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Beatrice Chestnut

The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

Threes and Eights can look very similar to each other, having several characteristics in common. Both Threes and Eights are hardworking and have a great deal of energy for work tasks. Both can also overwork, with Threes being driven to finish tasks and reach goals no matter how much effort and time it takes, and Eights wanting to accomplish big things and being prone to forgetting their physical needs and limits. People of both types can feel and express anger when necessary, but they usually get angry for different reasons. Threes often express anger and impatience when others create obstacles between them and their goals, while Eights tend to express anger more frequently and about a wider array of issues, including when someone hurts someone they feel protective toward, when someone impedes their forward progress generally, when someone tells them what to do, when someone is unfair or unjust, and when others injure them. Both Threes and Eights can be direct and assertive in the interest of moving tasks and projects forward, and both can be goal- or results-oriented.

Both types can enjoy being in positions of leadership, with Threes liking to have a say over how things go and appreciating the image-enhancing effects of achieving a high status position within an authority structure, and Eights wanting to be in control and have the power to set the agenda and move work forward. Both Threes and Eights can also have a difficult time expressing vulnerable emotions. Threes habitually avoid their feelings because they can interfere with doing and making progress toward a goal, and Eights deny vulnerable feelings as a way of maintaining a sense of strength, power, and control. People of both types may also see the expression of vulnerable feelings as a sign of weakness.

Threes and Eights also differ in particular ways. Threes focus attention on cultivating an image of success to gain the admiration of others, while Eights do not pay much attention to their own image and how people perceive them. In terms of motivation, Threes work for the achievement of goals and tasks in the service of achieving success and looking good to others, whereas Eights are motivated by a desire for power and control and the satisfaction of their physical needs. When it comes to the achievement of goals, Threes excel at finding the most efficient way to reach their goals, while Eights can have difficulty knowing how much force to apply in a given situation in order to move closer to their goal. Related to this, Threes are skilled at ascertaining how they will impact others, while Eights have a blind spot with respect to how they impact others.

Threes can work within existing organizational structures, as long as those do not impede their progress toward goals, whereas Eights can be rebellious toward authorities and tend to want to break the rules if it suits their purposes. Eights value the truth, but can have a hard time distinguishing the difference between their truth and the objective truth. Threes are good at designing their “truth” according to an image they want to create to match the values of a specific audience. In other words, for Eights, truth is what they say it is, and for Threes, whose fixation is “deceit” or “self-deceit,” truth is relative and can be adapted to suit the circumstances. Finally, Eights usually know who they are—especially in terms of a general sense of their identity and their power and strength—but Threes can be confused about their identity. Threes can believe they are their image and not realize that who they really are—their true self—is different from the image they create.

The Enneagram Institute

Misidentifications

Threes and Eights are both assertive (PT, 433-36), although the confusion between them centers on the competition found in average Threes and a similar competitiveness in average Eights.

In general terms, both Eights and Threes are ambitious and competitive: both types want to rise above others. The difference is that average Eights are self-assertive and want others to give them their way immediately so they do not have to waste time and energy fighting with people–not that they are afraid to do so. Eights compete for material and sexual dominance, less over purely social or status issues. For instance, Eights usually do not spend a lot of time comparing themselves with others, and certainly never to the degree that Threes do. For the same reason that Threes confuse themselves with Sevens and Fives (because they are looking for a flattering identity), it is far more likely that Threes identify themselves as Eights rather than vice versa.

Despite some superficial similarities, the differences are profound: Eights are leaders, deal makers, and power brokers who want to make the world conform to their personal vision. They want to have a large impact, to build and accomplish great things, possibly something that will live as a testament to the greatness of their audacity and will. Strong and implacable, they can be ruthless when something or someone gets in their way. They have large egos, and achieving some form of glory is important to them. Money is both a form of power and a means to amass more of it. Achieving personal power is the dominating drive in Eights, and there is nothing ambiguous, much less furtive or duplicitous, about them.

By contrast, power is not the key motive of Threes; achieving success and prestige and basking in the admiring attention of others is. (By contrast, Eights do not care about popularity; they do not care about the goodwill of others, so long as they get their way.) If Eights are natural leaders, Threes are natural managers and technicians. If Eights do not fear failure as such, Threes fear failure deeply because they see it as a personal humiliation, a potential occasion for being rejected, their deepest fear. By contrast, Eights see failure as an opportunity to learn something and come back stronger. If Eights are too busy achieving their purposes to worry about public opinion, Threes live and die on the opinions of others and desperately want to be in demand socially. If average Eights are combative and intimidating and can "take the heat", despite a certain bravado, average Threes will back down or be driven to deviousness: they cannot take pressure for long or exposure for a moment. In short, even average Eights are the "genuine article," whereas average Threes are an imitation of it. Contrast Eights such as Telly Savalas and John Wayne with Threes such as Sylvester Stallone and Burt Reynolds.