How compatible are the Enneagram Type 8 and Type 9 patterns of communicating, feeling, and thinking?
Reading time: 5 minutes
In this article, you’ll find comparisons of two Enneagram types — Type 8s and Type 9s — across four important personality domains: Interpersonal/Communication Style, Emotional Style, Intellectual Style, and Organizational Style.
TraitLab collected data about personality traits from thousands of participants who identified as a single Enneagram type.
For each comparison area below, you’ll see show the average similarities and differences between Type 8s and Type 9s. While these comparisons are useful for understanding broad trends across these types, it’s important to remember that all personality types are oversimplifications. For an assessment of your unique personality, you’ll want to use an assessment that goes beyond single personality types.
To learn more about how this typology relates to personality traits, you’ll want to read Enneagram and Big Five Personality Traits.
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Your particular style of communicating and interacting with others can be described fairly well by two dimensions: assertiveness and warmth.
Assertiveness describes your tendency to assert yourself, lead, and influence others in social situations, while warmth describes your tendencies to empathize and put others’ needs ahead of your own.
People with the same personality type often share some similarities in assertiveness and warmth. In the graph below, you can see where most Type 8s and most Type 9s fall along both of these dimensions.
First, take a look at where people in each type, on average, fall in this interpersonal space.
Type 8s are assertive, competitive, and like a good challenge. At their best, they are bold and confident leaders who are willing to take unpopular action. Type 8s may be overly proud, boisterous, and willing to manipulate others to achieve their goals. At their worst, they can be narcissistic, overly focused on their own needs, and lack empathy for others.
Type 9s often respect others, conform to expectations, and ask for guidance. At their best, they are loyal and reliable, and encourage others to guide and help. Type 9s may be overly clingy, gullible, and have difficulty expressing anger, even when appropriate. At their worst, they will try to please others too much, put others’ needs ahead of their own, and allow others to take advantage of them.
As a Type 8, one notable difference between you and most Type 9s is in your interpersonal warmth. You are likely on the colder, more combative side of the spectrum. Compared to you and other Type 8s, Type 9s can sometimes feel overly focused on feelings and intentions, rather than the facts of the matter at hand.
Another important difference between you and most Type 9s is in your relative assertiveness and dominance in social situations. Like many Type 8s, you tend to be on the more assertive side and feel comfortable taking charge and making decisions. Often, this pairs well with Type 9s more reserved and passive style, but you’ll want to be careful about being overly domineering, forceful, or direct. Unlike you, Type 9s may need additional time and space to share their thoughts and ideas.
Another characteristic of your personality is your emotional style — your tendencies towards different kinds of moods. There are two dimensions that influence emotional style: arousal and valence.
Arousal describes your relative energy level across different situations. Those with high baseline levels of arousal tend to be generally more alert, active, and engaged, while those with a lower baseline are more reserved, subdued, and inhibited.
Valence describes whether these moods tend to be positive (pleasant) or negative (unpleasant). People with a more positively valenced style are more likely to experience emotions like joy, enthusiasm, satisfaction, and serenity. People with a more negatively valenced style are more likely to experience sadness, frustration, dissatisfaction, and anxiety.
The graph below shows where each type, on average, usually sits in this emotional space.
Type 8s tend to be energetic and enthusiastic across most situations. They take on new challenges with excitement, confidence, and a sense of adventure. Type 8s are usually more optimistic than most people, and they generally feel like they can handle what life throws at them.
Type 9s have a tendency to be quiet and inhibited. Compared to most people, they can easily drift into gloom and melancholy. They see the glass as half-empty and have a more skeptical outlook and a hesitant approach to life. For better or worse, Type 9s tend to notice the negatives in most situations. In stressful times, they are more likely to withdraw quietly and retreat inward, rather than share their frustration with others.
As with most Type 8s, you tend to have a higher baseline energy level than most Type 9s. Between the two of you, you are more likely to seek out engaging activities — perhaps social events, outdoor adventures, or a new class, depending on your interests. However, you may find that most Type 9s do not share your enthusiasm and excitement. In general, you likely crave stimulation more than your Type 9 counterparts, and balancing your different appetites for excitement can be an ongoing challenge.
Another difference between Type 8s and Type 9 is in their typical emotional valence, which describes tendencies towards positive or negative emotions. You and most Type 8s tend to fall on the more positive side. Compared to most Type 9s, you and most Type 8s experience positive emotions such as joy, satisfaction, and happiness more often than most Type 9s. Type 9s have the opposite pattern, and they tend to gravitate towards more negative emotions.
These subtle emotional differences often surface in your reactions to new information. The same news that sparks enthusiasm in you and most Type 8s can induce worry in Type 9s. Compared to Type 8s, most Type 9s may need additional time and space to recover from stress.
Your intellectual style describes how you receive, process, and pursue different kinds of information. Differences in intellectual style are captured well by two dimensions: ideas and aesthetics.
Ideas describes your appetite for new information and your interest in complex, challenging material. People high on the ideas dimension have an appreciation for complexity and technical details. People lower on ideas are less interested in learning for learning’s sake, and they prefer to simplify complex topics down to the essential details.
Aesthetics captures your relative interest and sensitivity to aesthetic information and its emotional impact. People higher on the aesthetics dimension usually have strong artistic interests and a deep appreciation for beauty in many forms. Those lower on aesthetics tend to value practical application over artistic merit and usually adhere to more conventional standards of beauty.
In the graph below, you’ll see where Type 8s and Type 9s, on average, fall in this intellectual space.
Type 8s are usually highly effective, efficient thinkers, capable of processing large amounts of complex information and distilling it down to its most useful elements. They are pragmatic and grounded and prefer to apply their knowledge to conventional, practical pursuits.
Type 9s are practical realists. They focus on building practical skills and essential knowledge and are less likely to spend time learning for learning’s sake. In addition, they usually value conventional, tangible accomplishments over artistic expression and rarely feel compelled to develop a creative outlet.
As with many Type 8s, you tend to have a stronger need for information and complexity than most Type 9s. You are much more likely to become enamored with a fascinating new idea and dive head first into learning everything you can about it while your Type 9 counterparts are focused on the practical matter in front of them. You may find yourself pulling the conversation to a more theoretical level when you’re together, while your Type 9 partner resists and keeps things down-to-earth.
Likewise, Type 8s and Type 9s share an appreciation for practical, tangible accomplishments over artistic expression. Type 8s and Type 9s are both likely to embrace conventional ways of thinking, and both types are more skeptical of eccentric or unusual approaches to solving problems.
Your organizational style describes your habits around organization and planning. Your organizational style influences how you structure your time and physical space. Differences in organizational style fall along two dimensions: industriousness and orderliness.
Industriousness describes your persistence, need for achievement, and intensity of focus. People higher on industriousness usually organize their behavior around a few important long-term goals. People lower on industriousness are usually more focused on the present and will more easily change their focus when new opportunities appear.
Orderliness describes your need for regularity, order, and structure in your environment. People higher on orderliness prefer tidy, organized physical spaces, detailed schedules, and reliable routines. People lower on orderliness can tolerate more disorganization and prefer a more spontaneous, unstructured approach.
The graph below shows the average position of Type 8s and Type 9s along these dimensions of organizational style.
Type 8s often have big, ambitious goals, and they can be unusually resourceful. Once they’ve set their mind on a goal, they often pursue it with tremendous effort. However, Type 8s often resist highly structured, tedious approaches to achieving their goals. They’d rather avoid creating detailed plans and are more comfortable improvising and moving quickly with the resources they have on hand.
Type 9s thrive in unstructured environments with fewer constraints and more room for improvisation and serendipity. They generally focus on enjoying the present rather than preparing for the future. Type 9s highly value spontaneity and the flexibility to change their mind, and they resist setting hard deadlines or rigid expectations.
As with most Type 8s, you and many Type 9s can clash over your need to set goals and use time efficiently. While you have an easier time getting down to work and staying focused, your Type 9 counterpart may be more easily distracted and unpredictable. Working consistently with a narrow focus often comes naturally to many Type 8s like you, but you may find that Type 9s benefit from additional structure to keep them on track. While you enjoy planning and tend to mind the future, your Type 9 counterpart helps you enjoy the present, injecting some much-needed spontaneity into your schedule.
However, Type 8s and Type 9s share a more intuitive, unstructured approach to most areas of their lives. Both of you take life as it comes, and you avoid overly detailed plans and high levels of organization. Compared to most people, the two of you also have higher tolerances for messiness and disorganization.
Most people have complex personalities and can’t be described perfectly by a single Enneagram type.
With TraitLab’s comprehensive analyses of your traits, strengths, and interests, you can see how your personality compares to all nine Enneagram types. Start building your personality profile by creating a free account today.
For comparisons between Type 8s and other Enneagram types, visit any of the type pairings below:
For comparisons between Type 8s and other types from the 16 Personality typology, visit any of the pairings below:
