Type Four likes to stand out and desires to be different. They are very sensitive to their own and others' emotions and care deeply about them. Therefore, they possess many qualities of an artist. They are often emotionally rich, tend to be loyal to their feelings, act on intuition, seek spiritual stimulation, have unpredictable emotional changes, and exude a unique charm. However, they also tend to focus on negative emotions, live in the past, obsess over lost beauty, and indulge in pain.
Your Enneagram Results#
The image below shows your scores in each of the 9 Enneagram types. In this chart, the area of each section represents your score, with larger sections being more suited to your personality. It is important to note that the term "core type" will be used to refer to your primary basic personality type; Type Five is equivalent to "Type 5" or "5," with the latter represented numerically.
Your Core Type#
Your core type is Type Four, so in this section, we will delve into the Type Four personality to understand how it drives your core emotions, fears, and desires, and how it influences you in relationships and work.
As a Type Four, you may have a Wing Three or Wing Five, or both. Additionally, Type Four's arrows connect to Type One (growth line) and Type Two (stress line). Furthermore, the analysis report you are currently viewing is not the complete version; the following report content is based on selections from your core personality.
Your Core Overview#
We name this type "Individualist" because Type Four maintains their identity by distinguishing themselves from others. Therefore, no one can fully understand or love them. They often see themselves as unique geniuses with special talents, but they also have unique disadvantages or flaws. Compared to any other type, Type Four is more acutely aware of and focused on their personal differences and shortcomings.
A healthy Type Four is honest with themselves: they own all their feelings and can examine their motivations, contradictions, and emotional conflicts without denying or glossing over them. They may not necessarily like what they discover, but they will not try to rationalize their state or hide it from themselves or others. They are not afraid to see their "flaws." A healthy Type Four is willing to reveal highly personalized and potentially shameful things about themselves because they are determined to understand the truth of their experiences—so they can discover who they are and accept their emotional history. This ability also gives Type Four the strength to "quietly endure pain."
However, Type Fours often report feeling that they are missing something, even though they may find it difficult to pinpoint exactly what that "thing" is. Is it willpower? Social skills? Confidence? Emotional calm?—all of these seem abundant in others. Given enough time and perspective, Type Fours often come to realize that they are uncertain about various aspects of their self-image—their personality or self. They feel a lack of a clear and stable identity, especially one that they feel comfortable with in a social role.
While Type Fours often feel different from others, they do not truly want to be alone (unlike Type Fives). They may feel socially awkward or self-conscious, but they deeply desire to understand themselves and connect with those who feel similarly. They long for someone to enter their lives and appreciate the secret selves they cultivate and hide, rather than being the "Romantic" in the Enneagram. If this validation remains elusive over time, Type Fours may begin to build their identity around their differences from others. Thus, they comfort themselves by becoming staunch individualists: everything must be done on her own, in her own way, on her own terms. The Type Four motto becomes "I am myself; no one understands me; I am different and special." They secretly wish they could enjoy the ease and confidence that others experience.
Type Fours often struggle with a negative self-image and long-term low self-esteem, trying to compensate by cultivating a fantasy self—an idealized image primarily built on their imagination. One Type Four we know shared that he spends most of his free time listening to classical music while fantasizing about becoming a great concert pianist—like Vladimir Horowitz. Unfortunately, his commitment to practice is far from his imagined self-image, and he often feels embarrassed when asked to perform for others. Although his actual abilities are not poor, this often becomes a source of shame.
Throughout their lives, Type Fours may try on several different identities to weigh themselves against the styles, preferences, or qualities they find attractive. Beneath this facade, they remain uncertain about their true identity. The problem is that their identity largely depends on their own feelings. When Type Fours look inward, they see a kaleidoscope of emotional response patterns. In fact, Type Fours accurately interpret a truth about human nature—it is dynamic and ever-changing. They want to build a stable, reliable identity from their emotions, yet they often try to cultivate only certain feelings while rejecting others. Some feelings are seen as "me," while others are "not me." By attempting to maintain specific emotions and express them to others, Type Fours believe they are being true to themselves.
One of the biggest challenges Type Fours face is learning to let go of past feelings. They tend to nurse wounds and harbor negative emotions toward those who have hurt them. In fact, this can lead them to become obsessed with longing and disappointment to the extent that they cannot recognize many treasures in their lives.
Leigh is a professional mother who has struggled with these difficult emotions for years.
"When I'm out in the world, I often break down. I've gone through a series of relationship disasters. I hate my sister's kindness—and I hate most people's kindness. For years, there has been no real joy in my life, only fake smiles. Because a real smile doesn't appear on my face, I've always longed for everything I cannot have. My desires can never be fulfilled because I now realize I am too obsessed with 'longing' rather than any specific outcome."
There is a related Sufi story about an old dog that was severely abused and on the brink of starvation. One day, the dog found a bone and took it to a safe place to gnaw on. The dog was so hungry that it chewed on the bone for a long time, getting the last bit of nutrition it could from it. After a while, a kind old man noticed the dog and its pitiful remains and began quietly preparing food for it. But the poor hound was so fixated on its bone that it refused to let go of it and soon starved to death.
Type Fours face the same dilemma. As long as they believe there is a fundamental problem with their existence, they cannot allow themselves to experience or enjoy many of their good qualities. Acknowledging their good qualities often means losing their sense of identity (as a suffering victim) and a relatively consistent personal identity (their basic fear). Type Fours grow by learning to see that much of their story is untrue—or at least no longer true. Once they stop emphasizing their old stories, the old feelings begin to fade: this has nothing to do with who they are now.
Your Dilemma#
Type Fours always remember how they felt abandoned as children.
They feel a sense of loss because of this.
Their eyes flicker with melancholy as they mourn the beauty they have lost.
They lead dramatic lives, with goals that always seem out of reach.
The inner world of Type Fours resembles that of tragic romantics in literature; despite gaining social recognition and material success, they still cannot find joy. What they long for is lost love, distant love, future love, which they believe is the only thing that can bring happiness.
They reject things that can be easily obtained because they only see what cannot be attained.
The decisions made by Type Fours may be based on an understanding of facts, but they are also likely based on emotional fluctuations; in conversations, they focus on tone, insinuation, and implication rather than the literal meaning of words.
Depression is a common emotion. This emotion can halt life, causing one to lie in bed all day, constantly thinking about past mistakes that cannot be changed.
- "If only I could have done it differently..."
- "If only I could have another chance..."
The only word in a Type Four's mind is "if, if." Their attention is closed off, as if the needle of an old phonograph is stuck in a certain place on the record.
Type Fours generally understand this depressive emotion. Some see it as a fate and willingly spend long periods alone. Others keep themselves busy, hoping to escape this depression through extreme activity. Still, others use this emotion to explore the darker side of human experience through art.
At the same time, they experience another emotion called "melancholy." They are drawn to this emotion as if discovering a sanctuary of distorted feelings in a land of confusion and pain.
Melancholy brings a sweet regret. Like depression, it arises from a sense of loss, but within the emotion of melancholy, sadness is beautiful, like the mist on a desolate shore. Type Fours feel a strong vitality in the fog of emotional changes. To them, nothing is eternal, as their emotions can change at any moment.
The core issue for Type Fours is a sense of lack and often diminished self-esteem: "If I appeared more valuable, would I not be abandoned?" In life, Type Fours always believe that the source of love they received has been taken away. "I was once loved; where has the love I now receive gone?"
In their upbringing, there are always experiences of abandonment or similar events that leave them feeling sad. Even as adults, this sense of abandonment does not disappear. They reject things that can be easily obtained because they only see what cannot be attained. Although this may be an unconscious habit, it still causes them pain.
Type Fours always intentionally or unintentionally focus their attention on lost beauty. Everything in front of them seems unappealing. They particularly crave passionate, fulfilling relationships. They are people who long for love.
Their melancholic emotions can also bring them a sense of sweetness. When they are sad due to lost love, they simultaneously romanticize their ideal future partner. It feels as if their current partner is merely a practice partner for the future, and when true love arrives, "my true self will be awakened by love."
Even when Type Fours achieve success in real life, even if it is success earned through years of hard work, they do not care about these achievements because they only focus on what is missing in life. If you get the job you want, you will want a partner; if you get a partner, you will want to be single; if you return to being single, you will want a job and a partner. Attention is always shifting toward what is missing. What they have always seems dull and worthless.
Romantics often like to destroy existing achievements. If they must focus on mundane tasks in real life, such as picking up their partner's socks or tolerating certain traits in others, they become very angry and disappointed. The love they imagine is flawless, but this perfect image is shattered by those annoying moments in real life. They also magnify these small issues, and any minor flaw in their partner becomes an intolerable irritation.
- "She is politically ignorant."
- "He doesn't understand music at all."
- "How can he put his toothbrush in the cup!"
Tolerating the mundanity of others angers Type Fours; they strongly desire to protect their inner beautiful blueprint.
Once they realize that intimate relationships require sacrificing the standard of perfection, they will find a way to let their partner go before true love is destroyed. They believe it is clear who should be blamed: their partner. A wounded Type Four may say some of the most hurtful things to clearly indicate that their partner has let them down.
But once the distance in the relationship is restored, Type Fours will begin to miss that feeling of intimacy. Their love often goes through cycles of coming together and pulling apart: pushing away when they have it, pulling back when they cannot have it. Everything seems to be "a flower from a distance, a scar up close."
To gain security, Type Fours will keep themselves at arm's length from others. They do not want to be too far from others, but they also do not like being too close. While they long to establish intimacy with others, a close life can make them worry that their flaws will be exposed, leading to abandonment. If a partner grows tired of this arm's-length safety distance and threatens to leave, Type Fours may suddenly fall ill or feel deep remorse because they wish to salvage the relationship. When the danger of abandonment arises, Type Fours will drop all emotional barriers. When their initial sense of lack resurfaces, they may act dramatically, blame others, feel extreme disappointment, or even have suicidal tendencies.
Type Fours say that the ups and downs of this emotional life give them a strong sense of existence. This feeling is incomparable to general happiness; it is a richer aspect of life than that of ordinary people. They feel like observers of ordinary reality. They are unique, different, and the protagonists of their own lives. Forcing them to give up this high-level emotional life is equivalent to sacrificing their uniqueness.
For Type Fours, the pursuit of happiness may cause them to lose touch with their inner emotional world. Worse still, they fear becoming indistinguishable from others, living a mediocre life.
Healthy State#
When Type Fours are healthy, they create thought-provoking and groundbreaking artistic works, turning their perspective toward greater good. They are seen as "idea synthesizers" who can help others rethink art. Major changes in artistic styles and fashion eras are largely due to the self-actualizing Type Fours and their ready-to-use thinking, as they possess the ability to rework past experiences into new artistic creations. Type Fours are highly adaptable to their complex emotions and undergo a transformative process in the cocoon of self-acceptance, allowing them to fully become a soaring butterfly.
When Type Fours are at an average level, they release stress in creative ways and may connect with a group of like-minded individuals, gaining inspiration and support in the process. They are emotionally intense and introspective, seekers of authenticity, sometimes at the expense of others' patience and feelings. With self-indulgence and artistic expressiveness, Type Fours maintain their personal emotions and inspirations to piece together different aspects of themselves and their identity. At an average level, they may become exceptionally sensitive to criticism but remain steadfast about themselves. This leads them to actively seek praise and flattery. If others attempt to replicate or borrow from their experiences, they may feel intensely offended.
When Type Fours are unhealthy, they become overly moody, depressed, and fragile. They may develop an extreme tendency to ruminate, which disrupts their natural creativity. In extreme cases, they may lose control of reality and resort to extreme sensory coping mechanisms, such as alcohol or hallucinogens. The search for the "missing part" leads individualists into dead ends and endless detours. If they refuse to acknowledge their self-destructive behaviors and thought patterns, they may fall into the same pit and make the same mistakes. They tend to develop a belief that there is something inherently "broken" about them. In times of greatest stress, Type Fours may delete their entire online presence and isolate themselves from the world.