Accurately identifying your Enneagram type really does matter, and here’s why. Mistyped people pay attention, although unintentionally, to the wrong things (or misinterpret why they do something) and subsequently pursue a development path that isn’t going to support their growth and transformation. Mistyped people also misunderstand or misinterpret their own impact on others, making it challenging to truly understand and improve human interactions using the insights of the Enneagram.

There are many reasons that contribute to the challenge, but also the beauty, of accurate typing. One of these factors involves overlays on our type. The two overlays that occur most frequently are country (culture) overlays and family overlays. Not every country has a clear Enneagram type, and Enneagram teachers may disagree about the type of a certain country. My assessments come from two sources: my personally having visited the countries multiple times and from discussions with Enneagram professionals who live and work in those countries.

Country: France

France is a Four culture. The Fourness that is France is obvious in its deep aesthetic orientation, from clothing to art to food and more. For example, the French café culture is one in which individuals, pairs, and groups sit for hours, engaging in meaningful conversation about art, philosophy, cinema, or they engage in elaborate people watching. The French compare themselves to other countries regularly and in a way that is both charming and highly competitive. For example, they’ll say this: “The French are very smart, so there is no need to lecture us on concepts. We pick these ideas up faster than other people!” Or this: “The Americans are just so good at marketing, but we French invent things!” And, most French are oriented to self-expression through the arts and pride themselves on their excellent taste.

I’ve been told by numerous South Koreans who know the Enneagram well that South Korea is a type Four culture, a social subtype Four to be more precise. They say that South Korea, while future-focused, also lives in a romanticized past, even centuries-old past, when they  – and their queen at the time – experienced hardship, violence and ruination. They tell the story with sorrow and pride as if it just happened yesterday. France, by contrast, may be a one-to-one subtype Four, the version that is competitive about almost everything as a way to be acknowledged and understood.

A person raised in a type Four country or by parents who adhere to the customs of that country, even if they no longer reside there, may have a type Four overlay on their own type that needs to be explored and understood so their actual type can be identified.

Family overlays

Not every family has a strong family overlay, but those that do have had one person in the family system, usually a person in a position of perceived authority, who has had a pervasive influence on all the children in that family, not just one child. That person could be a mother, father, grandparent, uncle, aunt, or even the eldest sibling. If the family overlay is type Four, the children will be aesthetically oriented or at least more sensitive, introspective and deeper than they might be normally.

About Ginger

Ginger Lapid-Bogda PhD, author of nine Enneagram books including The Art of Typing, is a speaker, consultant, trainer, and coach. She provides certification programs and training tools for business professionals around the world who want to bring the Enneagram into organizations with high-impact business applications. TheEnneagramInBusiness.com | ginger@theenneagraminbusiness.com