Cognitive Functions in the Enneagram: Application to Physical and Spiritual Health

Your Enneagram Type tells you what underlying desires and motives drive your thoughts, emotions, and willpower, while your 8 cognitive functions tell you what innate cognitive preferences do you use to process information.

To aim for psychological health, part of the process can involve understanding which enneagram motives most strongly drive your personality and which cognitive functions do you often use to process information (leftmost column) to address your motives (topmost row):

Check out CPT Study Guide for more info on the cognitive functions and 16 types

---

Basically, the enneagram tells us the underlying motives that drive our personality, and the cognitive functions tell us how we process information to address those motives.

When applying this to pursuing great physical health, our efforts to be healthy are driven by the core desires of our enneagrams (which are put to action by our strongest cognitive functions):

Desires to have good physical health so that they can be physically and mentally equipped to…

Type 1- …reach their best potential

Accomplished by utilizing the cognitive functions in healthy ways according to your personality type

Type 2-…optimally serve and please others

""

Type 3- …become a person of worth

""

Type 4- …uphold what's important to their identity

""

Type 5- …be competent to handle their circumstances

""

Type 6- …avoid threats to their security

""

Type 7- …optimize their freedom

""

Type 8- …empower themselves to lead

""

Type 9- …maintain peace and harmony

""

And in regards to spiritual health:

God gave us desires that only He could satisfy. He also designed us with unique personalities that can influence how we pursue those desires.

Becoming spiritually healthy by surrendering to Christ will enable us to....

Type 1- pursue uprightness based on God's standards, without obsessing over uprightness since His grace can fix everything

Accomplished by utilizing the cognitive functions in healthy ways according to your personality type

Type 2- be helpful to others as a way to serve God, without becoming obsessive with being loved by others since God's love is always enough

""

Type 3- achieve success in the goals God wants us to achieve, without obsessing over achieving self-worth since God's supreme worthiness brings out the worth in everyone

""

Type 4- stay authentic the way God made each of us to be, without obsessing over personal identity since our identities in Christ drives us to value His identity

""

Type 5- learn how to be competent by relying on the knowledge and wisdom God reveals, without obsessing over what you learn since He knows how to use His all-knowing power to make us competent

""

Type 6- find your security in God, without obsessing over security since God is the perfect stronghold who can defend against anything that can lead us astray

""

Type 7- enjoy your freedom in God, without obsessing over freedom licentiously since freedom in Christ leads us to use it meaningfully for His glory

""

Type 8- use the power God has given us for His purpose, without obsessing over our power to bring goodness since His power will always ensure goodness triumphs

""

Type 9- embrace the peace from a relationship with God, without obsessing over preserving peace since God can bring us peace by preventing challenges or by keeping us safe even in the midst of challenges

""

---

Explore More:

Youtube channel