Fours, Sixes and Overanalysis
Differentiating the analytical mind of Four vs Six
Oscar Ichazo referred to the Four fixations as “The Over-Reasoner” or “Over Analyzer.” While much of the original dissemination of the type has been lost to mythologies around the forever brooding, gothic, emo, or pouting delicate artist who cannot function in the real world, the actual type structure is far more robust. If you’re interested in learning about the original dissemination of the fixations and how they mesh with modern interpretations, consider our upcoming class, Reconciling the Modern Enneagram: Original Disseminations and Modern Translations.
In modern descriptions of the Enneagram, Type Four and Type Six are often confused (usually, more Sixes confuse themselves as Fours, or others confuse a Six for a Four). This is because both types utilize analysis, albeit in different ways and to different ultimate ends.
Fours are intellectual by design, and this was very much part of Ichazo’s original teaching and was passed down to Naranjo. Fours develop an identity based on their propensity to explore their inner worlds and emotions intellectually. Additionally, the Four’s self-esteem quite often stems from their intellectual prowess. Fours analyze themselves and others to find themselves and differentiate their experience from those around them. The propensity for Fours to need to be unique is indeed present but has been overstated and thus overshadowed some of the more nuanced aspects of the type. Ichazo found the Four to be firmly situated in the realm of the academy, seeking identity and significance through their ability to reason, rationalize, and articulate their insights to others.
The artistic, dramatic, and performative aspects of Four in modern descriptions were attributed originally to the Three, whom Ichazo saw as more flamboyant than the more intellectually withdrawn Four. Ichazo also didn’t account for wing types or how the instinctual types interact with the fixation. Factoring in those considerations and the fact that each type on the Enneagram is the tension between the two types surrounding it, Fours experiences the tension between the highly objective, analytical, and emotion-avoidant perspective of the Five and the theatrical, attention-seeking, accomplished, and affected nature of the Three. The result is a more interior, self-conscious intellectual who craves external validation and attention through their insights and intellectual prowess.
Fours are asking who they are and seek to answer the question by understanding their experience, learning how to differentiate and refine others’ experiences (from their limited perspective), and defining themselves accordingly. Fours become lost in their analysis of themselves and, in the process, lose touch with their authenticity and abandon spontaneity in favor of sophistry and an affected intellectual superiority.
In contrast, Sixes are also highly analytical and often identify as intellectual as well. The Lexical Analysis research shows that Sixes, however, prefers using the term “smart” or “clever” to “intelligent” (a word Fives like) or “intellectual” because they fear using those terms will make them a target to other people. Sixes, being in the mental triad (or “Doing center" according to Ichazo), crave certainty to avoid making a mistake or misstep that could result in danger, abandonment, or ridicule. The result is a psychic structure that seeks to understand the world by asking, “What is that?” rather than the primary question, “Who am I?”.
That is not to say that Sixes (or any other type, for that matter) doesn’t want to know who they are; this is a human need and a perennial philosophical question most people explore at some point or another in their lives. However, Sixes are less concerned with their presentation as intellectually superior (although they would prefer to be regarded as smart) and more concerned with gaining enough certainty by understanding themselves and others and phenomena not to experience anxiety or hesitation.
Additionally, Sixes hates pretense and pageantry and often finds the affected nature of image types to be foreign at best and repellent at worst. While Sixes may also be concerned with their interior world, it stems from wanting to avoid, correct, or mask flaws that they believe contribute to their feelings of isolation or alienation. All the mental types seek authority, whether in themselves through the acquisition of knowledge, titles, philosophies, or ideologies or in another, to feel safe and ultimately like they “belong” (even if they rebel). Fours reject feelings of sameness or belonging and fail to see how they alienate themselves by positioning themselves as either above or below the common crowd to acquire relevance. However, alienation is the point for Fours, who use their self-imposed isolation from others to justify envy, anger, and arrogance.
So, while analysis for Sixes creates certainty and reduces potential chaos or abandonment, analysis for Fours bolsters (positively or negatively) a lack of confidence in one’s significance compared to others. Both types may be very insightful, have excellent problem-solving skills (although Sixes tends to excel at this more because they're more firmly oriented in the world of phenomena), and have keen intuition.
Overanalysis in Sixes is often accompanied by a fair dose of anxiety since there always seems to be a problem that needs to be solved so that the Six can exercise their adventurous spirit and apply the principle of mind over matter. Overanalysis in Fours is accompanied by a heavy sense of melancholy and sadness since the analysis almost invariably compares them to others and highlights their perceived inadequacies.