David's Overlaps Theory: SO/SP=1 & SO/SX=7

The overlaps of so/sp and Type 1, and so/sx with Type 7 — the two “social-dominant”enneagram types —indicates that they consider themselves to have innate social ascendance, or as being entitled to it — a sense of being worthy of having influence, height, and prominence across a wide domain (a social domain), each in very different ways.

And because the Social instinct includes a familial theme, there’s a certain kind of ‘family social role’ that 1 and 7 — through their innate facilities and drives as personality structures — fortify in themselves and bring to many of their interactions as well as their thoughts and inner life, and often their identity.

1 is the ‘celestial parent.’ Per the nature of any dominant instinct, in the Overlaps, 1 is overdoing social height and importance. Having a self-concept of possessing, embodying, and conveying high abstract ‘eternal’ principles of ‘universally correct’ guidance, discipline, and rightness, being a source of ideal ultimate order. Often expressed as an attitude of rightfully holding a position of ‘parent of the parents,’ the one who teaches the teachers and preaches to preachers.

7 is then ‘the adolescent’, the spirited youth, the most fun outlandish exciting unashamed and compelling teenager ever… trying new things, exploring through the fresh vehicle of the post-pubescent self in a flood of never-before-experienced hormones rushing the brain and libidinizing the the overall self and body. Newly capable (or imagining capability, as teenagers do) and freshly experiencing largeness of physical size — taking up a bigger space, a metaphor symbolizing experimentation with wider broadcasts of self-expression.

On paper at least, 7 is ‘the biggest’ personality — the largest social animal — and again, like a cocky teenager, they’re playing and experimenting with what they can do and experience with this arrested perpetually-new self-size, often including offending others and testing social boundaries and moral standards, the constricting realm of their boring parents.

A lot of ‘firsts’ happen in the few years after puberty, before taking on the responsibilities of adulthood: first romantic partner, first sexual experiences, first parental permission to go places that weren’t allowed in childhood, more freedom to do new activities and experiment with different clothing styles and haircuts, etc. Still under the parents’ shelter and with basic survival needs taken care of, alcohol and drug experimentation won’t threaten the adolescent’s job/livelihood or fundamental security. Overall, for many, adolescence is a lengthy menu with lots of juicy options.

1s are invested in themselves as a high authority having ‘all the answers’ for how to reform, correct, and perfect essentially anything or everything.

As per the fact that the dominant often overdoes itself, the ‘social-dominance’ inherent to Type 1’s over-identification with a self-image of knowing the singular correct way or idealistic principle that would establish perfection and structural soundness spreads wider to encompass correctness about ‘anything and everything’.

To varying degrees, they see themselves as a venerable source of sober definitive assessments and opinions that ultimately (to the 1) “aren’t opinions” — the 1’s declarations are the final truth on a given subject, after all they’re ‘the adult of the adults in the room’

7 is invested in a personality self-image that has a shine and attraction of the new and unexpected, bringing titillating or outlandish novelty, sticking out from the crowd, being remarkably not-boring. And per the above conceptual treatment of 1 and its expression of social overemphasis, 7 is generally an amplified bright source of color commentary, critique, flippancy, vulgar, lewd, salty, risqué, comedic self-expression. These are ‘extras’ of personality —  provocative ‘sexual ornaments’ that decorate the personality and incite attraction/revulsion responses in others.7 is often a loud presence, an amplification of personality, commanding attention and assuming royalty for oneself, ie- assuming or establishing social height and therefore ’rightful’ prominence — in their particular way, ‘overdoing the social instinct.’

Side note: as a further iteration and emphasis on the Social instinct’s bridge to ‘family’ and how this is expressed in the Overlaps, the two “social-middle enneagram types” — 2 and 8 — also embody and express ‘family roles’ in multiple venues as an incidental fact of the nature of these two distinct personalities; they embody the personally-involved nurturing mother (2) and protective provider-father (8) archetypes.

Interestingly, notice too that, as social middles, where here Social has the leveraged advantage of being an available and ‘easy’ functionality and awareness — not a blindspot and not a neurotic dominant instinct over-concern — 2 and 8 are generally inherently confident and sure of themselves in the implementation and expression of their ‘family role’ in their world, or are at least significantly reflexively compelled to engage these roles with certain others in certain venues.

With 1 and 7, there’s also often, however, a ‘double life’, where their inner world and/or private life is significantly opposite to the social role and face.

1s can have a ‘nighttime realm’ of indulgence/decadence and engage in things/activities that are in direct opposition to their publicly expressed manifesto.

And 7s are sometimes heard to express, privately, that they feel a sense of not being allowed to express sadness, pain, or hurt. The 7 is largely projecting this onto others, although there can be varying degrees of truth to this, because they’ve established a dynamic with others that has the 7 juicing and provoking liveliness and flippancy in those around them, as well as ‘taking the steering wheel’ of various interactions by setting their more typically preferred up/enthusiastic vibe/tone at the center of the scene and pre-checking future social plans to assess degrees of potential boredom or ‘down’-ness. So, others count on and expect this of the 7, especially because the 7 expresses these cheeky playful themes in a sizable and animated fashion, incidentally emphasizing and deeply imprinting in others the 7’s brassy adolescent social role.

This double-life component again fits the abstract frame of the Overlaps schema, where the social instinct’s substantial influence and prominence in 1 and 7 paints itself broad-stroked across the whole panorama of these types’ lives — extending from the public persona into the private and interior self.

Written by David Gray