Am an I an Enneagram 7? What does it mean to be a Head type? What’s a good contrast between7w6 and 7w8? How are self-preservation 7s, social 7s, and sexual 7s different from each other? This in-depth analysis answers all of your questions!
INSIDE THIS POST:
THE 7 AS A HEAD TYPE
French philosopher René Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” This is the motto of the Head type, which navigates reality not with their body or through their identity, but the mind, in their attempt to predict reality. Life isn’t happening to them in real time; it’s being processed with their thoughts while it unfolds. Head types ponder what is going on, what may happen next, and what could result from it. It is such an instant process, they’re unaware of the degree which they “think” harder than the other centers, except by comparison (aren’t you going to think about this first? What’s your reason for doing it?). At all times, Head types process life with their intellect. It’s fun to think, and it does not feel optional when decisions need made. They enjoy thinking about everything in an attempt to understand it, and analyze their feelings and experiences.
Have you ever met someone with limitless optimism, and the ability to see the greater potential in everyone and everything, who can take a bad situation and find a reason for joy and positivity? If so, you know a 7. They are the life of the party; if you’re near them, laughter and fun isn’t far behind. They look for the silver lining in every cloud, and expect a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 7s believe the universe has good things in store for them if they just show up and put in the effort of trying out as many ideas, interests, hobbies, and experiences as possible.
Their motto is, “you only live once, so live your best life!” The world has so many exciting possibilities to explore, it’s hard for them to settle on one path forward, since to say yes to an experience means they may miss a better one. 7s fear missing out on anything that might make them happy, so they cram their life and mind full of thoughts, activities, and expectations. They’re energetic in pursuing whatever or whoever captures their intense interest, but get bored if it’s not challenging or when the real thing isn’t as fun as they imagined it would be, so they will either turn their attention to something else, or pull out of the situation something that feels mentally satisfying by focusing on and idealizing the experience or relationship.
7s feel good about never getting stuck too long in one place (both mentally and physically), as it keeps them from stagnation. They stay in continual motion in search of what may satisfy them. Taking classes, dating, traveling, trying out different careers, changing their major, moving to a new place, starting businesses, redecorating, exploring, and keeping all their options open. 7s do not want to feel tied down. To avoid missing out, they stuff their life full of activities and cram as much into their schedule as possible. If they can’t do things, they either plan how they will do them or come up with mental reasons why they’re fine where they are (I would love to visit Paris, but New York has plenty to experience, I just need to get out more!). 7s need to feel like they are constantly growing and changing and improving or it is wasting their own tremendous potential and intellectual capabilities.
Experiences get taken into their mind, where 7s focus on the good rather than the negative and mine them for what feels empowering and uplifting, or reinforces their desire to greet the world with hope. They seek happiness with a belief that it begins in their head; their positivity will radiate through their body, affect their environment, turn fate in their favor, make others like them, and help them get what they want with their can-do attitude. As they don’t want to live in a cruel and unpleasant world, 7s choose to draw attention to what inspires them, or to find things to feel good about in their sorrows. Life is too short to hold on to anything that makes them unhappy, so they pursue pleasure.
Reality gets bent to their rules. They see it the way they choose to, with rose-colored glasses, which means positivity, optimism, and cheerful self-regard. 7s know they can do anything they set their mind to, so they make things happen for themselves. Since thinking negative thoughts about themselves and their loved ones wouldn’t serve them, 7s focus on their best qualities rather than their flaws; it gives them the confidence to tackle life with enthusiasm. The 7 wants to live in a world full of hope, optimism, and enjoyment, and that means changing the story of their life to reflect the happiness they want to find in their environment. They want to be around others who are as enthusiastic about life and its potential as they are and who are up for its adventures, not to have their parade rained on. Reality often lets them down; the only way they cope with their longing for a better one is to put a spin on it.
After a painful breakup, they will focus on something completely different to forget their relationship for a while, assuming their next one will work out because they learned so much from this one. In their mind, when life teaches them hard lessons, it improves them. Failure leads to a better place. If sadness catches up to them, 7s cope with joyful thoughts. When confronted by the pain of reality, 7s laugh their way through it. If they get cancer, they focus on how much better they’re feeling, how nice the doctor is, how the nurse gave them a green hat after puking their guts out in a bathroom, how exceptional their hot-pink wig is, and how good a triple-decker chocolate cake will taste once they get off chemo.
They either see themselves as a good person who brings joy to life or as self-centered, but they view it as a good thing. 7s know you have to be a little selfish to get anywhere in life; it’s an asset. Even when they know their cheerfulness is fake, they keep a smile on their face. They love to laugh and entertain others. To overdo things and make them special. 7s see the potential in everyone and everything; if they can’t see it anymore, they pull up stakes and move on. They plan their life in such a way that it leaves them time to explore.
7s invent the future by anticipating and moving toward excitement and pleasure and away from pain and loss. They’re afraid of getting stuck in a situation that makes them feel trapped and don’t feel like they can cope with their own sadness. Because their emotions are all big, 7s feel excitement easily—that means devastation, loss, guilt, pain, and sorrow feel as if they have the potential to drown a 7, or cast them into a depression from which there is no return. They fear being locked into despair, and think if they stay in motion, the “bad” emotions they don’t want to deal with won’t catch up to them and slow them down so that they can’t find happiness. 7s want to avoid them, because their quest for joy means living without discontent.
Reality feels like it will rip them apart if they can’t find a distraction from the pain of living in an imperfect world. It agonizes them that awful things like suffering exist, and it’s hard for them to cope with the idea that life isn’t magical and won’t give them everything they want. That cancer may get someone they love, or that they have no control over whether someone leaves them or not. To feel powerful, a 7 wants to control what they can, and it all starts with their mind. They want to be the one who leaves, not who gets left; to choose how things like cancer won’t defeat their mood. It may take over their body, but it can’t have their powerful mind, which is the root of their soul. Even if life beats them down, they will still dream big.
When life disappoints them, they make the best of it. It feels as if it could be better and more exciting, fuller of satisfying things, but it promises more than it can deliver, so they want to inflate it to be big enough for their contentment. Less is never more in their mind. Alas, they never feel satisfied; this may sate their hunger for a time, but then it’s over or doesn’t feel the way they hoped it would; maybe the next thing will! 7s wind up chasing shallow things or experiences in the hope this time, it will give them the lasting satisfaction and the elusive happiness that feels forever painfully out of reach.
The 7w6
7w6s think and act based on their impulses and use positivity to hide their fears from themselves. They swing back and forth between optimism and doubt, but always land on the side of self-confidence. They’re mentally active and witty with a mind like a pinball machine. It bounces from one thought to the next in anticipation of what may come next to avoid any anxiety or distrust.
Though 7w6s experience a lot of fear, it never stops them from action, because they know they can do whatever they set their mind to. If they experience self-doubt after throwing themselves into the deep end of life, they will ask a friend if they made the right choice, but it’s more to hear that they can do it as motivation than out of real self-doubt. Being told they can’t do it makes them determined to succeed. 7w6s combine acting on opportunities with testing and questioning the world and those around them, and combat any doubts or worries with their sense of humor. They are fast-talking and liked for their levity. It’s easy for them to talk themselves out of problems, to come up with reasons for what they do, and to present their case. They start debates to get mental juice out of them, end them if it gets boring, and prefer to be around other happy people. They want others to be there for them, and pursue them to ensure they are never without the support they want.
7w6s do not need others to get on board with them to go for what they want, but prefer not to alienate their loved ones, and try to live up to any responsibilities family and friends place on them provided it doesn’t impede their freedom or the ability to stay in motion. They want to stay connected to the people they care about, and to have their support. It feels like a burden to live up to others’ expectations, so 7w6s do what they can to minimize external demands by creating autonomy and distance. It feels safer to have a support system for if life goes wrong, and they are very loyal to a select group.
They are aware of what they “should” do or what others expect, but if they try to curb themselves to fit it, it makes them miserable. It dulls their shine and makes them long to be themselves. Some chafe under parental rules and rebel; others try to please them to a certain point, but then need to break free and put distance between them and the source of shame and pain. 7w6s can compromise for you and show up out of love, but it is a sacrifice, and it never feels authentic. They defy anyone who tries to control them whose opinion they don’t value, but don’t want to wind up in trouble, so they curb their actions with humor and strategize how to avoid any unwanted consequences. It’s natural for them to want to think and plan, so life turns out the way they want it to and doesn’t hurt them.
The 7w8
A 7w8 greets the world with optimism and humor, but their courage rises if anyone tries to control, intimidate, or constrain them. Their wing comes from the Body triad, which is preoccupied with power and control, and knows they must take up space if they want to get anywhere in life. 7w8s are aware of the energy it takes to get things done and use it. They are lustful and full of life, and preemptively assert themselves so others know where they stand in advance.
They leave others alone unless people try to stop them, tell them how to live, force morals on them they don’t share, or impede their vision. A 7w8 wants you to live your best life while they live theirs, and assuming you both stay in your lane, everyone will get along. They resist all limitations and feel no obligation to live up to others’ expectations or play by their rules. Beneath their wit and humor lies an anger at the world for not living up to their expectations, getting in their way, trying to control them, or others imposing on them, and they meet those things with a mixture of humor and aggression. They are pragmatic, knowing some things are out of their control, but determined to have their own way in the things they can bend in their direction. 7w8s know that to get what they want they must be linear and focused. They use their aggression to challenge what they hate out of a need to change it and reshape the world into one that bends to their every will and fulfills all their many desires.
In their mind, they are the complete package and lack nothing that would prevent them from getting ahead in life. They are bold, self-confident, funny, and possess expansive amounts of energy. When they see what they want, they go hard after it. But they are still a 7, who doesn’t want to get stuck too long in one place. 7w8s want to never run out of options and they expect the grass to bend where they step. They don’t want to hear “no” as an answer, or the world feels unsatisfying. They confront others with a smile and a wink and mock what hurts them, but they assume things don’t bother them, when it’s obvious to everyone else it does.
7w8s size up other folks, figure out how much space they’re taking up in the room, and expand their energy to match it, either for the fun of showing everyone they’ve arrived and are the life of the party, to head things in the positive direction they want them to go, or to send a message to stay in your lane and out of mine. They are vivacious, lusty, and push for things to become extreme, because that’s when the real fun begins. They laugh hard and live hard, and know that from chaos comes the best transformations and change.
They promote themselves and their ideas confidently; experience has taught them their ideas are more satisfying than yours, and they would rather feel satisfied than negotiate and wind up not getting what they want. 7w8s are charismatic enough they easily talk others into things; it feels stupid not to go along with their scheme, because this is obviously the best path and they are a confident leader who knows what they want and how to get it.
Read the full profile, almost 9,000 words including self-work, about the Enneagram 7 in my book, 9 Kinds of Quirky.
Social Variants:
Since my book does not include social variant types, I recommend you purchase John Lucovich’s excellent and ground-breaking work on the topic. You can read more of his content here.
Social variants determine how we respond to the world and where our major priorities in life lie. Attentiveness to bonding, social responsibilities, and how we ‘appear’ to others is in the realm of social (soc). Survival, fulfilling all of one’s needs, and a focus on ensuring one always has enough resources for a comfortable life is self-preservation (sp). Sexual displays, competing for attention, being like a moth to a flame in your pursuit of another person, or competing for a mate falls under the realm of sexual (sx). Read through each to determine which resonates the most with you.
The Self Preservation 7
Self-Preservation Sevens seek Essential Freedom in their lifestyle through experiences and sensual pleasure. They are the most practical and experience-oriented Sevens. They typically have a natural talent for synthesizing skills and creating businesses, art, and adventures, and they might combine these elements into something unexpected, yet useful and interesting. Self-Preservation Sevens find ways to arrange their lifestyle so they can pursue the kinds of experiences, subjects, and interests they love while also ensuring some degree of well-being and material security. Where and how they live is viewed as the nexus to what opportunities and experiences will be available to them. Some Self-Preservation Sevens have multiple projects and money-making endeavors, and they love to travel and have intense experiences. People of this type have a great deal of resilience in the face of setbacks and upheavals. They also have a gift for extending this attitude to friends and loved ones, “sharing the wealth” by means of material support or opening up opportunities for others.
Self-Preservation Sevens express gluttony for resources and experiences that they believe provide physical well-being, an interesting life, and sensual pleasure. Consumption is a major Self-Preservation Seven theme—big expensive meals in fancy restaurants, big shopping excursions, collections, interests in upscale and luxury items are all possible examples. Or, they may live humbly but display a voraciousness in reading, passion for art or film, or prodigious creative output.
Self-Preservation Sevens struggle to know what conditions to agree to, what skills to develop, and what roots to put down in order to foster the kind of life they want to lead. Some Self-Preservation Sevens can feel crushed by a demand to have a life trajectory established by a certain age or by the expectations family may have around what kind of lifestyle they choose.
In Self-Preservation Sevens, anxiety around the limitations and state of the body creates a kind of impatience with the body and with healing, which exacerbates whatever physical and psychological issues are at play. Under stress, they adopt a predatory “me first” entitlement that can be overt in their attitude toward others or played behind the scenes by “borrowing” what they want or scheming for what they feel they are owed or what they think others won’t miss. They may also overestimate their energy and become workaholics in an effort to keep up stimulation and to prevent feeling overwhelmed by anxiety. Many unhealthy Self-Preservation Sevens may indulge in substance abuse, excessive partying, and reckless physical risk-taking, trying to escape crushing inner feelings of deprivation and grief.
The Social 7
Social Sevens are looking to experience Essential Freedom in their relationships and vocation. For this type, the possibility and variety of life is at its richest when shared. Social Sevens have a strong sense of purpose and a profound desire to meaningfully leave a positive impact on other people. They love making genuine connections, going on adventures with companions, and are generally able to find something worth appreciating in most people.
While Seven and the Social Instinct, taken together, may evoke a picture of the buoyant social butterfly, not all Social Sevens are so extroverted. They tend to have extended networks of friends but have a tight inner circle of enduring connections. Even so, there’s a persistent sense of being called to be part of a larger world or bigger conversation and often a call to genuinely contribute to the betterment of others. Because of this, they are prone to being giving and self-sacrificing, often giving up opportunities, freedom, and self-interest for the sake of others.
One of the major difficulties that Social Sevens struggle with is not knowing where to invest their energy and time, so Gluttony compensates for this lack of real knowing by trying to pursue nearly every option they find even a little bit interesting. It’s hard for them to settle on where to develop their gifts and contributions. Unconsciously, there’s a belief that finding the right kind of relationships and the right kind of orientation, role, or calling will unlock the meaning they’re seeking, yet the fear of missing out on what that calling is, or where that key to unlocking potential lies. Adding to this difficulty, Social Sevens tend to be able to see something positive and interesting in nearly every path, option, and person. It can also lead to a lack of discrimination of who and where to give energy to, resulting in a frustrating feeling that it’s nearly impossible to make the “inroads” the Social Seven seeks or to figure out what to devote themselves to.
Under stress, Type Sevens have an unconscious habit of setting themselves up for disappointment by overlooking negativity or making agreements without fully considering the consequences of doing so. They may agree to take on responsibilities toward many people or organizations until they feel bogged down and resentful, searching for a quick way out.
As Social Sevens become overtaken with anxiety, they can be ungrounded, unreliable, and out of control while retaining a charming façade, so others can easily be swept up into the Social Seven’s impulse to escalate situations. In trying to enhance the social atmosphere through outrageousness, imbalanced Social Sevens are prone to escalation, burnout, and putting themselves at risk through self-neglect and recklessness. The focus on other people flips to self-absorption and hedonism, using other people and betraying their trust.
The Sexual 7
Sexual Sevens want to experience Essential Freedom in chemistry, their fascinations, and their romantic partnerships. The high energy of Type Seven paired with the attraction-seeking, boundary-pushing Sexual Drive produces colorful characters who have a willingness to drop whatever they’re doing in pursuit of something that has captivated them. The object of desire represents a doorway to a new world and an entry into experiences they couldn’t have anticipated.
There’s a sense that every partner, every romance, and every turn in the evolution of a long-term partnership is a new discovery. They can have a gluttony for arousal. Much of their talent, charm, and success comes from this capacity, but they can jump completely into one project or person, and then the next and the next; the consequence is that their life can take on a zig-zag pattern. In seeking fascinating people and experiences, Sexual Sevens want to be fascinating as well. Yet their tendency to be stretched thin may lead to having many interests but not a lot of proficiency in any one skill nor any particular direction in life, fueling an insecurity they may compensate for by resorting to being outrageous or provocative instead of well-rounded.
As a type based in the Intellectual Center, all Sevens experience difficulty being in contact with a quality of inner knowing and discernment. When personality co-opts the Sexual Drive, it interferes with the natural intelligence and discrimination of attraction and chemistry, becoming overridden by intense mental excitation, a need for stimulation and seeing people through a veil of imagination. It can seem almost as if others become characters through the lens of a fairy tale or story. Therefore, a great deal of the basis for attraction of Sexual Sevens is the symbolic potential that the person and their relationship may open up. The obstruction of imagination over one’s experience can also easily turn into a pattern of chasing “peaks.”
Imbalanced Sexual Sevens will hardly allow for a situation to unfold on its own, and instead will goad things along with provocation to up the ante or add something to the experience. When this happens, the natural transgressive and provocative impulses of the Sexual Drive become intensified by mental activity toward exaggerated exhibitionism and fascination with the perverse. This can both stave off the possibility of sincerity and intimacy and undermine their attractiveness.
Influences on MBTI Types:
ENTP: comes across as more of an ENFP, but uses Fe to entertain people and avoid their own dark feelings (see: Robin Williams); has a truly crazy ability to random connections and a natural flair for humor, often over-indulges and chases after dreams and ideas, at the cost of inferior Si’s desire to ‘anchor’ self to a stabilizing lifestyle. Often careless with other people’s feelings in abandoning them for greener, more exciting pastures.
ENFP: your typical stereotype of an ENFP: a ball of aggressive sunshine that refuses to face reality, who starts and abandons a ton of projects, and runs away from anything hard and/or painful because they don’t want to deal with it; the Manic Pixie Dream girl who inspires everyone she meets. IE, Pollyanna.
ESTP: will mistype as a Ne-dom due to their scattered thought process and constant barrage of ideas; prone to thinking more about the future than other ESTPs (with great excitement and impatience). Uses Se/Fe + 7 to be hilarious and entertain others, but detached from their own feelings; may really have a hard time separating brutal reality (what Se sees) from what 7 does not want to deal with, causing frequent Ni-grips.
ESFP: may mistype as a Ne-dom due to their scattered thought process and constant barrage of ideas; prone to thinking more about the future than other ESFPs (with great excitement and impatience); detachment from other people’s pain and problems, and insensitive in trying to ‘cheer them up’ rather than just listen; habitual abandoner or anything and everything that loses their interest, with an adventurous, wandering spirit. Frequent inferior Ni issues (idealism) and conflict with Se-dom reality.
ISTP: more of an entertainer than other ISTPs, more adventurous and idealistic, and more in touch with how to cheer others up with their inferior Fe but also out of touch with their feelings. Often a globe-trotter who does not stick with people or negative situations long. May mistype as a Ne-using type due to 7’s similarities with Ne descriptions. Prone to Ti/Ni loops.
ESFJ: adventurous, brave, and always optimistic, these ESFJs are a ball of sunshine in the lives of everyone and cope with painful situations through humor and relentless optimism. They have a ton of Ne and a wanderer’s spirit, but high Si can help them settle as they get older into a more contented life. Due to Fe-dom not always being aware of their true feelings unless they talk about it with others, and 7’s reluctance to talk about negative emotions, may not understand how upset or scared they actually are. (I know an ESFJ-7 and she’s the most wonderful, courageous and optimistic person I have ever met.)
ENFJ: adventurous, brave, and optimistic, these ENFJs have an idealistic bent and like to reframe reality into whatever they would rather imagine it as; they are more prone to distraction and changing their minds, and less likely to see a vision through to the long term than other ENFJs, they often self-indulge through tert-Se, and do not always analyze their behaviors or seek to understand their own motivations (inferior Ti problems). Due to Fe-dom not always being aware of their true feelings unless they talk about it with others, and 7’s reluctance to talk about negative emotions, may not understand how upset or scared they actually are.
ENTJ: good-humored and positive about the future, often focused on bringing about a personal vision that will make the world a better place; prone to over-indulgences via tert-Se, which paired with 7 might also make them restless and inclined to abandon projects or other people who have a more ‘dour’ view of reality; will find ways to re-frame reality to make them feel good about themselves, neglecting inferior Fi in the process. Good at innovating but prone to frustration if their vision doesn’t turn out as they planned.
ESTJ: will pair 7 with tert-Ne humor and be a hilarious employer, coworker, or fellow student, less concerned with being ‘right’ than in avoiding their own negative feelings; will find ways to re-frame reality to make them always feel good about themselves, neglecting inferior Fi development in the process. Prone to crashing, HARD, into inferior Fi if something terrible happens; may take things in life for granted, and dream of the future constantly, but also good at making their dreams come true (Te-dom).
ISFP: prone to more idealism than other ISFPs, opportunistic, restless, commitment prone, a wanderer with erratic thought patterns, hates conflict and/or disappointments of any kind, prone to looping into Ni and creating idealized visions to escape reality or work toward.
INFP: opportunistic, funny, and always on the move, may come across as an extrovert and mistype as a Ne-dom due to their insatiable need for newness and constant forward motion; different from other INFPs in that they are less ‘serious’ and able to focus on the ‘dark things in life’; may live in a fantasy world rather than face reality.
INTP: seems more extroverted, may want to have a better handle on lower Fe, but also able to push away from it and refuse to deal with their negative feelings; less prone to inferior outbursts that plague the other Fe-inferior types; may be more impulsive than some INTPs in chasing after new things and abandoning projects, with less of a connection to Si.
