The Emotional Self - Heart Triad

Published at March 4, 2024 · Enneagram
Triad
Type Two
Type Three
Type Four

As we learned from the Body Triad, we rarely truly possess our bodies and exist in the present with our genuine vitality. Similarly, we seldom fully inhabit our inner selves. When we act authentically, we often experience overwhelming feelings, so we use various reactions to substitute for the true power of emotions. This is the core dilemma of the Heart Triad.

When our hearts are closed and our true selves are blocked, we lose connection with our authentic identity and feel undervalued or unloved. This loss is unbearable, so personality intervenes to develop alternative identities, usually by seeking attention or validation from others to provide a sense of self-worth.

Therefore, the three types in the Heart Triad primarily focus on developing self-image. They compensate for the lack of deep connection with their inner nature by creating and identifying with false identities, then presenting these images to others (and themselves) in hopes of gaining love, attention, approval, and a sense of value.

The types in the Heart Triad present three methods to escape this predicament:

  • Type Two: Please others and make them like you;
  • Type Three: Achieve something, excel in some area to gain others’ admiration and approval;
  • Type Four: Create a story about yourself, labeling your personality traits as important.

The Heart Triad faces two main issues: identity (“Who am I?”) and hostility (“I hate that you don’t love me the way I want!”). Because Types Two, Three, and Four subconsciously know that their personality identities don’t represent their true selves, they become hostile when their personality identities are challenged. This hostility serves to dispel doubts or potential devaluation of their identities and to protect themselves from deeper feelings of shame.

Type Two

Type Twos seek value in others’ eyes, hoping to be needed. They try to gain favorable reactions by providing energy and attention to others’ needs. To build self-esteem, Type Twos actively show kindness, offer help, and express goodwill, hoping for positive responses. Their emotional focus is outward, directed at others. Ultimately, they often struggle to hear their own true inner voice. They frequently feel unappreciated and must try to hide the resulting hostility.

Type Four

Type Fours are the opposite: their energy and attention are inward-focused, maintaining their self-image through past emotions, fantasies, and stories. Their personality identity centers on “differentness,” making choices that set them apart from others, eventually evolving into a sense of alienation. Type Fours often choose to create and maintain various emotions rather than following their true inner feelings. In unhealthy states, they view themselves as victims and prisoners of the past, believing all tragedies and injuries have already occurred, leaving no other possibilities in life. This is their way of attracting attention and sympathy, thereby gaining a certain degree of recognition.

Type Three

Type Three is the central type of the Heart Triad (located at the top of the equilateral triangle), with attention and energy directed both inward and outward. Like Type Twos, Type Threes need positive feedback and validation from others. They primarily seek value through achievements, developing standards for what a valuable person should be, and then trying to become that person. However, Type Threes also engage in extensive “self-talk,” attempting to create and maintain a consistent inner image like Type Fours. This can be dangerous as they often “believe their own stories” more than the truth.


While the Body Triad types manage anger, Types Two, Three, and Four in the Heart Triad deal with shame. If our true nature cannot manifest in childhood, we feel that something is wrong, leading to feelings of shame. The Heart Triad seeks to gain a sense of value through personal self-image to overcome shame. Type Twos become super friendly, trying to care for and help others to avoid feeling ashamed; Type Threes choose to perform perfectly and achieve excellence to resist shame; Type Fours display dramatic loss and hurt, becoming victims in others’ eyes to avoid deeper shame.


About the Triads

Regardless of which type we belong to, each personality type contains three basic elements: instinct, emotion, and thought, which are intertwined; we cannot change one element without affecting the other two. However, most people tend to be trapped in the world of personality, unable to see the basic elements within themselves, let alone the fact that modern education does not teach us about these aspects.

Each part of the triad represents a blocked or distorted innate ability or function. The emergence of personality is meant to fill the gap created by the blocked nature, and the triad to which our personality type belongs indicates where the blocked nature and the artificial compensatory mechanism of personality play the greatest role. For example, if we are Type Eight, the blocked essence is power. Therefore, personality traits intervene, attempting to defend the self through tough appearances or even inappropriate ways, imitating true power; trying to replace it with false power in personality, separating us from real power. Only by seeing this clearly can we recognize or reclaim the true power in our nature.

Similarly, each personality type imitates to the maximum extent in a way that the individual identifies with, attempting to replace the true nature traits. Paradoxically, if someone’s personality type is in the Feeling Triad, it doesn’t mean they have richer emotions than others; likewise, if someone’s personality type is in the Thinking Triad, it doesn’t mean they are smarter than others. In fact, the “self” is formed around the problematic element (instinct, emotion, or thought), and therefore is also the part that is psychologically most difficult to operate freely.

Personal Report

Get a Personalized Analysis Report

Discover your true personality type and delve into its deeper meaning by participating in EnneaTao's free test. No registration required.

Related Articles
文章封面
Introduction to the Enneagram
Published at March 2, 2024
Introduction to the Enneagram
Personality
Triads
Wings
Instinctual Variants
Levels of Development
文章封面
Wing System
Published at March 4, 2024
Wing System
Personality
Wings
文章封面
The Instinctual Self - Body Triad
Published at March 4, 2024
The Instinctual Self - Body Triad
Triad
Type Eight
Type Nine
Type One
文章封面
The Mental Self - Head Triad
Published at March 4, 2024
The Mental Self - Head Triad
Triad
Type Five
Type Seven
Type Six
If loading takes too long, please refresh the page and try again
EnneaTao ®
For those who bravely venture into the depths of their inner landscapes
Copyright © 2025 EnneaTao. All rights reserved.