Not Like Us

Unpacking the Traits of the Social Instinct

When most people think about the Social Instinct, they picture someone who loves people, thrives at parties, and exudes interpersonal warmth. This misconception is one of the most persistent misunderstandings in Enneagram work, particularly regarding the instinctual types. The Social Instinct isn’t about liking people or enjoying socializing—it’s about survival.

At its core, the Social Instinct is a finely tuned radar system that tracks the dynamics of the group to ensure safety, acceptance, and belonging. Whether that group is a workplace, a family, or society, the Social Instinct is a biological imperative stemming from the reptilian brain that seeks safety by understanding the group’s rules, norms, and hierarchies to avoid the existential threat of being cast out. Rejection from the group, in evolutionary terms, once meant death. While modern humans are less likely to perish from exclusion, the instinctual reptilian brain doesn’t know this. Still, it operates on the premise that group exclusion, disharmony, or discordance can bring about certain death.