The keyword offered by Riso and Hudson is Shame. As we are about to see, the feeling of Shame is central to another of the Enneagram triads. Shame is addressed by Twos through their application of an appeasement strategy. Give people what they want, and they will like you. You need not feel ashamed of yourself if everyone thinks “you are grand.” However, for the Enneagram Twos, the anticipation of being likely (positive) or not being liked (negative) can be grating on the heart and one’s sense of self-importance. An Enneagram Two’s highly demanding psychosocial template is accompanied by feelings of resentment and dependency.
For the Enneagram Threes, anticipation of fruitful enterprise serves as a salve against painful feelings of inadequacy and shame. As a Three, we feel good about ourselves at the end of a hard day of successful work. We can even get addicted to the dopamine we inject in ourself at the end of this productive day as we anticipate another day of success. Like the gambler, we get a “hit” from the anticipation of success even more than from the actual success.
Finally, the Enneagram Fours possess an even larger palette of fantasized anticipation than the Threes. They can anticipate imagined positive falling in love or producing a work of great beauty (dipping a bit into their adjacent Enneagram Three proclivity). There are also the haunting anticipations associated with being abandoned by someone who is loved or falling into a state of despair following a futile effort to create something of great beauty. One need only pick up a Brontë novel or read the autobiography of a despairing artist to acquire an appreciation of the Enneagram Four’s sense of both ecstasy and shame.
The final three Enneagram types (Five, Six, and Seven) constitute Riso and Hudson’s (Riso and Hudson, 2003, pp. 69-70) third triad. This triad is embedded in Thought.
“In the thinking Triad, Fives have anxiety about the outer world and about their capacity to cope with it. Thus, they cope with their fear by withdrawing from the world. . . Fives hope that eventually, as they understand reality on their own terms, they will be able to rejoin the world and participate in it, but they never feel they know enough to participate with total confidence. . . . . Sixes are the most anxious type and the most out of touch with their own sense of inner knowing and confidence. Unlike Fives, Sixes have trouble trusting their own minds, so they are constantly looking outside themselves for something to make them feel sure of themselves. . . . . [N]o matter how many security structures they create, Sixes still feel doubtful and anxious. . . Sixes may also respond to their anxiety by impulsively confronting it – defying their fear in the effort to be free of it. Sevens have anxiety about their inner world. There are feelings of pain, loss, deprivation, and the general anxiety that Sevens would like to avoid as much as possible. To cope with these feelings, Sevens keep their minds occupied with exciting possibilities and options – as long as they have something stimulating to anticipate, Sevens feel that they can distract themselves from their fears. . . . Thus, Sevens can be found staying on the go, pursuing one experience after another, and keeping themselves entertained and engaged with their many ideas and activities.”
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