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The Asserter (the Eight)
Asserters are powerful and not afraid to express their anger.
Self-Preservation Eights: "Satisfactory Survival"
- I keep myself supplied with plenty of food, comforts, and emergency
supplies.
- Independence and security are very important to me; I don' want to
rely on others for money or anything else.
- I get out of sorts when the details of my life are not in order and
when access to what I am used to or want is cut off.
- A main theme in my life is protection -- of myself, of my belongings,
and of others.
- I feel safer when I sit where I can observe everything going on in
the room.
- I try to make certain that no one will sneak up or intrude upon me.
Relational Eights: "Possession and Surrender"
Relational Eights, especially males, are the most excessive of all the
subtypes.
- I am too assertive for some. I prefer high energy and intensity to
the deadness of the comfort zone.
- My needs to possess and surrender are interwoven. I can be soft and
vulnerable if I trust the person I am with, yet I never completely lose
the impulse to command.
- I'm often in conflict about wanting a partner who needs to be taken
care of versus wanting one I respect who will stand his or her ground against
me.
- One way to get on my bad side is to neglet to consult me or ask my
opinion about a matter that directly or indirectly involves me.
- It irritates me when people withhold their emotions or thoughts from
me, espeially when we are trying to work through a problem.
- I am attracted to people who are direct and who are not allergic to
confrontation.
- I feel closer to my partner when we fight, beause fighting brings out the
truth, but constant arguing can burn me out of a relationship.
- I take precautions to make sure that no one tries to pull a power play on me
or threaten my relationship.
Social Eights: "Friend or Foe?"
- I can't let my guard down until I know where I stand and that I'm
respected.
- I test my friends for their loyalty. Once trust is firmly established,
I usually stay in friendships for life.
- When in a group, I focus on who else has power in order to maintain
my authority.
- I will go to bat for my friends and the weaker members of the community,
but I want them to try to develop self-reliance and get back on their feet
again.
- I try to be loyal and work problems out, but if someone walks over
the line and betrays my trust, I may cut him or her out of my life forever.
- I love the excitement of a righteous struggle for truth or fairness.
- I usually take the role of protector in a group and make sure that
justice is upheld.
Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele
Are You My Type, Am I Yours?
Relationships Made Easy Through the Enneagram
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995, 184 pages
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