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Beatrice Chestnut

The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

There are some clear similarities between Fours and Fives. Both types can be introverted and can tend to withdraw from others. Fives regularly make boundaries and move away from interpersonal contact out of a need to conserve energy and internal resources and a fear that interacting with others will drain them or invade their private space. Fours also tend to need distance from others periodically to engage more deeply with their own internal experience. Although Fours have much more regular contact with their emotions than Fives do, both Fours and Fives can intellectualize, meaning they can focus on thinking as a way of disconnecting from feelings. Both styles are self-referencing, which means that they both focus more attention on their own internal experience than on the experience of other people. Related to this, both Fours and Fives can be introspective, paying a large amount of attention to what is going on inside themselves.

Significant differences also exist between Fours and Fives. Fours represent one of the most emotional types; they have contact with their feelings on a deep level much of the time. Fives, on the other hand, are among the least emotional, habitually detaching from their feelings. When it comes to relating to others, Fives tend to avoid deep connections, as they feel more comfortable limiting their emotional entanglements, whereas Fours typically seek out deep emotional connections with others. Fives usually keep their feelings to themselves and value self-sufficiency, and Fours tend to share their feelings with others and value emotionally authentic relationships.

When evaluating a situation or task, Fives communicate a detached, objective point of view. In contrast, Fours’ particular strength is their emotional intuition, and they tend to see things more in terms of the emotional or emotionally creative aspects. Fives enjoy being alone and having a large amount of private time, and while Fours can also appreciate time alone, they are also sensitive to abandonment and loss, and they appreciate maintaining strong emotional connections. Fives tend to be reserved and withholding, and they can be sensitive to intrusion when in a relationship. Fours are more dramatic, romantic, and passionate in their relationships. In addition, Fives can easily feel drained by the needs of others, while Fours are usually very sensitive and empathic in the face of others’ needs. Finally, Fives tend to minimize their needs and desires, while Fours often dwell in an experience of desiring and longing for their needs to be met. Thus, when Fours lack what they need they feel the pain acutely, while Fives detach from pain and focus on hoarding, economizing, and conserving as a way to cope with not having enough of what they need.

The Enneagram Institute

Misidentifications

Fours and Fives can resemble each other in that both are withdrawn types (PT, 433-36), both can be individualistic and eccentric by mainstream cultural standards, and both can be highly creative. Of course, there is a greater risk of mistyping with 4w5s and 5w4s.

Fives are more likely to mistype as Fours than vice versa, primarily because of simplistic definitions of the types. Some Fives have learned that Fours are more feeling-oriented, and Fives are more intellectual, and seeing that they have deep feelings presume that they must be Fours. (This is especially true with female Fives.) Also, Fives are often portrayed as scientists or engineers while Fours are creative artists. In fact, it is true that Fours are less likely to be scientists than some other types, but there are as many Fives who are artists as Fours, although their styles are somewhat different.

Fours are self-absorbed and emotionally volatile–they express their feelings one way or another, and need people to respond to them in an emotional way. Their artistic work tends to be autobiographical, based on their families, on relationships, past or unrequited, and on the content of their subjective experience. Fives may have intense feelings but share them with few people. Their feelings tend to fuel their thoughts and their imagination, leading them to more abstract or fantastic forms of creative expression. Their work is less autobiographical, and more often portrays their vision of reality. ("I paint what I see!") Fives tend to be more experimental and outlandish in their artwork. Although both types can explore personal darkness more thoroughly than most, Fours tend to focus on their disappointments in love and with their childhoods and their attendant pain. Fives tend to focus on inner emptiness and feelings of meaninglessness. Fives are more driven to penetrate the surface of things to understand, Fours to get in touch with feelings and cathartically express them. Compare Fours Ingmar Bergman and Anne Rice with Fives David Lynch and Clive Barker.