

The Functions of Empathy and Altruism:
The potential for other-directedness, thoughtfulness for others, genuine self-sacrifice, generosity, and nurturance.
Negatively, the potential for intrusiveness, possessiveness, manipulation, and self-deception.

Type Three

The Functions of Self-Esteem and Self-Development:
The potential for ambition, self-improvement, personal excellence, professional competence, self-assurance, and social distinction.
Negatively, the potential for pragmatic calculation, arrogant narcissism, the exploitation of others, and hostility.

Type Four

The Functions of Self-Awareness,and Artistic Creativity:
The potential for intuition, sensitivity, individualism, self-expression, and self-revelation.
Negatively, the potential for self-absorbtion, self-consciousness, self-doubt, self-inhibition, and depression.

Type Five

The Functions of Open-Mindedness and Original Thinking:
The potential for curiosity, perceptiveness, the acquisition of knowledge, inventive originality, and technical expertise.
Negatively, the potential for speculative theorizing, emotional detachment, eccentricity, social isolation, and mental projections.

Type Six

The Functions of Trust and Social Affiliation:
The potential for emotional bonding with others, group identification, sociability, industriousness, loyalty to others, and commitment to larger efforts.
Negatively, the potential for dependency, ambivalence, rebelliousness, anxiety, and inferiority feelings.

Type Seven

The Functions of Enthusiasm and Practical Action:
The potential for responsiveness, productivity, achievement, skill acquisition, and the desire for change and variety.
Negatively, the potential for hyperactivity, superficiality, impulsiveness, excessiveness, and escapism.

Type Eight

The Functions of Self-Assertion and Leadership:
The potential for self-confidence, self-determination, self-reliance, magnanimity, and the ability to take personal initiative.
Negatively, the potential for domination of others, crude insensitivity, combativeness, ruthlessness, and megalomania.

Type Nine

The Functions of Acceptance and Receptivity:
The potential for emotional stability, humility, unself-consciousness, emotional and physical endurance, and creating harmony with others.
Negatively, the potential for passivity, disengaged emotions and attention, neglectfulness, and mental dissociation.

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