Attachment Styles and Enneagram Types: Development and Testing of an Integrated Typology

for use in Marriage and Family Therapy

Kristin Bedow Arthur

Dissertation submitted to the faculty of

the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

In

Human Development

Dr. Katherine R. Allen, Chair

Dr. Megan L. Dolbin-MacNab

Dr. Margaret L. Keeling

Dr. Fred P. Piercy

August 29, 2008

Blacksburg, Virginia

Keywords: attention, emotional regulation, Experiences in Close Relationships – Revised,

relationship satisfaction, spirituality
 Attachment Styles and Enneagram Types: Development and Testing of an Integrated Typology
for use in Marriage and Family Therapy

Kristin Bedow Arthur

ABSTRACT

This study developed and tested a new typology for use in Marriage and Family Therapy. The

typology was created by integrating two already established typologies currently in use in MFT,

the attachment style typology and the Enneagram typology. The attachment typology is based on

attachment theory, a theory of human development that focuses on how infants and adults

establish, monitor and repair attachment bonds. Differences in attachment style are associated

with different kinds of relationship problems. The Enneagram typology categorizes people

according to differences in attention processes. These differences in attention processes are also

associated with different kinds of relationship problems, but also with different kinds of spiritual

problems and talents. Support was found for both the internal and external validity of the

integrated typology. The results were discussed in terms of relationship satisfaction and

attachment based therapy. Implications for using the integrated typology to address spirituality in

MFT were also discussed.

 DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my beloved attachment teachers:

My parents, Bob and Gail,

My siblings, Jon, Jamey, and Karen,

My husband, Jeff,

And my sons,

Michael and Christopher

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my committee, as a group and individually, for their interest in, and

patience with, the somewhat long and convoluted path I took to the completion of this

dissertation. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Dolbin-MacNab for bringing attention to the

importance of methodological and analytic clarity, in a way that made the work seem energizing

and interesting; I would like to thank Dr. Keeling for bringing attention to the importance of

seeing and valuing every individual as a unique, irreplaceable entity, and the possibility of

integrating this perspective with the abstraction of typologies; I would like to thank Dr. Piercy

for bringing attention to the importance of thinking beyond the immediate in research, and

towards future directions and contributions; and finally, I would like to thank my chair, Dr.

Allen, for bringing attention, by her own example, to the importance and possibility of engaging

in every stage of a research project with courage, honesty, and compassion for self and others.

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgements iv

List of Tables and Figures x

Chapter One: Introduction 1

Attachment Style Typology 2

Attachment Styles 3

Strengths of the Attachment Typology 4

Limitations of the Attachment Typology 4

Enneagram Typology 5

Enneagram Types 6

Strengths of the Enneagram Typology 7

Limitations of the Enneagram Typology 7

Effective Typologies 7

Characteristics of Effective Typologies 8

Research Questions 10

Overview of Research Design 11

Typological Analysis 13

Methodological Procedures 14

Configural Frequency Analysis 15

Philosophical Assumptions 16

Dual Structure of Human Consciousness 16

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 Dual Consciousness and Attention 17

Development of Consciousness 17

Dual Consciousness in Attachment Typology 18

Dual Consciousness in Enneagram Typology 18

Nature of Reality 19

Organization of the Dissertation 19

Chapter Two: Literature Review 21

Attachment Theory 21

Development of Attachment Styles 22

Internal Working Models 22

Evolutionary Theory Perspective on Attachment Styles 23

Necessity for Future Orientation 24

Necessity for Exploring Environment 24

Exclusion of Information 25

Manipulating Attention to Regulate Attachment 25

Childhood Attachment Patterns 26

Attention Management Strategies 26

Adult Attachment Styles 28

The Enneagram 30

History of the Enneagram 30

The Enneagram Symbol 32

Enneagram and Attention Strategy 33

Components of the Enneagram Types 34

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 The Enneagram Prototypes 36

Strengths and Talents Associated with Differences in Attention 38

Summary of Strengths and Challenges of Enneagram Types 39

Clinical Use of Typologies 41

Clinical Use of Attachment Typology 42

High Anxiety, Low Avoidance Pattern 42

High Anxiety, High Avoidance Pattern 43

Low Anxiety, High Avoidance Pattern 43

Low Anxiety, Low Avoidance Pattern 43

Attachment Style and Relationship Satisfaction 44

Attachment Style and Change Processes in Therapy 45

Clinical Use of Enneagram Typology 46

Summary 47

Chapter Three: Methods 49

Development of Hypotheses 50

Hypothesis One: Avoidance 50

Special Case of Categorizing Type Nine 51

Hypothesis Two: Anxiety 53

High Anxiety Types 53

Low Anxiety Types 54

Hypothesis Three: Integration of Attachment Style and Enneagram Type 57

Characteristics of EnneaAttach Group 1 58

Characteristics of EnneaAttach Group 2 58

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 Characteristics of EnneaAttach Group 3 59

Characteristics of EnneaAttach Group 4 59

Hypothesis Four: Integrated Typology and Relationship Satisfaction 59

Research Instrument 62

Experiences in Close Relationships – Revised Questionnaire 63

Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale 63

Enneagram Type 64

Sample Selection 65

Data Collection Procedures 67

Sample Characteristics 67

Limitations of the Sample 68

Chapter Four: Results 70

Data Analysis 70

Attachment Style Variable 70

Relationship Satisfaction Variable 71

Descriptive Statistics 71

Descriptive Statistics by Attachment Style 72

Descriptive Statistics by Enneagram Type 73

Relationship Satisfaction Statistics by Attachment Style 74

Relationship Satisfaction Statistics by Enneagram Type 75

Hypotheses One - Three 76

Avoidance 76

Anxiety 77

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 Patterns of Anxiety and Avoidance 77

Hypothesis Four: Integrated Typology and Relationship Satisfaction 79

Chapter Five: Discussion 80

Validity of Integrated Typology 80

Attachment Security 82

Clinical Implications 84

Alternative Conceptualization of Attachment Based Therapy 86

Clinical Practices Associated with Integrated Model 87

Integrated Typology and Spiritual Experience 88

History of Spirituality in MFT 90

Current Approaches to Spirituality in MFT 91

Future Research 94

Conclusion 95

References 96

Appendix A: Attachment Style Questionnaire 116

Appendix B: IRB Forms 119

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 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Similarities in Typology Prototypes 13

Table 2: Components of Enneagram Types 36

Table 3: Comparison of Descriptions of Enneagram Types 37

Table 4: Type Related Strengths and Challenges 40

Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of Sample 72

Table 6: Descriptive Statistics by Attachment Style 73

Table 7: Descriptive Statistics by Enneagram Type 74

Table 8: Relationship Satisfaction Statistics by Attachment Style 75

Table 9: Relationship Satisfaction Statistics by Enneagram Type 76

Table 10: Chi-square test for Goodness of Fit 78

Table 11: Integrated Typology 82

Table 12: Models of Adult Security 87

Figure 1: The Enneagram of Personality Types 33

Figure 2: Attention Triads 34

Figure 3: Type Nine Wings 52

Figure 4: Enneagram and Avoidance 52

Figure 5: Enneagram and Anxiety 57

Figure 6: Integration of Enneagram Types and Attachment Styles 58

x
 Chapter One: Introduction

The recognition and treatment of systemic patterns of thoughts, emotions and behaviors

comprise the essence of a family systems approach to therapy (Nichols & Schwartz, 2001).

Typologies allow for the observation and organization of information about complex systems, so

they are frequently used in Marriage and Family Therapy theory and research. Early examples of

typological approaches in MFT include Bowen Family Systems Therapy (Kerr & Bowen, 1988),

which is based on a typology of interaction styles (fused, cut-off, and autonomous) and

Structural Family Therapy (Minuchin, 1974) which organizes information about families using a

typology defined in terms of boundaries (diffused/enmeshed, rigid/disengaged, and

clear/normal).

More recent examples of MFT research using typological approaches is found in Allen

and Olson (2001) who used cluster analysis to identify different types of African-American

marriages; Ball and Hiebert (2006) who used a qualitative methodology to develop a typology of

pre-divorce marriages; Bayer and Day (1995) who created a typology of married couples based

on different patterns of differentiation, defined in terms of personal authority; and Silverstein et

al. (2006) who developed a typology of how people orient themselves in relationships using the

intersecting dimensions of focus and power.

The attachment style typology (Johnson & Whiffen, 1999; Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005) is

another well known typology that is frequently used in MFT. Perhaps its most familiar

application is found in the Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) model (Johnson, 2007; Johnson &

Whiffen, 2003), but it is also used in a wide variety of other applications (e.g. Erdman &

Caffery, 2003; Johnson & Whiffen, 2003; Rholes & Simpson, 2004).

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 One of the most important strengths of the attachment typology is that it has grown out of

a theory of human development, attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982, 1973, 1980), which has

yielded an astonishing range of research findings in many different disciplines (Cassidy &

Shaver, 1999; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).This heritage means that the field of MFT is linked,

through the attachment typology, with a broad community of theory and research. For example,

through the attachment typology, the field of MFT has the ability to integrate family systems

knowledge with knowledge from the fields of biology and evolution science (Bowlby,

1969/1982), developmental psychology and social psychology (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005),

religious studies (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007) and religious studies (Miner, 2007).

Despite the strengths of the attachment typology both in terms of clinical and research

applications, the typology’s usefulness is limited by a lack of rich, nuanced descriptions of the

similarities and differences among the categories that comprise the typology (Mandara, 2003).

Johnson and Whiffen (1999) highlight the necessity of addressing individual differences in

attachment based therapies, but note that more research is needed in order to fully understand the

clinical significance of these differences. In addition, there has been a call among attachment

researchers for more attention to the possible clinical importance of subgroup differences among

the four attachment styles (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). The purpose of this dissertation was to

respond to these calls for a more complex, nuanced attachment typology for use in MFT.

Attachment Style Typology

Attachment theory is a theory of human development that focuses on how infants and

adults establish (Main, 1999), monitor (Bowlby, 1969/1982), and repair (Siegel, 1999) close

relationships with others. Because attachment relationships are vital to survival, human

consciousness has evolved to attend selectively to relevant attachment information and

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selectively exclude non relevant information (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2002). However, what

constitutes relevant attachment information varies from person to person, and from situation to

situation (Bowlby, 1969/1982; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003).

While all humans engage in attachment relationships, individual differences in how these

relationships are organized in childhood enhance the adaptive value of attachment relationships

(Bowlby, 1969/1982). It is these adaptive individual differences, developed in the context of

close relationships, and encoded in internal working models, which give rise to the relatively

stable patterns of thought, emotion and sensations that are recognized as attachment types, or

personalities (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005), and alternatively referred to as styles (Mandara,

2003).

Attachment Styles

In the attachment typology, types are defined by the patterns created by the intersection

of the two components that comprise the attachment system: attachment related anxiety and

attachment related avoidance (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). The anxiety component functions to

regulate the amount of monitoring and appraising of an attachment partner’s proximity,

availability, and responsiveness in which a person engages. A highly anxious person engages in

more monitoring and appraising of attachment related information than a less anxious person.

The avoidance component functions to regulate the direction of attachment related behavior

(towards or away from) that a person engages in with regard to the attachment figure. A highly

avoidant person engages in more “moving away” behavior than a less avoidant person

(Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003).

The intersection of the attachment anxiety dimension and the avoidance dimension

produces four prototypes (Mandara, 2003). The high anxiety, low avoidance type engages in a

3
lot of monitoring and appraising of attachment figures, but does not engage in high levels of

behaviors that serve to create distance from the attachment figure. The high anxiety, high

avoidance type engages in both high levels of monitoring and appraising behavior, as well as

high levels of distance creating behavior. The low anxiety, high avoidance type does not engage

in high levels of monitoring and appraising behavior, but does engage in a lot of distancing

behavior. The low anxiety, low avoidance type does not engage in high levels of either

monitoring and appraising behavior, or distancing behavior (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003).

Strengths of the Attachment Typology

Because most of the research on attachment theory has been conducted in the positivistic

tradition that is the hallmark of modern, western science (Miller, 2004), there are well developed

measures of attachment styles that make it possible to integrate clinical research from MFT

studies with research from other fields. For example, Makinen and Johnson (2006) used the

Experiences in Close Relationships – Revised (ECR-R) measure of attachment style (Fraley,

Waller & Brennan, 2000), developed in the social psychology tradition, in order to investigate

the effectiveness of EFT. The findings from Makinen and Johnson’s study contribute to clinical

knowledge about EFT, but they also contribute to knowledge in the field of social psychology,

where the ECR-R was developed.

Limitations of the Attachment Typology

An important limitation of the attachment typology derives from the same source as the

typology’s primary strength – its reliance on a positivist perspective (Miller, 2004) as the

primary source of knowledge. While the research that has been generated by attachment theory

has been used to address important clinical questions, there has been very little research

conducted on the subjective experience of different kinds of people in attachment relationships.

4
This lack of research on subjective experiences limits the usefulness of the attachment style

model for MFT, because a commitment to the existence, and clinical importance, of subjective

reality is one of the defining hallmarks of the MFT field, and a unique strength that MFT brings

to the larger psychotherapy community (Nichols & Schwartz, 2001). Commitment to the

importance of subjective experience has led to the development of important clinical theories and

models in MFT, including narrative therapy (White, 2004) and solution focused therapy (Miller,

R. B.; Hubble & Duncan, 1996). In addition to these established models, attention to subjective

experience has also allowed the field of MFT to develop clinical models for addressing spiritual

experience in therapy (Walsh, 1999). Given the centrality of subjective experience in MFT

theory and practice, the lack of research on subjective experiences of people in attachment

relationships, both within the field of MFT, and in the larger attachment theory research

community, limits the effectiveness and usefulness of the attachment typology.

Enneagram Typology

The Enneagram (pronounced any-a-gram) has developed over the course of centuries

primarily as a folk psychology (Castillo, 2001; Mills, S., 2001; White, 2004) concerned with the

categorization and treatment of spiritual difficulties (Palmer, 1988). The development of the

Enneagram in a folk psychology tradition has resulted in a personality typology that provides

rich, vivid, and nuanced descriptions of the different types of people. This tradition has also

served to develop detailed and complex descriptions of different types of challenges and

strengths that accompany the development of the different types, particularly with regard to

spiritual talents and challenges (Palmer, 1988). Recently, psychotherapists, including MFTs,

have begun to find the Enneagram a useful tool for working with individuals, couples, and

5
families (Bettinger, 2005; Callahan, 1992; Eckstein, 2002; Grodner, 2002; Huber, 1999; Matise,

2007; Schneider & Schaeffer, 1997; Tolk, 2006; Totton & Jacobs, 2001; Wyman, 1998).

Enneagram Types

The construct of Enneagram type that is developed in the present study is derived from

Palmer (1988, 1995; Palmer & Brown, 1997). In Palmer’s model, each Enneagram type is

defined by a distinct focus of attention that develops in childhood in the context of close

relationships with caregivers. For each type, the focus of attention is conceptualized as an

emotional regulation strategy, and is associated with a core emotion, or passion, and a

characteristic thought pattern, or mindset. Additionally, each focus of attention is also associated

with a complimentary area of excluded attention, called a blind spot.

Palmer’s model of the Enneagram is unique in the field of Enneagram studies because the

model overtly incorporates a methodology for continuing the tradition of self observation and

sharing of personal narratives that gave rise to the Enneagram, and allows for retention of the

Enneagram’s grounding in folk and spiritual psychology. The methodology incorporated in

Palmer’s model is termed the “narrative tradition” (AET, 2008), and focuses on the development

of narrative practices that facilitate the sharing and recording of different individual’s stories

about what it is like to be a specific Enneagram type. The power of this approach has been

documented in a separate field by Mills, J. (2001) who explored how semi-structured interviews

facilitate a shared construction of meaning between the interviewer and the interviewee. The

foundation of this methodology is the belief that the best way to learn about another person is to

hear their story. The organization of these stories in terms of the Enneagram typology allows for

the recognition and appreciation of the similarities and differences in the experiences of different

6
Enneagram types, and similarities and differences of experience within groups of the same

Enneagram type.

Strengths of the Enneagram Typology

The Enneagram’s long, slow development, in the tradition of folk psychology (Bruner,

1990; Castillo, 2001; Mills, S., 2001) has resulted in a personality typology that provides rich,

vivid, and nuanced descriptions of different types of people. This tradition has also contributed to

the development of detailed and complex descriptions of different kinds of challenges and

strengths that are associated with the different types, especially in the area of spiritual

development (Palmer, 1988, 1995; Palmer & Brown, 1997). In contrast to the attachment

typology, the Enneagram typology links different patterns of suffering with particular forms of

personal and spiritual strengths. This linkage results in broader, more encompassing portrayals of

human experience than is currently provided by the attachment typology.

Limitations of the Enneagram Typology

While the Enneagram’s unique history has resulted in a typology that is rich in

knowledge about subjective experiences of people in both spiritual and human relationships, its

unorthodox (from the perspective of the positivistic tradition) development has also resulted in a

typology that is based on language, concepts, and practices that are foreign to western

psychotherapy traditions. The reliance on language, concepts, and practices drawn from ancient

spiritual knowledge systems and traditions limits the usefulness of the Enneagram as an MFT

typology both in terms of research and clinical practice.

Effective Typologies

Typologies are cultural constructions that allow for the categorization of objects

according to relevant variables. Humans construct typologies because they are useful tools for

7
gathering, comprehending, and applying information about complex systems, including human

systems (Mandara, 2003; Robins, John & Caspi, 1998). Personality typologies are used in MFT

and other branches of psychotherapy because some clinicians find that they increase the

effectiveness of the therapeutic process (Totton & Jacobs, 2001). When typologies are useful,

they reveal patterns of characteristics that would not be visible in the absence of the

categorization. This emphasis on patterns of interacting variables is particularly important when

complex systems such as individuals, couples, and families are the subject of investigation,

because change in these systems are often non-linear, and cannot be fully understood using non-

systemic approaches (Mandara, 2003). While both the attachment typology and the Enneagram

typology are effective models for use in MFT, the effectiveness of each is limited in different

ways.

Characteristics of Effective Typologies

Totton and Jacobs (2001) identify five characteristics that a typology should possess if it

is likely to be an effective tool for use in psychotherapy. Most importantly, a typology should

have the power to reveal relevant patterns of characteristics in clients. It is the recognition of

differences in patterns of characteristics among different categories that provides the explanatory

power of typologies. The second criterion for an effective typology is that it should be coherent.

When a typology is coherent, the categories that comprise the typology are distinct, yet clearly

related to each other in a meaningful way. An important component of coherence is the number

of categories making up the typology. If there are either too many or too few categories,

meaningful patterns will not be revealed.

The third criterion is that the typology should contribute to a greater understanding of the

individuals being categorized than would be possible in the absence of the categorization. This

8
increased understanding occurs because the typology adds the new knowledge about relevant

patterns to everything that is already known about the individual. This point is important because

a common objection to personality typologies is that they result in stereotyping, or over-

simplification of individuals (Totton & Jacobs, 2001). When use of a typology results in a loss of

information about the individual (including stereotyping), this would be an indication of either an

ineffective typology, or a misuse of an effective typology.

The final two criteria are closely linked. An effective typology should contribute to an

increased ability to predict clinically relevant information, and by extension, should serve to

generate useful treatment strategies. The ability to predict relevant information arises out of the

revelation of patterns created by the typology. In this sense, an effective typology is used like a

trail map. If the client’s current location on the map can be located, then the pattern shows where

the client was previously, and where the client is going to be next, unless the pattern is changed.

Treatment strategies can be developed in the context of this knowledge.

Totton and Jacobs (2001) organized their discussion of effective typologies around the

requirements of clinical practice, and did not address research implications. However, a typology

that is not constructed in such a way as to allow for scientific research will be limited in its

usefulness as a clinical tool. This is because the process of scientific research allows for linkages

to be made between the knowledge gained from the typology with knowledge gained from other,

related research agendas. Therefore, a sixth criterion should be included when evaluating the

effectiveness of a typology: an effective typology should be congruent with scientific research

methods.

Using Totton and Jacob’s (2001) criteria, both the attachment typology and the

Enneagram typology are complete, coherent, and useful. Both typologies reveal patterns of

9
characteristics that therapists have found to be useful clinically. Both typologies contribute to

increased understanding of individuals, couples, and families. Both typologies provide maps that

assist therapists in assessing clients, making clinical predictions, and devising appropriate

treatment strategies.

The effectiveness of the attachment typology is limited by a primary reliance on a

positivistic (Miller, 2004) research agenda that has led to a neglect of attention to subjective

experiences of being in attachment relationships, and to a dearth of information about positive

qualities associated with the different styles. In contrast, the Enneagram typology is limited by a

non-traditional history that has established very few links with traditional qualitative or

quantitative research. This has led to an isolation of the field of Enneagram studies from the

larger community of psychotherapy practice and research, including MFT practice and research.

Research Questions

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a more complex, nuanced attachment

typology for use in MFT by integrating the existing attachment typology with the Enneagram

typology. Two research questions were developed to guide this research. The first question

addressed the internal validity of the integrated typology. In typological analyses, internal

validity is tested by examining whether the configurations of characteristics predicted by the

conceptual model occur more frequently in a sample than would be expected by chance (von

Eye, 2002). Therefore, the research question that was developed to investigate the internal

validity of the integrated typology was, “Do patterns of characteristics of the attachment types

coincide with patterns of characteristics of the Enneagram types in predictable ways?”

The second research question addressed the external validity of the integrated model. In

typological analyses, one way of assessing external validity is by using the integrated typology to

10
make predictions about a variable of interest that is not part of the conceptual model (Mandara,

2003; Smith & Foti, 1998; von Eye, 2002). The issue of external validity also addresses the

clinical usefulness of the integrated typology. If the integrated typology contributes to increased

understanding of an unrelated variable, then the model has the potential for being clinically

useful in a way that neither of the original typologies could be alone. The question that was

developed to guide the assessment of external validity of the integrated typology was, “Does the

integrated typology contribute to knowledge about different patterns of anxiety and avoidance

with respect to relationship satisfaction?”

Overview of Research Design

Typologies can be successfully integrated when they share an underlying structure of

some kind (Mandara, 2003; von Eye, 2002). For example, Lienert, Reynolds, and Lehmacher

(1990) integrated Eysenck’s (1953) personality typology with Cattell’s (1972) personality

typology by focusing on the underlying structure that contributed to characteristics of

extraversion in both typologies.

In the present study, the attachment typology and the Enneagram typology appear to

share an underlying structure based on attentional processes that develop in the context of early

childhood relationships with caregivers. In addition to this shared focus on attentional processes,

there are striking similarities among some of the prototypes used in the two typologies.

Prototypes are abstract exemplars, or constructs, that identify the essential qualities that are

necessary for membership in each of the categories of the typology (Mandara, 2003). Members

of a category need not share all the qualities of the prototype, but they must share the essential,

or core qualities. Mandara describes prototypes using the example of dogs:

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 [A] German Sheppard-like dog may represent the prototype for the concept dog. Dogs

vary to the degree that they fit the prototype. However, there are core factors that are

most important for being a member of a type. Therefore, every dog may not be an

exemplar of the dog concept, but they do have the core properties that make them a

dog. (p.133)

Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991) developed four prototypes of attachment styles based

on the work of Hazan and Shaver (1987) in the context of their research on adult attachment

processes. Bartholomew’s prototypes are widely used as a foundation for research on attachment

styles (Bartholomew & Shaver, 1998). Daniels and Price (2000), Palmer (1988), and Palmer and

Daniels (2003), have developed prototypes of the nine Enneagram types for didactic use. Table 1

summarizes the similarities between Bartholomew and Horowitz’s prototypes for the Dismissing

Avoidant type, the Preoccupied type, and the Fearful Avoidant type, and Palmer’s Observer

(Enneagram Type Five), Giver (Enneagram Type Two), and Loyal Trooper (Enneagram Type

Six).

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Table 1

Similarities in Typology Prototypes

Attachment Style (Bartholomew & Horowitz, Enneagram Attention Style (Palmer, 1988)
1991)
Dismissing Avoidant The Observer (Type 5)
I am comfortable without close emotional Detached from love and charged emotion. Needing
relationships. It is very important to me to feel privacy to discover what they feel. Separated from
independent and self-sufficient, and I prefer not to people in public, feeling more emotional when
depend on others or have others depend on me. they’re by themselves…As a psychological strategy,
detachment minimizes contact

Preoccupied The Giver (Type 2)

I want to be completely emotionally intimate with Twos move toward people, as if seeking an answer
others, but I often find that others are reluctant to to the inner question: Will I be liked? They have a
get as close as I would like. I am uncomfortable marked need for affection and approval; they want
being without close relationships, but I sometimes to be loved, to be protected, and to feel important in
worry that others don’t value me as much as I other people’s lives
value them.
Fearful Avoidant The Trooper (Type 6)
I am somewhat uncomfortable getting close to Sixes lost faith in authorities when they were young.
others. I want emotionally close relationships, but They remember being afraid of those who had
I find it difficult to trust others completely, or to power over them, of being unable to act on their
depend on them. I sometimes worry that I will be own behalf. Those memories have carried over into
hurt if I allow myself to become to close to others adult life as a suspiciousness of other people’s
motives.

The similarities among some of the prototypes of the two typologies, in addition to a

shared emphasis on attentional processes that develop in the context of childhood relationships

with caregivers, suggest that the two typologies may be compatible (Mandara, 2003; Smith &

Foti, 1998; von Eye, 2002).

Typological Analysis

This study used a typological analysis approach (Mandara, 2003; Robins, John, & Caspi,

1998; von Eye, 2002) as a way to conceptually integrate the attachment typology and the

Enneagram typology, and to empirically test the resulting integrated typology. Typological

analysis methods are especially appropriate when the researcher wants to view the study subject

(individual, dyad, or family) as a whole, indivisible system. This is because typological analysis

13
is a person centered approach, as opposed to a variable centered approach (Mandara, 2003;

Robins, et al., 1998; von Eye, 2002). Person centered approaches focus on patterns of variables

within subjects with the goal of categorizing subjects based on similarities and differences

arising from these internal patterns (Mandara, 2003; Robins, et al., 1998; von Eye, 2002).

Variable centered approaches focus on the relationship between variables, with the goal of

categorizing clusters of patterns of relationships among variables. The Five Factor Model (FFM)

in psychology is a familiar example of the variable centered approach (Robins, et al., 1998).

While typologies have been used for thousands of years in folk psychology traditions

(Koss-Chioino & Hefner, 2006), the typological approach is also well established as a method of

research in psychotherapy disciplines (Mandara, 2003). In particular, the typological analysis

approach is useful in cases such as the present study, when the researcher wants to integrate

knowledge accumulated in non-traditional ways, as Enneagram knowledge has been, with

knowledge accumulated by traditional scientific methods, as is the case with the attachment style

model (Castillo, 2001; Fischer, Jome, & Atkinson, 1998; Mandara, 2003).

Methodological Procedures

A successful typological analysis results in the development of a richer, more complex,

and more effective typology (Mandara, 2003). In the present study, the typological analysis

brought together the characteristics of the attachment typology categories, defined by anxiety and

avoidance, with the characteristics of the Enneagram categories, defined by focus of attention.

The categories that comprised the resulting integrated typology were richer and more complex

because they integrate two separate, differentiated patterns into one more complex, integrated

pattern for each prototype (Siegel, 1999).

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 Configural Frequency Analysis. The methodology that was used in this dissertation was

based on Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA) (von Eye, 2002). CFA focuses on

conceptualizing and testing similarities and differences of configurations of variables within and

between groups of subjects. In CFA, a configuration is defined as, “the ensemble of categories

that describe a cell of a cross-tabulation” (von Eye, 2002, p. 5). In the present study, the

categories that were cross-tabulated were the categories of the attachment typology and the

Enneagram typology. Three separate CFA hypotheses were developed to test the internal validity

of the integrated typology. The first two hypotheses addressed the pattern of configurations of

focus of attention and avoidance, and focus of attention and anxiety. The third hypothesis

addressed the pattern of configurations of focus of attention, anxiety, and avoidance combined.

The first two hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests, and the third

hypothesis was tested a using chi-square goodness of fit test.

The final step in a typological analysis is to explore the utility (Smith & Foti, 1998) or

external validity (von Eye, 2002) of the integrated typology. Whether conceptualized in terms of

utility or external validity, the point of this final step is to investigate whether the newly defined

categories contribute to increased understanding of other relevant variables. In terms of

effectiveness as a psychotherapeutic tool (Totton & Jacobs, 2001), the new typology should yield

an increased understanding of the individuals being categorized, should contribute to the

therapist’s ability to predict clinically relevant information, and should contribute to the

generation of new treatment strategies. In the present study, the issue of the clinical relevance of

the integrated typology was addressed by investigating differences among the categories with

regard to relationship satisfaction.

15
 Philosophical Assumptions

Attachment theory and the Enneagram were developed at different points in history, for

different purposes, and under different philosophical assumptions about epistemology and

ontology. However, the two typologies share an underlying agreement about human

development processes and the nature of human consciousness. Specifically, both typologies,

share an assumption that human consciousness has a dual structure.

Dual Structure of Human Consciousness

The model of consciousness that has most influenced western thought, including

scientific thought, is Kant’s approach. Kant found that reality cannot be experienced directly.

Rather, humans construct a model of reality and interact with this model. As explained by

Forman (1999):

In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant maintained that we cannot experience reality in

itself…directly. Rather, we can only encounter the world through a limited

number of categories…If some experience came to us in other terms, we simply could

not entertain it – we would have no category for it. (pp. 2 – 3)

For Kant, human consciousness is not dual. Instead, duality exists in the structure of the

universe itself. Reality exists, but the human mind cannot experience reality directly, so there are

two things: reality, and consciousness of reality. In Kant’s model, there is no question of

experiencing reality directly, so there is no discussion of what part of the human would do such a

thing.

Other philosophers, while not holding the influence on western thought that Kant has,

have identified human consciousness, rather than reality itself, as inherently dualistic. Forman

(1999) finds duality in the theoretical writing of Jean Paul Sartre:

16
 [I]n his analysis of the human situation, Sartre suggests that in every perception there

are two epistemological structures: intentional knowledge and nonintentional

nonpositional self-awareness. The two are always encountered together, yet are of

deeply different natures. Though most of us overlook the inherently transcendental

character of consciousness and identify with our roles, this identification is a

mistake: we are not truly our roles, and we all intuitively know it (p.155).

Similarly, Helminiak (1998) describes the “bimodal structure of consciousness,”: “

Consciousness is double. By one and the same consciousness, you are aware of some

object and simultaneously aware of yourself as the aware subject”. (p. 20)

Dual Consciousness and Attention

Where Sartre identified intentional knowledge and nonintentional, nonpositional self-

awareness, Helminiak finds reflecting and non-reflecting consciousness. Both are addressing

consciousness as having two distinctly different, yet intimately linked parts. One part is aware of

being aware. The other part is aware of objects of consciousness. In this dualistic model of

consciousness, attention describes the ability to identify which part of consciousness is currently

being inhabited. The ability to shift back and forth between awareness of objects and awareness

of being aware is an important part of both the attachment typology and the Enneagram

typology, though it is more heavily emphasized in the Enneagram model (Mikulincer & Shaver,

2003).

Development of Consciousness

In both the attachment typology and the Enneagram typology, development of

consciousness is assumed to occur along two lines, in accordance with its dual nature. In each

case, the type, which actively constructs reality, is conceptualized as a relatively stable pattern of

17
thoughts, emotions, and sensations (Funder, 2001) that develops in early childhood and that

almost all people are capable of recognizing as a “me” separate and unique from other people

(Habermas & Bluck, 2000). This personality type is socially constructed in that it develops in the

context of social relationships and its development is inseparable from the development of

language (Main, 2000).

In addition to a relatively stable, recognizable “me” or personality, there is also a

witnessing observer (Baron-Cohen, 1999; Siegel, 1999) that is capable of experiencing

unconstructed, or greater, reality (Helminiak, 2001). The witnessing observer is the non-

constructed, non-active part of human consciousness. The witnessing observer is the part of

human consciousness that is capable of observing the personality itself (Siegel, 1999).

Dual consciousness in attachment typology. In the attachment typology, dual

consciousness takes the form of the conscious and the unconscious mind, shaped by evolutionary

forces to enhance survival (Bowlby, 1969/1982). From an attachment theory perspective, human

consciousness is thought to have been shaped by evolution to support attachment processes at all

costs, much like breathing. Like breathing, attachment processes operate in the unconscious

mind, because they are so essential to survival. Just as attention can be brought to the breath,

attention can be brought to attachment processes. Just as the breath can be regulated once

attention has been brought to it, so can the attachment processes be regulated by bringing them

under attention. In both cases, once attention moves on, the processes continue as before, outside

of awareness (Siegel, 1999, 2007).

Dual consciousness in Enneagram typology. In the Enneagram typology, dual

consciousness takes the form of the personality and the observer. The personality is

conceptualized as operating unconsciously, following habitual patterns of thought, emotion and

18
behavior that are determined by the focus of attention. The observer is conceptualized as the part

of a person that has the capacity to observe the personality as it engages with the world (Palmer,

1988).

Nature of Reality

The two typologies being integrated in this dissertation can be categorized as occupying a

middle ground (Held, 2007) between the social constructivist and positivistic conceptualizations

of reality. This is because both typologies emphasize the role of attention management in the

development and maintenance of the types. From a social-constructivist perspective, the filtering

of information that results from different attention management strategies acts to shape the

reality that people inhabit, and as a consequence, each person’s reality is at least partially unique

(Werner-Wilson & Davenport, 2003). At the same time, there are universal attachment needs,

and universal strategies for meeting these needs. This means that the reality that humans inhabit

is also shared, in that reality for all humans is shaped by the need to attend to attachment

relationships (Ainsworth, 1967).

Organization of the Dissertation

This chapter presented an explanation of the research problem and the purpose of the

study. This chapter also presented an overview of the methodology that was used to address the

research problem. Finally, this chapter presented the research questions and a discussion of the

philosophical assumptions that serve as the foundation of the study.

The remainder of the dissertation is organized into four chapters. The second chapter

reviews literature on the development of attachment styles and Enneagram types, with a focus on

implications for relationship satisfaction. In the third chapter, hypotheses are developed to

address the research questions. The third chapter also presents the methodology that was used to

19
collect and analyze the data. The fourth chapter presents the results of the data analysis. The fifth

chapter discusses the results in terms of the new integrated typology and addresses clinical

implications and future research.

20
 Chapter Two: Literature Review

The purpose of this chapter is to review relevant literature on the attachment typology

and the Enneagram typology. This review focuses on highlighting similarities between the two

traditions in terms of their shared focus on attentional processes as an underlying structure of the

types.

Attachment Theory

Attachment theory developed in the context of Freud’s agenda of improving human

relationships through the identification, categorization and remediation of problems that people

encounter in their love and work lives. Just as Freud’s work marked a drastic departure from

earlier, spiritual, approaches to psychology (Palmer, 1995), so Bowlby’s attachment theory

marked a drastic departure from the established psycho-analytic approach to psychology that was

paramount in western culture when Bowlby did his original work (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991;

Main, 2000). Prior to Bowlby’s work, the field of psychology, in the tradition of Freud, had

organized models of human health and suffering around a belief that children’s inner worlds

were defined by fantasy having little to do with external reality.

What made Bowlby’s work an important break with established psychological science

was his insistence on, and evidence for, the reality of children’s (and by extension) adults’

experiences. Bowlby insisted that what went on in a person’s internal world was systematically

linked, through the imaginative capacity, with real things in the objective world (Ainsworth &

Bowlby, 1991). Both Freud’s and Bowlby’s theories put the child’s imagination at the center of

development. But the Freudian tradition was organized around the necessity of helping adults to

see that the imagination was disconnected from reality. In contrast, in Bowlby’s theory, the

21
imagination is the mechanism that allows the child to maintain proximity to his or her caregivers,

and is thus essential to survival in the physical world (Bowlby, 1969/1982).

Development of Attachment Styles

Over the course of thousands of emotional interactions between the child and the parent,

an attachment style develops. Attachment styles are stable patterns of interrelated thoughts,

emotions, and behaviors that have been empirically linked with differences in childhood

relationships with caregivers (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005). Attachment styles first develop as a

shared pattern between the caregiver and the child, such that the baby may have different

attachment styles with different caregivers. As the child matures, the attachment style coalesces

into a stable personality pattern that is less susceptible to change from one relationship to the

next (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005). Although attachment styles in adults are intrapersonal

patterns, they can be influenced by the attachment styles of others an individual is in close

relationship with (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). In this sense, attachment based therapies are truly

systemic, because changing the attachment pattern at any level of the family creates change at

other levels as well (Byng-Hall, 1999, 2008; Cassidy, 1999).

Internal Working Models

An individual’s first attachment relationship is with one or a few caregivers. Attachment

behavior in these early relationships is characterized by “safe haven behavior” in which the

infant turns to the parent when afraid or distressed, and “secure base behavior” in which the

infant uses the parent as a base from which to explore the environment (Cassidy, 1999). Even in

these very early relationships, the baby actively chooses its attachment partner, and actively

participates in maintaining the relationship (Main, 1999).

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 The baby is able to engage in attachment behavior by developing internal working

models. Internal working models are attentional filters that develop in the course of repeated

interactions with caregivers to allow for rapid and largely unconscious monitoring of the parent’s

whereabouts, availability, and state of mind toward the baby (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999).

While a young child has independent working models for each caregiver, by later childhood

these working models coalesce into a generalized internal model of attachment that is carried

forward into adulthood. This generalized internalized working model then shapes the adult’s

experience of the self, of attachment partners, and of adult romantic relationships (Crowell,

Fraley, & Shaver, 1999; Pietromonaco & Barrett, 2000). Ainsworth (1967)describes the essence

of internal working models in her description of the attachment process:

This internalized something that we call attachment has aspects of feelings, memories,

wishes, expectancies, and intentions, all of which…serves as a kind of filter for the

reception and interpretation of interpersonal experience and as a kind of template shaping

the nature of outwardly observable response. (p. 429)

Evolutionary Theory Perspective on Attachment Styles

Bowlby developed the concept of internal working models out of his study of information

processing theory (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991; Bowlby, 1969/1982). Bowlby noted that all baby

animals are born with, or quickly learn, adaptive responses to danger. For very simple animals,

this response is very simple (move away from pain). For more complex animals, the responses

become more complex (e.g., run up a tree, keep up with the herd). For humans in particular,

Bowlby believed that the problem of responding to danger was especially complex. Bowlby

noted two key reasons for the special complexity of the human infant’s learned response to

23
danger: the necessity for future orientation and the necessity for exploring the environment

(Bowlby, 1969/1982).

Necessity for future orientation. Human infants, unlike most other baby animals, find

safety in being picked up and carried by their caregiver, rather than moving away from danger on

their own. Bowlby noted that this form of protection causes special problems because humans

are constantly moving around. This means that even more than knowing where a caregiver is in

the present moment, the baby must be able to anticipate where the mother will be in the next

moment, when danger might appear (Bowlby, 1973; Kobak, 1999).

Necessity for exploring environment. Bowlby also noted that humans, more than perhaps

any other animal, survive by being behaviorally adaptable. Humans are able to do this because

human brain development is oriented toward being greatly influenced by the context in which it

develops (Hrdy, 1999). This means that a young child’s brain integrates with its environment and

so is extremely well adapted to that particular environment. But in order for this integration to

occur, children must be able to actively explore the environment in which they are living and

developing (Bowlby, 1973; Kobak, 1999).

The structure of internal working models reflects the dual and often contradictory

necessities of being future oriented in order to ensure protection from harm, and being present

oriented in order to be able to explore novel situations. The necessity for future orientation

results from the need to know where the parent is at all times, including anticipating where he or

she will be in the future. The necessity for present orientation results from the need to explore the

environment. Bowlby saw the attachment system as an elegant solution to this complex

attentional problem (Bowlby, 1973). The original attachment system, shared between the child

and the parent, is a homeostatic system, regulating the attention of both partners (but especially

24
the child’s) so that the child can simultaneously monitor the parent’s availability and also engage

in exploration. In dangerous or otherwise distressing situations, the system is oriented more

toward the availability of the parent, while in relaxed situations the system is oriented more

towards play and exploration (Hill, Fonagy, Safier, et al., 2003).

Exclusion of information. In addition to highlighting the way internal working models

allow babies to manipulate relational objects in order to actively participate in attachment

relationships, Bowlby also noted that babies can learn to defensively exclude attachment related

information. Again drawing on information processing research, Bowlby noted that humans

selectively exclude available but irrelevant information as a way to cope with the infinite amount

of information that is constantly impinging on the system. Bowlby theorized that this capacity to

selectively exclude information is used in attachment relationship with, “the goal of warding off

perceptions, feelings, and thoughts that would otherwise cause unbearable anxiety and

psychological suffering” (Bowlby, 1987, p. 93).

Manipulating attention to regulate attachment. Bowlby especially focused on the

manipulation of attention that a child must engage in when he or she is forced to “not know”

something that she or he does know. For example, when a child is forced to “not know” that she

or he is being abused, or that his or her parent is extremely unhappy (Bowlby, 1988). However,

Bowlby theorized that attention manipulation plays a role in all attachment relationships, not just

traumatic ones. Research by Mikulincer and Shaver (2003) on differences in attention according

to attachment style provides empirical support for Bowlby’s hypothesis that manipulation of

attention is used to regulate all attachment relationships (see also Hadley, 1985; Magai, 1999;

Main, 2000).

25
Childhood Attachment Patterns

Mary Ainsworth used Bowlby’s initial writings as an organizational framework for her

empirical work, conducting observational research on parent child interactions in both Uganda

(Ainsworth, 1967) and in the United States (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall,1978). In

addition, and more famously, she developed a now widely used laboratory based protocol for

assessing parent - child attachment, the Strange Situation Procedure (Ainsworth et al., 1978).

Through her naturalistic and laboratory work, Ainsworth was able to identify individual

differences in attachment styles. Ainsworth demonstrated that these differences fell into three

broad patterns of parent - child interactions which she labeled as secure, insecure-avoidant, and

insecure-ambivalent. Within these broad groupings Ainsworth noticed subcategories, or

variations on the basic types, but did not have a large enough sample size to quantitatively

investigate these variations (Ainsworth et al., 1978).

Attention management strategies. In addition to identifying the three broad categories of

attachment patterns, Ainsworth found that there were two underlying dimensions to the patterns.

As Brennan, Clark and Shaver (1998) note,

Right from the start, Ainsworth’s three major attachment “types” could be conceptualized

as regions in two-dimensional space, the dimensions being Avoidance (discomfort with

closeness and dependency) and Anxiety (crying, failing to explore confidently in the

absence of mother, and angry protest directed at mother during reunions after what

was probably experienced as abandonment). (p. 48)

These underlying dimensions are associated with complex strategies for attaining

attachment related goals (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005).The avoidance dimension is associated

with a strategy used by a child who is overwhelmed, physically or emotionally, by the parent, or

26
alternatively, by a child who is consistently ignored (Ainsworth, et al., 1978; Siegel, 1999). Use

of this strategy involves “deactivation” of the attachment system (Magai, 1999). An avoidant

child appears to be paying attention to objects other than the mother (for example, the child

might appear to be absorbed with playing with a toy and oblivious of the parent). The logic of

this strategy is that it allows the child to maintain at least minimal contact with the parent

without being overwhelmed with emotion (Siegel, 1999). As can be seen from this example, the

term “deactivation” is somewhat of a misnomer because the attachment system is not

deactivated, but rather is dampened, to allow for a minimal attachment connection. Shaver and

Mikulincer (2005) define this as a secondary strategy, which is used when the primary, secure

type strategy is not viable.

In contrast to the avoidant dimension, the anxiety dimension is associated with a strategy

employed by a child whose parent is inconsistently responsive to the child’s needs (Ainsworth et

al., 1978; Siegel, 1999), and use of this strategy involves “hyperactivation” of the attachment

system (Magai, 1999). This strategy is typically used by a child when the parent is inconsistent

with regard to meeting attachment needs. For example, sometimes the parent might notice that

the child needs attention, but other times the parent might be oblivious to the child’s needs. In

addition, this parent might also sometimes attempt to provide help or otherwise interfere with the

child when the child does not actually need anything at the moment. In response to this

inconsistency in the parent, the anxious child will basically remain anxious all the time,

constantly asking for attachment responses from the parent, whether anything is needed or not.

The logic of this strategy is that if the system is hyperactivated all the time, there might be a

chance of receiving attention when it is needed. Where the avoidant strategy is used by a child to

maintain attachment contact without being overwhelmed emotionally or physically, the anxiety

27
strategy is used by a child in an attempt to maximize attachment related attention at all times, in

order to counteract the inconsistent responses of the parent (Siegel, 1999).

In both cases, the strategies are organized around the management of attention. In the

avoidant strategy, attention is directed away from the attachment figure and attachment related

thoughts and feelings, and towards other objects such as toys. In the anxious strategy, attention is

kept on the attachment figure and the experience of distress, and away from other objects.

Adult Attachment Styles

Research on adult attachment styles began with qualitative investigations into whether

there were adult styles that mirrored the parent-infant styles identified by Ainsworth et al.

(1978). In order to study possible relationships between parent - infant patterns of attachment

behavior and parent’s experiences as children, Mary Main and her colleagues developed the

Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) (Hesse, 1999). This instrument assesses an adult’s coherence

of mind when speaking about memories of childhood interactions with parents. This research

focuses on unconscious mental processes. Research using the AAI has found the same three

broad categories originally identified by Ainsworth in parent-infant dyads (Hesse, 1999). In

particular, research using the AAI reinforces the role of attention in different attachment styles.

As Hesse (1999) summarizes:

Within the AAI, the organization of language pertaining to attachment…appears to be

a manifestation of the “dynamics” of cognition and emotion mediated by attention. (p 427

– 428)

Building on the work of Bowlby and Ainsworth, Hazan and Shaver (1987) also began

investigating adult attachment styles qualitatively, but instead of focusing on an adult’s

experiences with their own parents, they focused on adult romantic relationships. Hazan and

28
Shaver demonstrated that adults have attachment styles regarding romantic relationships that

mirror the parent-infant patterns identified by Ainsworth (1978). Hazan and Shaver labeled these

three distinct adult attachment styles, “secure,” “insecure avoidant,” and “insecure preoccupied.”

This initial work led to an explosion of research on adult attachment styles using self-report

methods (see Bartholomew & Shaver, 1998; Hazan & Shaver, 2004; Shaver & Mikulincer, 2004,

for reviews).

Hazan and Shaver’s (1987) three style model was refined and expanded by Bartholomew

and Horowitz (1991) into a four category model, with the inclusion of the “insecure fearful

avoidant” type. This model was significant because it recast adult attachment into the same two

dimensional space that Ainsworth and her colleagues conceptualized for parent – infant

attachment (Bartholomew & Shaver, 1998).

Brennan, Clark, and Shaver (1998) conducted a study of all available self-report

measures of adult attachment and found additional support for Bartholomew and Horowitz’s

(1991) four category model defined by the two orthogonal dimensions of anxiety and avoidance.

Brennan et al. found that the anxiety dimension taps an individual’s anxiety about abandonment

or insufficient love, while the avoidance dimension taps an individual’s avoidance of intimacy

and emotional expression, distrust of relationship partner’s goodwill, and desire to maintain self-

reliance.

Though Hazan and Shaver began their investigations into adult attachment styles by

focusing on romantic attachments, there is compelling evidence that adult attachment styles

apply to not just romantic relationships, but generalize to all important adult relationships (Hazan

& Shaver, 1990; Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005). Fraley, Waller, and Brennan (2000) have

developed a four quadrant model that can be used to map an individual’s anxiety and avoidance

29
regarding attachment relationships. Using this model, a person’s attachment style can be

described as high anxiety, low avoidance; high anxiety, high avoidance; low anxiety, high

avoidance; or low anxiety, low avoidance.

The Enneagram

The Enneagram typology is based on a model of development similar to attachment

theory, focusing on how differences in the organization of attention in childhood in the service of

the relationship with the caregiver lead directly to specific challenges and problems in adulthood.

Unlike attachment theory, the Enneagram model also conceptualizes differences in childhood

development also giving rise to specific strengths and talents, including specific spiritual talents

(Palmer, 1988, 1995).

The Enneagram typology is derived from an ancient study of spirituality, introduced to

the west by G. I. Gurdjieff (Blake, 1996). Like the attachment typology, the Enneagram

emphasizes the importance of understanding individual differences in information processing. As

Blake states:

The Enneagram emerged as concerned with the organization of complexity – in such

guises as goal-seeking, autonomous behavior, and discrete changes of order – and there is

a curious sense in which it appears centered on information-processing. This is curious

because Gurdjieff did not have the concept of information, especially as it began to

develop fifty years later. (p.1)

History of the Enneagram

While its origins remain much debated, there is evidence that the Enneagram was used by

nonliterate people in Middle Eastern culture as a way of sharing and preserving knowledge about

spiritual development that had been discovered through observations of self and nature (Bennett,

30
1914/1983; Blake, 1996; Rohr & Ebert, 2004). The passions of the Enneagram typology were

originally identified by Evagrius Ponticus, a Christian monk who lived in the Egyptian desert

around 300 C.E (Rohr & Ebert, 2004). Evagrius wanted to know why monks sometimes

abandoned their spiritual vows and their monastic communities, after making great sacrifices to

adopt the desert way of life. Evagrius conducted extensive interviews with monks in order to

determine the source of the problem. He succeeded in identifying and cataloguing eight specific

hindrances which he called “thoughts” (Harmless & Fitzgerald, 2001, p. 507) and referred to as

the “eight evil thoughts” (p. 507). The ninth hindrance, fear, was seen by Evagrius to be an

overarching condition that supported the other eight hindrances.

Evagrius believed these “evil thoughts” caused suffering for the monks because they

acted to “incite the passions” (Harmless & Fitzgerald, 2001 p. 516). Passion in this sense refers

to the emotional state that is the opposite of apatheia. Apatheia was a term that the desert fathers

borrowed from the Greek stoics. It does not hold the same meaning as the English “apathy”

Rather, Harmless explains:

Evagrius’ apatheia is not some Stoic ideal of imperturbability. It is a relative calm on the

far side of the storm- a realistic calm that still must face the daily upsets of life.

(Harmless, 2004, p. 348)

Although Evagrius’ evil thoughts were later reconceptualized by the Christian church as

the seven deadly sins, for Evagrius, these evil thoughts were not sins in the modern sense

because they were not the result of any action on the person’s part. Rather, they came unbidden

and served to pull the person’s attention off of contemplation of God and onto the troubling

experience of the passions. Evagrius’ remedy for these evil thoughts was “watchfulness” or self-

31
observation (Harmless, 2004; 2008; Harmless & Fitzgerald, 2001). This emphasis on self-

observation has continued into the present as a keystone of Enneagram theory and practice.

Oscar Ichazo made a major contribution to the development of the Enneagram of

personality types when he placed the seven deadly sins, first identified by Evagrius Ponticus, and

the seven virtues of Christianity, onto the Enneagram symbol in the 1970s. This placement of the

passions and corresponding virtues onto the Enneagram symbol marks the beginning of the

modern Enneagram typology (Tart, 1983).

In addition to placement of the seven passions and their corresponding virtues, Oscar

Ichazo also added two other passion/virtue combinations to complete the nine pointed symbol.

The two passion/virtue combinations that Ichazo added were deceit/hope and fear/faith. Deceit in

this case refers to the personality’s sense of itself as a unitary, complete whole, without a

witnessing observer. In Ichazo’s model, fear follows naturally from the basic deceit that the

personality exists in isolation. Fear refers to the personality’s natural (and accurate) knowledge

that ultimately, “I will cease to exist” (Palmer, 2000). Adding to the modern Enneagram

typology, Claudio Naranjo, a psychiatrist who learned the about the Enneagram from Ichazo,

placed nine psychoanalytic defense mechanisms on the Enneagram symbol. Naranjo’s

contribution served to link Gurdjieff’s pre-Freudian teachings with modern psychological

knowledge of unconscious defensive processes (Palmer, 1988).

The Enneagram Symbol

The Enneagram depicts a nine pointed figure inscribed within a circle. The numbers

indicate the position on the symbol that each personality type is associated with. The placement

of the Enneagram types on the symbol represents the conceptualized relationship among the

types. For example, Type One is located between Type Nine and Type Two on the circle. This

32
placement indicates that the characteristics of Type One are similar to the characteristics of both

Type Nine and Type Two. In addition, the interconnecting lines of the symbol are conceptualized

as representing interconnections among the Enneagram types, and are used to account for the

observation that the Enneagram types are dynamic, changing in specific ways in response to

different contexts and situations. Using Type One as an example again, Type One is connected

by the inner lines of the symbol with Type Four and Type Seven. This represents the

conceptualization that under circumstances of stress, Type One will “look like” (in terms of

typical thought and emotion patterns) a Type Four, and under circumstances of security, Type

One will “look like” a Type Seven (Palmer, 1988).

Figure 1: The Enneagram of Personality Types

Enneagram and attention strategy. One of the assumptions of the Enneagram typology is

that there are only three attentional strategies a person can engage in unconsciously. A person’s

attention will unconsciously move toward, move away, or “zone out” with regard to objects of

consciousness (Palmer, 1988). This assumption is represented on the Enneagram symbol by three

triads, or groups of types. The triad on the right side of the Enneagram symbol is called the Heart

triad and includes Types Two, Three, and Four. This triad is associated with emotion-centered

information processing, and with the “moving toward” bias. The triad on the left side of the

33
Enneagram symbol is called the Head, or Mental, triad, and includes Types Five, Six, and Seven.

This triad relies especially on mental-centered information processing, and is associated with

“moving away”. Finally, the triad at the top of the Enneagram is called the Body triad and

includes Types Eight, Nine, and One. This triad is associated with body-based information

processing, and with a bias toward attentional “zoning out” or “falling asleep” (Palmer, 1988).

Figure 2: Attention Triads

Body Triad:
Zoning Out

Head Triad: Heart Triad:

Moving Away Moving Towards

Components of the Enneagram Types

Palmer’s (1988, 1995; Palmer & Brown, 1997) conceptualization of the Enneagram

typology is based on the observation that each different type has a distinct focus of attention.

Palmer conceptualizes the types as developing around these foci of attention and corresponding

blind spots early in childhood in order to regulate strong emotions such as fear, anger, and grief

that the child experiences in the context of relationships with parents and other caregivers. The

focus of attention serves the purpose of filtering and shaping information, and ultimately of

shaping subjective realties.

In addition to the focus of attention and the corresponding blind spot, each type is also

associated with a particular passion and habitual thought pattern (Palmer 1988; Palmer & Brown,

34
1997). Together, these elements form a system that maintains the stability of the personality type

(Funder, 2001). The passion is conceptualized as a basic emotion that, for whatever reason

(including possibly genetic predisposition) was not adequately regulated in early attachment

relationships (Schore, 2000, 2002). In order to cope with this unregulated emotion, the child

develops a focus of attention that diverts thoughts, emotions, and behaviors away from the

unregulated emotion and onto something else. This focus of attention allows the child to

maintain close family relationships without being overwhelmed by the unregulated emotion

(Schore, 2000, 2002; Siegel, 1999). This focus of attention also leads to the development of a

stable pattern of thoughts (habitual thought pattern) that is conceptualized as a strategy for

attempting to solve the problem created by the unresolved emotion (Greenberg, 2008). Finally,

the focus of attention also leads to the development of a blind spot, defined as a sector of

attachment related experience which is excluded from consciousness. The blind spot is

conceptualized as a strategy for keeping the habitual thought pattern in place, looking for a

solution to the unresolved emotion, without actually ever accessing the problematic emotion

itself (see Greenberg, 2008, for a similar conceptualization of emotion and cognition used in

Emotion Focused Therapy). Table 2 summarizes the core emotion (or passion), focus of

attention, habitual thought pattern and blind spot for each of the nine types.

35
Table 2

Components of Enneagram Types

Enneagram Type Core Emotion Focus of Habitual Blind Spot

Attention Thought Pattern
One/Perfectionist Anger Error Resentment Shades of Gray
Two/Giver Pride Other People’s Flattery Own Needs
Needs
Three/Performer Deceit Success Vanity Failure
Four/Romantic Envy What’s Missing Melancholy What’s Good in
Present
Five/Observer Avarice Intrusion Detachment Present
abundance
Six/Trooper Fear Hazard Doubt Actual Power of
Authority
Seven/Epicure Gluttony Pleasant Future Planning Actual
Possibilities Limitations
Eight/Protector Lust Power Vengeance Impact on
Others
Nine/Mediator Sloth Other People’s Self-Forgetting Own Agenda
Agendas
(Adapted from Palmer 1988; Palmer & Brown, 1997)

The Enneagram Prototypes

As noted above, the Enneagram typology is centuries old, and has apparently been used

by nonliterate as well as literate cultures. Over time, a variety of different knowledge traditions

have developed around the Enneagram symbol (e.g. Blake, 1996; Naranjo, 1990; Palmer, 1988;

Riso & Hudson, 2006; Rohr & Ebert, 2004). As popular interest in the Enneagram has grown,

descriptions of the Enneagram typology have proliferated at a rapid pace in published literature

and on the internet. At the same time, relatively little traditional, scientific research has so far

been conducted on the Enneagram typology, leading to a somewhat chaotic state of the field of

Enneagram studies at the present time. However, despite the relative chaos of the field,

descriptions of the nine Enneagram prototypes are remarkably stable. In other words, a person

who learned the Enneagram typology in one tradition or source would not have much difficulty

36
in recognizing the nine types in the writings of other traditions and sources. Table 3 provides an

example of descriptions of the different types from four different sources.

Table 3
Comparison of Descriptions of Enneagram Types
Palmer & Brown, Riso & Hudson Totton & Jacobs (2001) Wyman (1998)
(1997) (2006)
Type Diligent, ethical, Principled, Critical of self and Internal critical
One practical, angry purposeful, others; finds it hard to voice, black and
self-controlled, relax and enjoy; good white thinking
perfectionist organizer
Type Helpful, Demonstrative, Active, generous, Anticipates
Two empathetic, generous, optimistic; compulsive other’s needs,
manipulative, people-pleasing, carer who ignores own serving, giving,
prideful possessive needs helping
Type Efficient, Adaptive, High energy Image, facade,
Three persuasive, excelling, driven, workaholic; persuasive, goal
chameleon like, image-conscious competitive, success- oriented
deceptive oriented, good leader;
out of touch with
feelings
Type Dramatic, unique, Expressive, Artistic, passionate, Unique, longing,
Four melancholy, dramatic, self- empathic, feeling- self absorbed,
envious absorbed, centered; searching for concerned with
temperamental meaning and loss/abandonmen
partnership t
Type Private, Perceptive, Detached and Observer, simple
Five observant, innovative, objective; very private, needs, quiet
detached, secretive, isolated needing solitude; voice, withdraws
withholding compartmentalized,
intellectual
Type Six Loyal, Engaging, Anxious and suspicious Loyal, doubtful,
questioning, responsible, of life; dislikes and fearful, hyper
vigilant, fearful anxious, suspicious questions authority vigilant,
Type Optimistic, Spontaneous, Charming and elusive; Eternal optimist,
Seven futuristic, versatile, ‘Peter Pan’ type who playful,
scattered, distractible, excludes enthusiastic
gluttonous scattered unpleasantness
Type Territorial, Self-Confident, Assertive, all-or- Confrontational,
Eight confronting, decisive, willful, nothing approach; all or nothing,
protective, confrontational either a leader or controlling
trustful rugged individualist;
fighter for justice
Type Ambivalent, Receptive, Peacemaker who Merge with
Nine agreeable, reassuring, understands everyone’s others, peace at
stubborn, self- agreeable, point of view (except all costs,
forgetting complacent their own); busy but mediator,
procrastinating peacemaker

37
Strengths and Talents Associated with Differences in Attention

Although the foci of attention of the nine types are conceptualized as strategies for coping

with unregulated emotion in childhood relationships with caregivers, these foci of attention are

also conceptualized as giving rise to specific intuitive strengths and talents (Palmer, 1988).

Taking Type six as an example, a child who often felt frightened, but did not often feel reassured

by the parent, might develop a relationship pattern characterized by excessive doubt about the

ability or willingness of the parent to provide safety. As the relationship pattern between the

child and the parent solidified over thousands of interactions, the emotion of fear would recede in

awareness as the doubtful thoughts became more and more prominent. The emotion of fear

becomes the core passion when it becomes the central, but completely unconscious, focus of the

child’s experience of relationship with the parent. While the emotion of fear becomes less

accessible to consciousness, the accompanying doubtful thoughts become more accessible, to the

extent that they shape the child’s reality.

In the case of Type Six, this doubt would be accompanied by either a complete

unawareness of feelings of fear, or alternatively, excessive feelings of fear (Palmer, 1988). By

the time this child becomes an adult, the doubtfulness will have become an integral part of the

personality. Typical problems that at Type Six might bring to therapy are difficulty trusting in

close relationships, difficulty with authority figures, difficulty acting for self, and difficulty

sustaining success (Palmer, 1988). Relationship strengths that a Type Six would typically bring

to therapy are a capacity for loyalty in close relationships even under very difficult

circumstances, intellectual curiosity, and humor (Palmer, 1988, 1995).

In addition to the personal difficulties, challenges, strengths, and talents that are

characteristic of each type, each type is also associated with specific emotional and mental

38
virtues. These mental and emotional virtues are seen to be separate from, but related to, the

personal strengths and talents the child develops in the context of early attachment relationships.

Staying with the example of Type Six, the fearful child’s constant preoccupation with issues of

danger and insecurity act to concentrate the child’s attention in a way that is similar to formal

practices of meditation or prayer. In formal meditation, attention is returned again and again to a

chosen object, such as the breath, or a mantra (Goleman, 1996).

For a fearful child, attention is returned again and again to the attachment figure, in an

attempt to feel safe. While the personality develops in the context of this human relationship, the

child’s attention is also being trained to sustain attention on a transcendent object (safety), which

is a spiritual process. For the Type Six, this means that developing in parallel to the child’s

ability to sustain a personal relationship with an unreliable (from the child’s perspective) parent

(an attachment task), is the ability to sustain a personal relationship with a transcendent object (a

spiritual task). In the Enneagram model, the spiritual skills that the Type Six child develops are

courage and faith. In this model, personal strengths and problems are seen as developing as

coping mechanisms for dealing with the world of human attachments in which the child lives.

The spiritual skills develop in the same context, but are concerned with transcending the

constructed world, and being in relationship with a spiritual reality (Palmer, 2007).

Summary of Strengths and Challenges of Enneagram Types

The child’s placement of attention on one specific aspect of the attachment relationship

can be conceptualized as a form of meditation, in which attention is returned again and again to

the same object. As a side effect of this attachment related focus of attention, the child also

develops other attentional skills that are useful in everyday life, and are seen in the Enneagram

model as specific spiritual talents. Another side effect of the development of specific habits of

39
attention is the development of specific challenges and difficulties in relating to the self and

others. The clinical benefit of mapping these type-related strengths and challenges is that they

can be used in attachment based therapies to make sense of strong emotions that arise in the

process of working with attachment relationships (Greenberg, 2008; Johnson & Whiffen, 2003).

Table 4 summarizes examples of strengths and related challenges for each Enneagram type.

Table 4

Type Related Strengths and Challenges

Enneagram Type Example of Strengths Example of Challenges

One/Perfectionist Intuition for how things could be made Harsh internal critic causes
more perfect; talent for working hard to suffering for self and others
improve self, others, situation
Two/Giver Intuition for seeing what others need; Vulnerable to rejection and loss,
talent for altering self in order to meet due to overemphasis on
others needs relationships (especially
challenging ones)
Three/Performer Intuition for what will be successful and Impatient with obstructions that
valued by others; talent for working hard thwart the achievement of goals;
to achieve success unaware of feelings
Four/Romantic Intuition for the nuance and music of Dissatisfaction and anger with
emotions; talent for bringing aesthetic life as it is; hurt and anger over
imagings into reality perceived rejection and
abandonment
Five/Observer Intuition for collecting, organizing and Detachment from life, loneliness,
interpreting knowledge; talent for being seeing requests as demands
dispassionate and thoughtful
Six/Trooper Generalized intuition; Talent for being Generalized doubt and
loyal, witty ambivalence; difficulties with
authorities
Seven/Epicure Intuition for seeing pleasurable options Distraction and diversion from
for self and others; talent for devising deeper commitments; not
creative ways to exercise pleasant options making/keeping commitments
Eight/Protector Intuition for patterns and uses of energy; Too much, too soon, too loud,
Talent for using energy to protect others, too long – exhausts self and
enforce justice others; over strong reactions to
perceived violations of self,
property, loved ones
Nine/Mediator Intuition for knowing what another is Difficulty saying no; self-
experiencing, what another’s agenda is; forgetting; difficulty knowing
talent for joining with another’s agenda as what one wants, makes it
if it were their own difficult for other’s to know as
well
(Adapted from Daniels & Palmer, 2003)

40
 Clinical Use of Typologies

Personality typologies have been used to understand and solve problems in human

relationships for thousands of years (Koss-Chioino & Hefner, 2006). While the beginning of

clinical use of typologies in modern western psychology is generally associated with Freud’s

personality categorization model (Koss-Chioino & Hefner, 2006), earlier cultures also developed

personality typologies in order to solve problems associated with spiritual relations, that is –

relationships with God or a greater reality. For example, ancient Buddhist psychology developed

a typology based on three basic actions that people can take: towards, away, or asleep. In

Buddhist psychology, these three basic types were identified by the different obstacles each type

faced in meditation (Goleman, 1996). Similarly, the history of Christianity includes detailed

investigations into how to categorize and treat human problems with relationships with God

(Harmless, 2004, 2008; Harmless & Fitzgerald, 2001). As with the Buddhist investigations of

typology, early Christian typologies were organized around categorizing human problems with

prayer or meditation.

Freud’s work marked a drastic departure from previous studies of psychology because he

took as his subject the improvement of relationships between people, rather than improving

human relationships with God. Freud identified the problems to be solved as problems that

people had in their love relationships and their work settings, rather than problems with prayer or

experiencing unity with a greater reality (Palmer, 1995). Yet Freud’s approach was the same as

many earlier spiritual psychologists. His study of psychology was organized around identifying

and categorizing types of people, in order to facilitate understanding and treatment. He

developed a personality typology that categorized people into types based on problems in the

original mother-child relationship, and described how each type faced unique obstacles

41
preventing the experience of mature, successful love and work relationships (Westen, Gabbard,

& Blagov, 2006).

Clinical Use of the Attachment Typology

Depending on the problem being addressed, attachment typologies are used clinically to

address either intrapersonal patterns of thought, emotions, and behaviors, or changing patterns

shared by a couple, or patterns shared by a family (Byng-Hall, 1999). Attachment security has

been defined as, “the capacity to engage directly, flexibly, creatively, and actively in the solution

of interpersonal and intrapsychic attachment problems as they arise” (Bretherton & Munholland,

1999, p. 99), and secure patterns are patterns in which attachment related information is

accessible to members of the system without being minimized or magnified (Siegel, 1999). The

information that is most salient in most attachment based therapies is emotional information, and

secure patterns are characterized by an ability to identify and regulate intense attachment related

emotions as they arise (Johnson, 2004; Johnson & Whiffen, 2003). A key aspect to this secure

style of processing attachment related information is flexibility of attention, which allows for the

creation of coherent narratives about past and present attachment experiences (Kobak, 1999;

Main, 2000).

High anxiety, low avoidance pattern. For people who are highly anxious, attachment

related information is heightened and magnified (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003). An example of a

highly anxious style is a person who continuously monitors his partner for signs that the partner

might leave, or might be dissatisfied with the relationship. This person might become very upset

over short periods of separation, and have difficulty receiving comfort and reassurance from the

partner.

42
 High anxiety, high avoidance pattern. In the high anxiety, high avoidance pattern,

attachment related information is both excluded and magnified (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003). An

example of a fearful-avoidant pattern is a person who is angry at his partner, wants to fight, but

also is afraid to fight. This person might deny being angry (an avoidant pattern) but at the same

time anxiously monitor the partner for signs that the partner is angry (an anxious pattern).

Low anxiety, high avoidance pattern. The avoidant style is one in which attachment

related information is excluded from the system (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003). Awareness of

attachment related emotions is minimal, and narratives about attachment experiences are

perfunctory, without concrete examples to support statements. An example of an avoidant pattern

is a person whose partner just left for a long overseas trip, but feels no sadness or anxiety about

being separated, and is perhaps contemptuous of another person who does experience those

feelings (Siegel, 1999).

Low anxiety, low avoidance pattern. While this pattern has traditionally been associated

with security (Johnson & Whiffen, 1999), this association is not fully supported by the literature

(Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). It is possible that a low anxiety, low avoidance pattern may be an

attachment strategy, just like the other styles. If this were the case, then this style would be

characterized as neither actively monitoring nor appraising attachment related information, nor

actively moving away from attachment related experiences. Instead this style would involve

actively “zoning out” (Palmer, 1988) with regard to attachment related information. Because this

style still involves active management of attention with regard to attachment information, it is

not secure, in the sense described above. It is hoped that the integrated typology being developed

in this dissertation will add to further understanding of this unresolved issue.

43
Attachment Style and Relationship Satisfaction

Traditionally, the low anxiety, low avoidance style has been conceptualized as the

normal, non-pathological state, while the other styles (high anxiety, low avoidance; low anxiety,

high avoidance; and high anxiety, high avoidance) have been conceptualized as problematic,

developing out of less than ideal attachment contexts, either in childhood, adulthood or both

(Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1973, 1987; Johnson, 2004; Makinen & Johnson, 2006). Thus,

the focus of clinical work has often been directed towards changing high avoidance, and/or high

anxiety attachment styles to a low anxiety, low avoidance style (Johnson & Whiffen, 1999).

In terms of empirical research, however, the picture is less clear. Following an exhaustive

review of the literature on attachment styles and relationship satisfaction, Mikulincer and Shaver

(2007) concluded that very little is yet known about how attachment style processes contribute to

relationship satisfaction. While it is clear that in general, insecure styles are associated with

lower relationship satisfaction, it is not yet clear what processes cause this association.

Researchers do not yet know whether attachment style influences relationship satisfaction, or

alternatively, whether relationship satisfaction influences attachment style (Mikulincer & Shaver,

2007).

Mikulincer and Shaver’s (2007) conclusion that relatively little is still known about the

relationship between attachment style and relationship satisfaction is important to the present

study because the integrated model being developed conceptualizes all individual attachment

styles, including the low anxiety, low avoidance style, as having potential for being associated

with relationship problems, because they are stable patterns of interacting that developed in

childhood, and may not be appropriate in the different attachment contexts encountered by the

adult. For example, a person with a low anxiety, low avoidance style who is in relationship with

44
a person who has a high anxiety style, might have low relationship satisfaction, even though their

own attachment style is considered to be non-problematic. This example reinforces the point

made by Johnson and Whiffen (1999) that both the individual styles of the partners, and the

relationship itself, must be addressed in attachment based therapies. This point provides some

context for the conceptualization, described above, of the low anxiety, low avoidance style as

also deriving from a particular form of restricted attention with regard to attachment related

information.

Attachment Style and Change Processes in Therapy

While attachment based approaches to therapy have been shown to be quite effective

(Johnson, 2007), in general this effectiveness is not strongly associated with change in

attachment styles. For example, Makinen and Johnson (2006) found that while couples who

completed treatment for attachment injuries improved in terms of trust and other outcome

measures, their anxiety and avoidance levels, or attachment styles (measured using the ECR-R),

did not change. Using a different measure of attachment security Levy, Meehan, Kelly, et al.

(2006) found that while borderline patients’ attachment narratives became more coherent after a

year of therapy, and thus were rated as secure, these patients were still rated as unresolved

regarding childhood trauma and loss. In addition, a study of how people with different

attachment styles make use of psychotherapy services found that people with secure styles use

psychotherapy services more than people with insecure styles (Riggs & Jacobovitz, 2002).

Taken together, these findings indicate that the relationship between attachment style and

clinical outcomes is still not well understood. Mikulincer and Shaver (2007) speculate that one

reason for this lack of clarity is that there may be important subgroup differences within the four

attachment styles that affect clinical outcomes. Mikulincer and Shaver give the example of the

45
high anxiety, high avoidance categorization: within the group of people who are categorized as

high anxiety, high avoidance, there may be two subgroups, one in which the high anxiety, high

avoidance configuration represents an organized personality pattern, and one in which the same

configuration represents a disorganized, chaotic response to managing relationships. Using the

same logic, there could also be two subgroups within the low anxiety, low avoidance

categorization. One subgroup would consist of people who are secure in the sense that their low

anxiety and avoidance scores reflect comfort with attachment related emotions and the ability to

engage in relationship patterns that neither exclude nor magnify attachment related information

(Siegel, 1999). The other subgroup might consist of people for whom the low anxiety, low

avoidance pattern reflects an insecure strategy for manipulating attachment related information

to maintain a “zoned out” experience with regard to attachment information. The first three

hypotheses tested in this dissertation make use of this analysis of possible subgroup differences

among the four attachment styles.

Clinical Use of Enneagram Typology

Relatively little research has been conducted addressing use of the Enneagram as a

clinical tool. Among the studies that address clinical uses of the Enneagram, most are theoretical

works, without an empirical component. For example, Wyman (1998) developed a conceptual

model integrating the Enneagram typology with the Meyers-Briggs typology for use with

individuals. In Wyman’s model, the Enneagram types are thought to represent the darker aspects

of the personality, while the MBTI characteristics represent the strengths and talents of the

personality. Grodner (2002) used the Enneagram typology as a component in an integrative

model of Energy psychotherapy. In this model knowledge of the different thought patterns

associated with different Enneagram types is seen as being a useful adjunct to the Energy model

46
of psychotherapy. Similarly, Tolk (2006) integrated the Enneagram typology with schema

therapy, in an effort to enhance the effectiveness of schema therapy. Bettinger (2005) uses the

Enneagram typology in conjunction with a family systems framework in treatment of

relationship issues in polyamorous families of gay men. Finally, Matisse (2007) conceptualizes

the Enneagram typology as a tool that lends itself to integration with a wide range of counseling

theories.

Just two studies were identified that included an empirical component. Schneider and

Schaeffer (1997) conducted a qualitative study of sex addicts to explore relationships between

Enneagram type and addictive behavior, recovery, and therapeutic processes. Huber (1999)

examined relationships among Enneagram type, drug and alcohol abuse, and addictive and

depressive personality characteristics. Taken together, this literature indicates that the

Enneagram is being used clinically, and is being investigated empirically. However, the work

that has been done so far has barely scratched the surface of developing a coherent research

agenda on clinical uses of the Enneagram typology.

Summary

Although the attachment typology and the Enneagram typology were developed in very

different contexts, for different purposes, they share a focus on the importance of attentional

processes related to maintaining early childhood relationships with caregivers. In both

typologies, these attentional processes are identified as a primary force in the development and

maintenance of the patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior that define the types in each

system. While there are strong similarities between the two typologies, the Enneagram typology

is broader in the sense that it also describes strengths and talents associated with each different

47
type. In contrast, the attachment typology conceptualizes the low anxiety, low avoidance type as

being normal, while the insecure types are conceptualized as being problematic.

48
 Chapter Three: Methods

The purpose of this chapter is to present the research design that was chosen to

empirically develop, test, and explore the integrated typology that was introduced in Chapters

One and Two. After providing an overview of the research design, this chapter develops and

presents the hypotheses that were used to test and explore the new typology. Next, the rationale

for the sample selection and instrument is discussed, and a description of the data collection

procedure and data analysis is provided. The chapter concludes with a description of the sample

and the data that were collected.

The research design for this study was divided into two parts. The first part focuses on

the development and testing of the integrated typology. The second part focuses on exploring the

utility of the new typology by using it to generate a hypothesis about the relationship between the

newly derived “EnneaAttach” categories and relationship satisfaction (Mandara, 2003; Smith &

Foti, 1998; von Eye, 2002, 2005).

In the typological approach being used in this study, the integrated typology to be tested

depicts the hypothesized relationship between two original typologies. The hypotheses about

how the two typologies fit together are derived using logic and existing knowledge about the

characteristics of the two typologies that are to be integrated (Mandara, 2003; Smith & Foti,

1998; von Eye, 2002). In the present study, the two typologies that are being integrated are the

attachment typology and the Enneagram typology. For the purposes of testing the integrated

typology, three hypotheses were developed. The first hypothesis predicts how the Enneagram

types vary in terms of avoidance. The second hypothesis predicts how the Enneagram types vary

in terms of anxiety. The third hypothesis builds on the first two hypotheses about anxiety and

avoidance to form a prediction about the overall categorization of the nine Enneagram types and

49
four attachment styles into four new categories, termed by the researcher EnneaAttach

categories.

Development of Hypotheses

Mikulincer and Shaver (2003) stress the importance of understanding that anxiety and

avoidance are two independent subsystems of the overall attachment system. As independent

subsystems, attachment and avoidance operate in parallel to each other, but can also have

feedback effects in which the action of one system affects the other system. For example, a

person might avoidantly withdraw from an emotionally charged attachment situation, but this

withdrawal could in turn increase attachment related anxiety. Mikulincer and Shaver (2003)

conceptualize the difference between anxiety and avoidance in terms of intensity and direction.

The anxiety dimension is associated with variations in the intensity with which a person monitors

and appraises attachment related information for relevance and meaning. The avoidance

dimension is associated with variations in the direction of movement, towards are away from,

attachment related information. This conceptualization of anxiety as a function of intensity and

avoidance as a function of movement serves as the foundation for the development of the first

two hypotheses.

Hypothesis One: Avoidance

In the attachment typology, the avoidance dimension is associated with de-activation of

the attachment system (Magai, 1999). People who are high on the avoidance dimension organize

their attachment related thoughts, emotions and behaviors in patterns that are organized to de-

emphasize the importance of attachment information. In addition, in the attachment typology, the

direction of attachment related behavior is specifically associated with the avoidance dimension.

People who are high on the avoidance dimension unconsciously manipulate their attention in

50
ways that serve to move attention away from attachment related information (Shaver &

Mikulincer, 2003). As discussed in Chapter One, the Enneagram types are associated with

specific attentional directions (“toward,” “away from,” and “falling asleep”), regarding objects of

consciousness (including, presumably attachment figures), according to their positioning on the

Enneagram symbol (Palmer, 1988). Translating these three attentional movements into the two

categories of high and low avoidance led to the prediction that Enneagram types positioned on

the left side of the symbol (associated with “moving away”) would be high in avoidance, while

Enneagram types positioned on the right side of the symbol (associated with “moving towards”)

would be low in avoidance

Special case of categorizing Type Nine. In the Enneagram typology, Type Nine, “The

Peace Maker,” is a special case. Type Nine is located at the exact top of the Enneagram symbol.

In order to integrate the Enneagram typology, comprised of nine types, with the attachment

typology, comprised of four types, a decision had to be made about how to conceptualize Type

Nine in terms of the attachment style dimensions. The decision was made to conceptually split

Type Nine using the “wing” variable in the Enneagram symbol. The Enneagram wing refers to

the fact that each type has two adjoining types, one on the right and one on the left. While the

types are considered to be essentially categorical, the wings represent the dimensional aspect of

the Enneagram model, in that the characteristics of each type shade into the features of the

neighboring types (Palmer, 1988). For the present study, Type Nines with a One wing are

conceptualized as being on the right side of the Enneagram and are referred to as Type Nine

(wing One) while Type Nines with an Eight wing are conceptualized as being on the left side of

the Enneagram symbol and are referred to as Type Nine (wing Eight). Figure 3 illustrates Type

Nine and its two wings.

51
 Figure 3: Type Nine Wings

Type Nine

Eight Wing One wing

Because the types on the right side of the Enneagram are assumed to have a “moving

toward” bias and the types on the left side of the Enneagram are assumed to have a “moving

away” bias, the following hypothesis was made:

H1. It is hypothesized that Enneagram types 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9(w1) will be significantly

lower in avoidance than Enneagram types 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9(w8).

Figure 4 depicts the hypothesized relationship between Enneagram type and avoidance.

Figure 4: Enneagram and Avoidance

High Avoidance Low Anxiety

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Hypothesis Two: Anxiety

In the attachment style model, anxiety is associated with hyper-activation of the

attachment system. Individuals who are high on the anxiety dimension intensely engage in

mental, emotional, and physical monitoring and appraisal of information that is relevant to

concerns about whether attachment figures are available, close, and responsive. Availability,

closeness, and responsiveness can be monitored either in physical or psychological terms, or

both (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003).

High anxiety types. Qualitative descriptions of the Enneagram types indicate that some

types would be expected to be higher in attachment related anxiety than others. Types Two,

Four, Six, Eight, and Nine (wing Eight) have been identified as more likely to be high in anxiety

than Types One, Three, Five, Seven, and Nine (wing One).

On the right side of the Enneagram symbol (associated with “moving towards”) both

Type Two and Type Four are described as being highly interested in relationships, and

appreciative of and talented at understanding emotional communication (Palmer, 1988, 1995).

The world view of Type Two is: “people depend on my help; I am needed” (Palmer, 1995, p.

22). This world view is supported by a focus of attention on others’ needs, and a corresponding

lack of attention to the Two’s own needs. This focus on others’ needs involves intense

monitoring of others, in order to discern what is needed (Palmer, 1988). The world view of Type

Four is: “something is missing; others have it; I have been abandoned” (Palmer, 1995, p. 47).

This world view is supported by a focus of attention on what’s missing in the present, and a

corresponding lack of attention to what’s good in the present. This pattern of attention in Type

Four is also associated with hyper-vigilance about possible abandonment (Palmer, 1995). Both of

53
these attentional concerns suggest that Type Four would engage in high levels of monitoring and

appraising of attachment related information.

On the left side of the Enneagram symbol (associated with “moving away”), Types Six

and Eight are both described as being concerned with issues of power and authority (Palmer,

1988, 1995). The key role of attachment figures as sources of authority was identified by Bowlby

(1979), but has received almost no research attention since then. Similarly, Palmer (1988) briefly

summarizes each Enneagram type’s relationship with authority, but does not provide a

discussion of why authority might play a central role in development of the types. While Bowlby

and Palmer seem to agree that authority plays an important role in development generally, in the

present analysis, Type Six and Type Eight stand out as having particularly distinct relationships

with attachment figures as authority figures.

The world view of Type Six is: “the world is a threatening place; question authority”

(Palmer, 1995, p. 55). This world view is supported by a focus of attention on hazard. In

response, Type Six intensely monitors others in order to protect against being harmed or left

helpless by untrustworthy authority figures. This concern with authority in Type Six predicts

especially intense monitoring of attachment figures that are also seen as authority figures. The

world view of Type Eight is: “the world is an unjust place; I defend the innocent” (Palmer, 1995,

p. 71). This world view is supported by a focus of attention on power. Type Eight’s is intense

concern with issues of protection and justice predicts intense monitoring of attachment figures

that appear to be either in need of protection, or alternatively, threatening to dominate the Eight.

Low anxiety types. In contrast to Types Two, Four, Six, and Eight, prototype descriptions

of Types One, Three, Five, and Seven indicate that intense appraisal and monitoring of others is

not a key part of their attachment strategies. On the right side of the Enneagram symbol, Type

54
One and Type Three are both described as energetic, hard workers (Palmer, 1988, 1995). The

world view of Type One is: “the world is an imperfect place; I work towards improvement”

(Palmer, 1995, p. 14). This world view is supported by a focus of attention on error, and a

complimentary lack of attention to shades of grey. Type One works very hard to be perfect, and

by extension, to be worthy of love by attachment figures. This strategy involves intense focus on

work and tasks, as opposed to intense focus on the attachment figure. The world view of Type

Three is: “the world values a champion; avoid failure at all costs” (Palmer, 1995, p. 31). This

world view is supported by a focus of attention on success, and a corresponding exclusion of

attention to issues involving failure. Type Three works very hard to be successful at whatever

role he or she inhabits, and by extension, to be valued by attachment figures. This strategy

involves intense monitoring of the self, in terms of presenting a successful image, but less

monitoring of the attachment figure.

On the left side of the Enneagram symbol Type Five and Type Seven are both described

as being exceptionally unperturbed by the external world. The world view of Type Five is: “the

world is invasive; I need privacy to think and refuel my energies” (Palmer, 1995, p. 47). This

world view is supported by a focus of attention on intrusion, and an exclusion of information

regarding having enough. In withdrawing from the external world, Type Fives report a strong

reliance on, and attachment to, a vivid, interesting, rewarding inner life (Palmer, 1988, 1995).

This indicates that Type Five would not be expected to intensely engage in monitoring and

appraising of attachment figures, and so would be expected to be low in anxiety. The world view

for Type Seven is: “the world is full of opportunity and options; I look forward to the future”

(Palmer, 1995, p. 63). This world view is supported by a focus of attention on pleasant future

possibilities, and an exclusion of information regarding actual limitations. This approach

55
involves intense appraisal and monitoring of pleasant future options, but does not involve intense

monitoring and appraisal of attachment figures.

As with the avoidance dimension, Type Nine is split between a high anxiety

categorization and a low anxiety categorization. The world view of Type Nine is: “my efforts

won’t matter; don’t make waves; keep the peace” (Palmer, 1995, p. 79). This world view is

supported by the Nine’s focus of attention on other people’s agendas, and a complementary

exclusion of information about the Nine’s own agenda. The analysis of Type Nine with regard to

intensity of monitoring and appraising is that Nines who are more One-like (having a One wing)

will be more concerned with being worthy of love, like a One, and thus engage in lower levels of

monitoring of the attachment figure. Alternatively, Nines who are more Eight-like (having an

Eight wing) will be more concerned with attachment figures as sources of authority, like an

Eight, and thus engage in higher levels of monitoring of the attachment figure.

Based on the preceding analysis of the Enneagram types in terms of attachment

strategies, the following hypothesis was made about the categorization of Enneagram types with

regard to attachment anxiety:

H2: It is hypothesized that Enneagram types 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9s (w1) will be significantly

lower in anxiety than Enneagram types 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9s (w8).

Figure 5 depicts the hypothesized relationship between Enneagram types and anxiety.

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Figure 5: Enneagram and Anxiety

High Anxiety Low Anxiety

High Anxiety Low Anxiety

Low Anxiety High Anxiety

High Anxiety Low Anxiety

Low Anxiety High Anxiety

Hypothesis Three: Integration of Attachment Style and Enneagram Type

The first two hypotheses categorize the Enneagram types with regard to avoidance and

anxiety. The first categorization is based on avoidance, and results in two groups of Enneagram

types. The low avoidance group consists of Enneagram Types One, Two, Three, Four, and Nine

(wing One) and the high avoidance group consists of Enneagram Types Five, Six, Seven, Eight,

and Nine (Wing Eight). The second categorization is based on anxiety, and also results in two

groups. The low anxiety group consists of Enneagram Types One, Three, Five, Seven, and Nine

(wing One), while the high anxiety group consists of Enneagram Types Two, Four, Six, Eight,

and Nine (wing Eight).

Combining these two categorizations results in an integrated typology in which

Enneagram Types Two and Four are predicted to have high anxiety and low avoidance scores,

and are defined as “EnneaAttach Group 1”; Enneagram Types Six, Eight, and Nine (wing Eight)

are predicted to have both high anxiety and high avoidance scores, and are defined as

“EnneaAttach Group 2”; Enneagram Types Five and Seven are predicted to have low anxiety

and high avoidance scores, and are defined as “EnneaAttach Group 3”; and Enneagram Types

57
 One, Three, and Nine (wing One) are predicted to have both low anxiety and low avoidance

scores, and are defined as “EnneaAttach Group 4”. Figure 6 depicts the conceptualized

integration of Enneagram types and attachment styles.

Figure 6: Integration of Enneagram Types and Attachment Styles

High Anxiety Low Anxiety

High Avoidance Low Avoidance

High Anxiety Low Anxiety

High Avoidance Low Avoidance

Low Anxiety High Anxiety

High Avoidance Low Avoidance

High Anxiety Low Anxiety

High Avoidance Low Avoidance

Low Anxiety High Anxiety

High Avoidance Low Avoidance

Characteristics of EnneaAttach Group 1. If the typology is valid, subjects who have an

attachment style characterized by a high anxiety, low avoidance pattern (Attach Style 1), should

also be categorized as EnneaAttach Group 1, having a focus of attention characterized by either

other people’s needs (Enneagram Type Two) or what’s missing (Enneagram Type Four).

Characteristics of EnneaAttach Group 2. Subjects who have an attachment style

characterized by a high anxiety, high avoidance pattern (Attach Style 2) should also be

categorized as EnneaAttach Group 2, having a focus of attention that is characterized by either

hazard (Enneagram Type Six), power (Enneagram Type Eight), or other people’s agendas (sub

focus on power) (Enneagram Type Nine, wing Eight).

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 Characteristics of EnneaAttach Group 3. Subjects who have an attachment style

characterized by a low anxiety, high avoidance pattern (Attach Style 3) should also be

categorized as EnneaAttach Group 3, having a focus of attention characterized by either intrusion

(Enneagram Type Five) or pleasant future possibilities (Enneagram Type Seven).

Characteristics of EnneaAttach Group 4. Subjects who have an attachment style

characterized by a low anxiety, low avoidance pattern (Attach Style 4) should also be

categorized as EnneaAttach Group 4, having a focus of attention characterized by either error

(Type One), success (Type Three), or other people’s agendas (sub focus on error) (Enneagram

Type Nine, wing One).

Combined, these predictions are summarized by the hypothesis:

H3: The overall association between attachment styles and Enneagram types is

significantly different than would be expected to occur due to chance.

An appropriate test for overall association of two typologies is a chi-square test for goodness of

fit (Everitt, 2001; Howell, 2002; Kinnear & Gray, 2008).

Hypothesis Four: Integrated Typology and Relationship Satisfaction

The final step in the typological analysis approach being used in this study is to use the

integrated typology to generate and test a hypothesis about a related variable of interest. The

ability of a typology to reveal new patterns regarding an external variable provides evidence

supporting the external validity of the typology (Mandara, 2003).

In the present study, relationship satisfaction was chosen as the external variable of

interest. Relationship satisfaction is of central interest to marriage and family therapy researchers

and practitioners and yet relatively little is known about how attachment style affects relationship

satisfaction (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). In contrast to the attachment typology, the integrated

59
typology includes detailed information about differences in focus of attention among the

categories. This additional information is expected to improve the ability of the integrated

typology to predict differences in relationship satisfaction beyond that found in attachment-based

models of therapy (e.g. Johnson & Whiffen, 1999; Makinen & Johnson, 2006). Previous research

that has examined the relationship between attachment style and relationship satisfaction has

found that even though attachment styles are comprised of both anxiety and avoidance

dimensions, only the anxiety dimension was consistently found to be significantly related to

differences in relationship satisfaction (Kurdek, 2002; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).

In contrast, the proposed integrated typology suggests that by combining information

from the attachment typology with information about differences in focus of attention provided

by the Enneagram typology yields more complex and specific predictions about the relationship

between both the anxiety and avoidance dimensions and relationship satisfaction. For example,

both EnneaAttach Group 1 and EnneaAttach Group 2 are characterized as highly anxious.

Therefore, based on attachment research, the prediction would be that both groups should have a

similar negative relationship with relationship satisfaction. However, based on the integrated

typology, important differences among high anxiety individuals are predicted. Specifically,

EnneaAttach Group 1 intensely monitors attachment figures regarding issues of availability (e.g.

“I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me”), but does not use attentional strategies

associated with the avoidance dimension (e.g., “It does not help to turn to my romantic partner in

times of need”). The focus of attention for individuals in EnneaAttach Group 1 is either on

“other people’s needs,” or “what’s missing/fear of abandonment.” Both of these attentional focus

points serve to orient individuals in this group toward the attachment relationship, rather than

60
away, and to keep attention on attaining attachment related goals (e.g., pleasing the attachment

partner; not being abandoned by the attachment partner).

In contrast, EnneaAttach Group 2 (high anxiety, high avoidance) individuals intensely

monitor attachment figures but also engage in avoidance strategies that serve to dampen the

impact of not attaining attachment goals. The focus of attention of individuals in this group is on

either hazard or power (or for type Nine, other people’s agendas with a sub focus on power). In

contrast to the focus of attention of EnneaAttach Group 1, the focus of attention for EnneaAttach

Group 2 serves to heighten negative aspects of the attachment relationship (e.g., attachment

partner is not trustworthy; attachment partner is weak).

These differences in attention management with respect to the importance of attachment

related goals (avoidance) and with respect to differences in focus of attention are expected to be

associated with differences in the strength of the negative relationship between anxiety and

relationship satisfaction. The reason that the anxiety-satisfaction correlation is expected to be

lower for individuals with high avoidance is that the effects of anxiety on relationship

satisfaction are expected to be offset by the dampening effect of high avoidance.

Subgroup differences are also expected between the two low anxiety EnneaAttach

groups. Both EnneaAttach Group 3 and EnneaAttach Group 4 are characterized by low anxiety,

associated with less intense monitoring and appraising of attachment figures. Just as with

EnneaAttach Group 1 and 2, EnneaAttach Group 3 and 4 are distinguished not by differences in

anxiety, but by differences in avoidance. Individuals in EnneaAttach Group 3 engage in low

levels of monitoring and appraising (anxiety), in combination with high levels of dampening of

attachment related goals (avoidance). In contrast, EnneaAttach Group 4 engages in low levels of

monitoring and appraising, but in combination with low levels of dampening of attachment

61
related goals. This means that for EnneaAttach Group 4, any attachment anxiety that is

experienced will not be offset by the dampening effects of the high avoidance strategy. This

leads to the expectation that there will be a stronger negative relationship between anxiety and

relationship satisfaction for EnneaAttach Group 4 than for EnneaAttach Group 3.

Based on this analysis of differences in focus of attention for the two low avoidance

EnneaAttach groups (1 and 4), compared to the high avoidance EnneaAttach groups (2 and 3),

there are expected to be significant differences in the size of correlation coefficients between

anxiety and relationship satisfaction. Specifically,

H4: Individuals classified into EnneaAttach Groups 1 & 4 are expected to have a stronger

negative relationship between anxiety and relationship satisfaction than individuals classified

into EnneaAttach Groups 2 & 3.

This hypothesis was investigated using a Z test for difference in correlation coefficients

(Howell, 2002), in which the correlation coefficients for anxiety and satisfaction were compared

for the two pairs of EnneaAttach groups.

Research Instrument

A paper and pencil questionnaire was developed for use in data collection (see Appendix

A). The questionnaire consisted of the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R)

(Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000) and the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) (Schumm,

1983). Both measures are in the public domain. In addition, the questionnaire also asked

respondents to identify their Enneagram type, Enneagram sub-type and Enneagram wing, and

whether they considered themselves to be in a committed relationship. Respondents who

answered “yes” to being in a committed relationship were instructed to complete the KMSS

items, while respondents who answered “no” were instructed to skip the KMSS items.

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Experiences in Close Relationships- Revised Questionnaire

The Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) Questionnaire was initially developed by

Brennan, Clark, and Shaver (1998). The questionnaire is used to assess individual differences in

attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance. To construct the questionnaire, the

authors combined items from all published self-report adult attachment questionnaires available

at the time. Using factor analysis, the authors identified two dimensions that underlie all the

items. The authors labeled these dimensions anxiety (concerned with fear of rejection and

abandonment) and avoidance (concerned with discomfort with closeness and discomfort

depending on others).

Fraley, Waller, and Brennan (2000) revised the ECR by using Item Response Theory

(IRT) techniques on the original pool of items obtained by Brennan et al. (1998). The ECR-R is

very similar to the ECR, but is improved in its ability to assess anxiety and avoidance in terms of

both the amount and the uniformity of information that is obtained (Fraley, Waller, & Brennan,

2000). Internal consistency reliability for the ECR-R is reported to be .90 or higher for both

subscales (Sibley & Liu, 2005). Examples of anxiety items are, “I worry that romantic partners

won’t care about me as much as I care about them” and “I’m afraid that I will lose my partner’s

love.” Examples of avoidance items are, “I find it difficult to allow myself to allow myself to

depend on romantic partners” and “It helps to turn to my romantic partner in times of need”

(reverse scored).

Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale

The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) was developed by Schumm (1983) to fill

a need for a brief, easily administered measure of marital satisfaction. The three items that

comprise the KMSS scale are: “how satisfied are you with your relationship?”; “how satisfied

63
are you with your partner as a partner?”; and “how satisfied are you with your relationship

partner?”

The KMSS has proved to be a reliable and valid measure of marital satisfaction,

providing concurrent and discriminate validity (Schumm, Paff-Bergen, Hatch et al., 1986).

Burnett (1987) found that the KMSS is a good choice for researchers or clinicians who need a

brief, yet valid and reliable measure of marital satisfaction. Furthermore, the KMSS has been

shown to retain its reliability and validity when translated into languages and cultures that are

different from the context in which the measure was originally developed (e.g., Chung, 2004;

Green, Woody, Maxwell et al., 1998; Shek, 1993).

Despite extensive research documenting the KMSS’s usefulness in other languages and

cultures there is apparently no research documenting the KMSS’s validity and reliability with

non-traditional (e.g. not married, but committed heterosexual, gay or lesbian) couples. However,

because the sample used in the present study was likely to include people in committed, non-

traditional relationships, the decision was made to re-word the three items so that they could be

used with people who are in committed relationships, but not married. This decision was justified

on the basis of the KMSS’s long record of being a robust measure that has translated well into a

variety of cultures. Furthermore, research indicates that attachment relationship processes are

similar across different types of relationships, and that non-traditional couples are more like

traditional couples (in terms of attachment relationships) than they are different (Kurdek, 2006;

Means-Christensen, 2003).

Enneagram Type

While a variety of measures exist to assess attachment style, different approaches to

assessing Enneagram type are still being developed and evaluated. Because relatively little is

64
known about assessing Enneagram types, choosing a sample in which Enneagram type could be

determined with a relatively high degree of confidence was crucial to the validity and reliability

of the study. Currently, the two "gold standards" (Daniels & Price, 2000, p.107) for assessing

Enneagram type are: a) a diagnostic typing interview by a certified Enneagram teacher; and b)

self-typing after completion of a ten-week Enneagram course, or equivalent training (Daniels &

Price, 2000). Daniels and Price (2000) have developed the Essential Enneagram Test, which is a

self-report instrument for assessing Enneagram type. The use of this instrument relies on a two-

part process that allows for a period of self-reflection and re-checking of one’s original choice of

Enneagram type. This assessment method is in keeping with the philosophy of the Enneagram

model which has developed around a belief in self-development as the paramount goal, over

development of a more efficient typing method that might be more suited to large scale empirical

research.

For the present study, the decision was made to address the difficulties with Enneagram

typing by choosing a sample of people who had already received extensive training in how to

self identify their type. This decision forced a reliance on a somewhat restricted population from

which to draw the sample, but was justified because of the high degree of confidence that could

be placed in the accuracy of the assessment of Enneagram type that was obtained by using this

population.

Sample Selection

Because the decision had been made to include only subjects who had already received

extensive training in how to self-identify their type, the sample selection for this study was

“purposeful” (Patton, 2002, p 40). While more commonly associated with qualitative research,

purposeful sampling has also been used in quantitative studies where the topic being studied is

65
relatively new and not well understood. For example, researchers on attention and mindfulness

have purposefully sampled highly trained Buddhist meditators in order to study different aspects

of human consciousness (e.g. Ekman, Davidson, Ricard, & Wallace, 2005; Lutz, Greischar,

Rawlings, Ricard, & Davidson, 2004; Nielsen, 2006). Similarly, Underwood (2005) used a

purposeful sample of Trappist monks in order to study intrapersonal processes associated with

compassionate love. Both of these studies used purposeful sampling of people who had

participated in extensive training and practice to develop specific capacities of consciousness.

These capacities are assumed to be shared by other humans, but are not as easily accessible for

study by people who have not had an opportunity to develop them.

The current study used as subjects members of the Association of Enneagram Teachers in

the Narrative Tradition (AET). The AET is an international organization dedicated to the

development and teaching of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. Membership is restricted

to people who have completed at least one week of Enneagram training with the Enneagram

Professional Training Program (EPTP). AET membership is approximately 400 people, from

approximately 24countries. Using AET members as subjects ensured that all participants in the

study had received enough training in the Enneagram to accurately self-identify their Enneagram

type. The logic here is the same as that underlying the studies described above: the ability to

observe one’s own thoughts and emotions is assumed to be a universal capacity of humans, but it

is more easily studied using a sample of people who have received training in how to do this. In

addition, this sampling method has been used successfully by previous Enneagram researchers,

all of whom were able to identify significant relationships between Enneagram types and other

personality measures (Brown & Bartram, 2005; Palmer, 1988; Wagner & Walker, 1983).

66
 Data Collection Procedures

After receiving IRB approval, (see Appendix B), data were collected in person at two

AET workshops (Dayton, OH, May 12 -15, 2007 and Colorado Springs, CO, July 5 – 8, 2007).

Workshop participants were asked to complete the paper and pencil instrument described above.

Participants were instructed to complete the questionnaire at their convenience and return the

questionnaire either to a collection envelope, or by mail. Approximately 150 questionnaires were

distributed, and 75 (approximately 50%) of the questionnaires were returned. Based on

observations made by the researcher, there did not appear to be any systematic differences in

terms of who chose to complete the survey and who chose not to.

Sample Characteristics

The sample consisted of 14Type Ones (19%); 6 Type Twos (8%); 5 Type Threes (7%); 8

Type Fours (11%); 2 Type Fives (3%); 6 Type Sixes (8%); 9 Type Sevens (12%); 5 Type Eights

(7%) and 14 Type Nines (19%). So far, there is no published research assessing the distribution

of Enneagram types in the general population, so there is no way of knowing whether the sample

distribution is representative of the general population. However, the sample does include at least

two responses from each of the nine types. In this regard, the sample of the present study is

similar to samples obtained in other Enneagram research. For example, Schneider and

Schaeffer’s (1997) sample consisted of 9 Type Ones; 2 each of Type Two, Three, Five, Six, and

Seven; 3 Type Fours; 6 Type Eights; and 5 Type Nines, for a total of 33.

Based on the observations of the researcher, the population that the sample was drawn

from can be characterized as predominately Caucasian, older, better educated and wealthier than

the general U.S. population. Samples used in other Enneagram studies are similar to the present

study in this regard (e.g., Brown & Bartram, 2005; Snyder & Ruderman, 1998; Wagner &

67
Walker, 1983). The anxiety and avoidance means and standard deviations for this sample were

found to be similar to statistics collected by Fraley (2008) in an on-going internet based study.

Overall, the sample appears to have a reasonable distribution of Enneagram types, and to be

similar to Fraley’s (2008) very large sample with regard to distribution of anxiety and avoidance

scores. Based on these observations, it was concluded that the sample could be considered

adequately representative of the nine Enneagram types, and of the general population in terms of

anxiety and avoidance scores.

Limitations of the Sample

Data concerning demographic variables was not collected as part of this study. The

decision to not collect demographic data was justified on the basis that there are no indications

that gender or other demographic variables significantly affect attachment style (Mikulincer &

Shaver, 2007), or Enneagram type (Brown & Bartram, 2005; Snyder & Ruderman, 1998;

Wagner & Walker, 1983) and that demographic variables are not components of the

configurations that comprise the categories of either the original typologies. In addition, because

of the relatively small group size of the workshops at which the questionnaires were being

distributed, and the fact that many of the respondents were personally known to the researcher,

the decision was made that excluding demographic data would enhance the protection of

respondents’ anonymity. Because demographic variables were not integral to either of the

original typologies, priority was given to further protecting anonymity by not collecting any

demographic information. Gender has been found to be a factor in relationship satisfaction at the

dyad level (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). However, since this study does not address relationship

satisfaction at the dyad level, information on gender would not have been pertinent to this aspect

of the study, either.

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 An additional limitation concerns an error made in the production of the questionnaire.

One of the anxiety items was left out, and an avoidance item was included twice. This error was

discovered after the first round of data collection, but the decision was made to exclude the item

from analysis for the entire group. There were no significant differences in the descriptive

statistics for either the anxiety variable or the avoidance variable whether the item was included

or excluded in the analyses.

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 Chapter Four: Results

The purpose of this study was to develop a new typology for use in MFT by integrating

the attachment typology with the Enneagram typology. In Chapter Three, hypotheses were

developed to empirically test predictions derived from the integrated typology. These hypotheses

described the expected relationships between Enneagram types and attachment styles in terms of

patterns of anxiety, avoidance, and focus of attention. In addition to the hypotheses developed to

test the new typology, hypotheses were also developed to explore the utility of the model.

Data Analysis

The data from the questionnaires were entered into SPSS for analysis. Of the 75

questionnaires that were returned, 6 were excluded from analysis because only one side was

completed, or all the items were marked as “1.” This resulted in a sample size of 69.

Once the data were entered into SPSS, the anxiety and avoidance variables were created

following the instructions provided by Fraley (2008). First, items that had been reverse worded

for the questionnaire were reverse scored. Then, for each case, the scores for each anxiety item

were added together, and the sum was divided by 17, and the scores for each avoidance item

were added together, and the sum was divided by 18. The coefficient alpha for the anxiety scale

was .88 and for the avoidance scale was .89, indicating an acceptable level of internal reliability

for both scales (Howell, 2002).

Attachment Style Variable

In order to create the attachment style variable, the sample was first divided into four

subgroups based on high and low anxiety scores, and high and low avoidance scores. For the

anxiety subgroups, subjects were categorized as low anxiety if their anxiety score was less than

the midpoint of the anxiety scale (3.5). Subjects were categorized as high anxiety if their anxiety

70
score was greater than or equal to 3.5. The same procedure was used to categorize subjects

according to high and low avoidance. After subjects were categorized according to high and low

anxiety and avoidance, the attachment style variable was created by assigning a value of 1 to

subjects who were categorized as high anxiety, low avoidance; a value of 2 to subjects who were

categorized as high anxiety, high avoidance; a value of 3 to subjects who were categorized as

low anxiety and high avoidance; and a value of 4 to subjects who were categorized as both low

anxiety and low avoidance.

Relationship Satisfaction Variable

The relationship satisfaction variable was created by adding the three relationship

satisfaction items together and dividing by three. The coefficient alpha for the KMSS scale was

.93, indicating an acceptable level of internal reliability for the relationship satisfaction measure

(Howell, 2002).

Descriptive Statistics

The sample consisted of 69 cases. The descriptive statistics with regard to anxiety and

avoidance scores for this sample are summarized in Table 5. Mean anxiety for the sample was

3.22 (s. d. = 99). The minimum anxiety score was 1.22 and the maximum anxiety score was

5.83. Mean avoidance for the sample was 3.02 (s.d. = .88). The minimum avoidance score was

1.14 and the maximum avoidance score was 5.35. These anxiety and avoidance statistics are

comparable to the statistics gathered by Fraley (2008) based on an on-line sample of over 22,000

people, in which 78% of the sample as female, and 15% of the sample was married. For Fraley’s

entire sample, mean anxiety was 3.64 (s.d. = 1.33) and mean avoidance was 2.93 (s.d. = 1.18). In

addition, the correlation between anxiety and avoidance for this sample was r = .42, similar to

Fraley’s group correlation of r = .41. The similarities between the descriptive statistics of this

71
sample and Fraley’s much larger sample indicate that the sample was representative of the

general population with respect to anxiety and avoidance scores. Table 5 summarizes the

descriptive statistics for anxiety and avoidance of the entire sample.

Table 5

Descriptive Statistics of Sample

N Mean s.d. Minimum Maximum

Anxiety 69 3.22 .99 1.22 5.83

Avoidance 69 3.02 .88 1.14 5.35

Descriptive Statistics by Attachment Style

In this sample, 20 subjects (29%) were categorized as AttachStyle 1 (high anxiety, low

avoidance). Mean anxiety for this group was 4.19, (s.d. = 57), and mean avoidance for this group

was 2.92, (s.d. = .53). Nine subjects (13%) were categorized as AttachStyle 2 (high anxiety, high

avoidance). Mean anxiety for this group was 4.05 (s.d. = 77) and mean avoidance for this group

was 4.26 (s.d. = 50). Nine subjects (13%) were categorized as AttachStyle 3 (low anxiety, high

avoidance). Mean anxiety for this group was 2.73 (s.d. = .51) and mean avoidance for this group

was 3.90 (s.d. = .30). Thirty-one subjects (45%) were categorized as AttachStyle 4 (low anxiety,

low avoidance). Mean anxiety for this group was 2.48 (s.d. = .58) and mean avoidance was 2.47

(s.d. = .69).

This distribution of attachment styles is roughly similar to the distribution obtained by

Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991), using a different measure of attachment style. Bartholomew

and Horowitz had a sample size of 77, with 14% categorized as preoccupied (corresponding to

high anxiety, low avoidance); 21% categorized as fearful (corresponding to high anxiety, high

72
avoidance); 18% categorized as dismissing (corresponding to low anxiety, high avoidance); and

50% categorized as secure (corresponding to low anxiety, low avoidance). Table 6 summarizes

the descriptive statistics of the sample by attachment style.

Table 6

Descriptive Statistics by Attachment Style

N Mean s.d. Mean s.d.

Anxiety Avoidance
AttachStyle1 (high anxiety, low avoidance) 20 4.19 .57 2.92 .53

AttachStyle2 ( high anxiety, high avoidance) 9 4.05 .77 4.26 .50

AttachStyle3 (low anxiety, high avoidance) 9 2.73 .51 3.90 .30

AttachStyle4 (low anxiety, low avoidance) 31 2.48 .58 2.47 .69

Descriptive Statistics by Enneagram Type

No previous study has examined the attachment styles of different Enneagram types, so

there is no way of assessing whether the distributions of attachment style by Enneagram type

obtained in this sample are representative of the general population. However, there do appear to

be distinct patterns of anxiety and avoidance among the types, as summarized in Table 7.

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Table 7

Descriptive Statistics by Enneagram Type

Enneagram N Mean s.d. Mean s.d.

Type Anxiety Avoidance

One 14 2.65 .88 2.58 .82

Two 6 3.58 1.32 2.60 .53

Three 5 2.20 .82 2.94 1.01

Four 8 4.02 1.14 3.01 .70

Five 2 3.06 1.10 4.24 .00

Six 6 3.32 .85 3.13 .97

Seven 9 2.92 .69 3.12 .88

Eight 5 3.43 .64 3.34 1.35

Nine 14 3.61 .76 3.27 .79

(Wing One) 8 3.60 1.01 3.02 .39

(Wing Eight) 6 3.63 .27 3.62 1.90

Relationship Satisfaction Statistics by Attachment Style

The AttachStyle 1 group (high anxiety, high avoidance) had a mean satisfaction score of

4.95 (s.d. = .1.25). The AttachStyle 2 group (high anxiety, high avoidance) had a mean

satisfaction score of 5.24 (s.d. = 1.24). The AttachStyle 3 group (low anxiety, high avoidance)

had a mean satisfaction score of 5.75 (s.d. = .83). The AttachStyle 4 group (low anxiety, low

avoidance) had a mean satisfaction score of 5.73 (s.d. = 1.24). An ANOVA test of difference in

74
means indicated that here were no significant differences in relationship satisfaction by

AttachStyle (F = 1.54, df = 3, ns).

Table 8

Relationship Satisfaction Statistics by Attachment Style

N Satisfaction s.d.

AttachStyle 1 14 4.95 1.25

AttachStyle 2 7 5.24 1.24

AttachStyle 3 8 5.75 .83

AttachStyle 4 26 5.73 1.24

Relationship Satisfaction Statistics by Enneagram Type

Of the total sample of 69, 55 respondents (80%) indicated that they were currently in a

relationship. Of those 55, 11 (20%) were Type Ones, 4 (.07%) were Type Twos, 4 (.07%) were

Type Threes, 8 (15%) were Type Fours, 2 (.04%) were Type Fives, 6 (12%) were Type Sixes, 6

(12%) were Type Sevens, 3 (.06%) were Type Eights, and 11 (20%) were Type Nines. Of the 11

Type Nines who reported being in a relationship, 6 (.55%) reported having a One wing, and 5

(.45%) reported having an Eight wing. The mean relationship satisfaction for the group was 5.5

(s.d. = 1.21). The minimum satisfaction score was 1.00 and the maximum satisfaction score was

7.00.

Type Ones had a mean satisfaction score of 4.94, (s.d. = 2.1); Type Twos had a mean

satisfaction score of 5.83 (s.d. = .33); Type Threes had a mean satisfaction score of 6.08 (s.d. =

.49); Type Fours had a mean satisfaction score of 5.15 (s.d. = 1.05); Type Fives had a mean

satisfaction score of 5.57 (s.d. = .47);Type Sixes had a mean satisfaction score of 6.06 (s.d. =

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.65); Type Sevens had a mean satisfaction score of 5.56 (s.d.= 1.11); Type Eights had a mean

satisfaction score of 5.89 (s.d. = .77); and Type Nines had a mean satisfaction score of 5.40 (s.d.

=.76). Table 9 summarizes the relationship satisfaction statistics by Enneagram type. An

ANVOA test of difference of means indicated there were no significant differences in

relationship satisfaction by Enneagram type (F = .71, df = 8, ns).

Table 9

Relationship Satisfaction Statistics by Enneagram Type

Enneagram Type N Mean Satisfaction s.d.

One 11 4.94 2.1

Two 4 5.83 .33

Three 4 6.08 .49

Four 8 5.15 1.05

Five 2 5.57 .47

Six 6 6.06 .65

Seven 6 5.56 1.11

Eight 3 5.89 .77

Nine 11 5.40 .76

Whole Group 55 5.5 1.21

Hypothesis One - Three

Avoidance. Hypothesis One predicted that Enneagram Types One, Two, Three, Four, and

Nine 9 (wing One) (Group 1) would have a significantly lower mean avoidance than Enneagram

Types Five, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine (Wing Eight) (Group 2). This hypothesis was tested by

comparing mean levels of avoidance for the two groups using a t-test for difference in means

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(Howell, 2002). Mean avoidance for Group 1 was 2.78 and for Group 2 was 3.35. As predicted,

the t-test showed this difference was statistically significant (t = -2.67, p < .05).

Anxiety. Hypothesis Two predicted that Enneagram Types One, Three, Five, Seven, and

Nine (Wing One) (Group 3) would have a significantly lower mean anxiety than Enneagram

Types Two, Four, Six, Eight, and Nine (Wing Eight) (Group 4). This hypothesis was tested by

comparing mean levels of anxiety for the two groups using a t-test for difference in means

(Howell, 2002). The mean level of anxiety for Group 3 was 2.88 and for Group 4 was 3.63. As

predicted, the t-test showed this difference was statistically significant (t = -3.35, p < .01).

Patterns of anxiety and avoidance. The first two hypotheses tested in this study addressed

categorization of the Enneagram types in terms of the independent dimensions of anxiety and

avoidance. Hypothesis Three addressed the categorization of Enneagram types in terms of the

intersection of the two dimensions of anxiety and avoidance. Hypothesis Three was developed

by combining the categorizations of Enneagram groups according to anxiety and avoidance

(Hypothesis One and Hypothesis Two). The hypothesis predicted that there would be an

association between the attachment typology and the Enneagram typology such that knowing

how an individual was categorized using one of the typologies would provide information about

how that individual would be categorized using the second typology. The overall association

between attachment style and EnneaAttach group was tested using a chi-square test for goodness

of fit. The results are shown in Table 10.

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Table 10
Chi-square test for Goodness of Fit
AttachStyle 1 AttachStyle 2 AttachStyle 3 AttachStyle 4 Total

EnneaAttach Count 7 1 0 6 14
Group 1
Expected 4.1 1.8 1.8 6.3
Count
EnneaAttach Count 6 5 4 2 17
Group 2
Expected 4.9 2.2 2.2 7.6
Count
EnneaAttach Count 1 3 3 4 11
Group 3
Expected 3.2 1.4 1.4 4.9
Count
EnneaAttach Count 6 0 2 19 27
Group 4
Expected 7.8 3.5 3.5 12.1
Count
Total 20 9 9 31 69

The overall chi-square statistic for this table was 27.26 (df = 9, p < .005), indicating that

there is an overall association between the attachment typology and the Enneagram typology,

and leading to the acceptance of Hypothesis Three. In addition to the chi-square statistic, the

strength of association between the two typologies was tested using Goodman and Kruskal’s

lambda. Goodman and Kruskal’s lambda, “measures the proportional reduction in error achieved

when membership of a category on one attribute is used to predict category membership of the

other” (Kinnear & Gray, 2008, p. 397). The lambda value for this table was significant for both

attachment style dependent association (Value = .15, p < .001) and AttachGroup dependent

association (Value = .15, p < .001). Taken together, these results provide support for the internal

validity of the integrated typology.

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Hypothesis Four: Integrated Typology and Relationship Satisfaction

The fourth hypothesis addressed the external validity of the integrated typology by

predicting that the strength of the negative association between anxiety and relationship

satisfaction should be affected by whether an individual is classified in one of the high avoidance

EnneaAttach groups (EnneaAttach Group 2 or Group 3) or one of the low avoidance groups

(EnneaAttach Group 1 or Group 4). This relationship was tested by dividing the sample into high

and low avoidance groups and then comparing the size of the correlation coefficients in the two

subgroups.

There were 33 individuals in the high avoidance groups and 22 in the low avoidance

group. As expected, the size of the Pearson correlation coefficient for the low avoidance group

was negative and significantly different from zero (r = -.391; p<.05). In contrast, the correlation

for the high avoidance group was not found to be significantly different from zero (r = -.109; p =

.630). A Z test for differences between independent correlations (Howell, 2002), however,

provided only marginal support for the hypothesized difference in correlations (z = 1.03; p =.15).

Taken together, the results are considered to provide partial support for Hypothesis 4. There is

some evidence that integrated typology adds to the findings from attachment research that there

is a negative relationship between anxiety and relationship satisfaction. Adding information from

the Enneagram typology about differences in the focus of attention for individuals based on their

level of avoidance allows for more complex and precise predictions of differences in levels of

relationship satisfaction than could be achieved with information from the attachment typology

alone.

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 Chapter Five: Discussion

This study began by identifying a need for the development and testing of a new typology

for use in Marriage and Family Therapy. This need was described in terms of the lack of detailed

knowledge about individual differences in the subjective experience of attachment. In response

to this need, a new typology was developed by integrating two already established typologies:

the attachment typology and the Enneagram typology. The integration of these two typologies

resulted in a typology that retains the strengths of the original typologies, while also addressing

specific weaknesses of each. The present chapter first discusses the results of the data analysis in

terms of internal and external validity of the integrated typology, and in terms of future research

based on the new typology. The chapter concludes by addressing clinical implications of the

EnneaAttach typology, focusing on implications for addressing spiritual issues in MFT.

Validity of the Integrated Typology

In the integrated typology, the nine Enneagram types, defined by differences in focus of

attention, are categorized as subtypes of the four attachment styles, defined by differences in

patterns of attachment related anxiety and avoidance. This sub classification produced a typology

of attachment styles that provides more detailed information about relevant differences among

people concerning how they experience attachment relationships, including attachment related

priorities in terms of attention, and attachment related strengths and talents.

The internal validity of the integrated typology was examined by the development and

testing of three hypotheses that related to the categorization of Enneagram types with regard to

attachment styles. The first two hypotheses predicted differences among Enneagram types with

regard to attachment related anxiety and avoidance. The third hypothesis predicted that specific

Enneagram types would be associated with specific attachment styles at a rate higher than would

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be expected by chance. The results of the data analysis provided support for all three of these

hypotheses, providing support for the conclusion that the integrated typology is internally valid.

The fourth hypothesis addressed the external validity of the integrated typology by

predicting that the strength of the negative association between anxiety and relationship

satisfaction should be affected by whether an individual is classified in one of the high avoidance

EnneaAttach groups (EnneaAttach Group 2 or Group 3) or one of the low avoidance groups

(EnneaAttach Group 1 or Group 4). Taken together, the results are considered to provide partial

support for hypothesis 4. There is some evidence that the integrated typology adds to the findings

from attachment research that there is a negative relationship between anxiety and relationship

satisfaction. Adding information from the Enneagram typology about differences in the focus of

attention for individuals based on their level of avoidance allows for more complex and precise

predictions of differences in levels of relationship satisfaction than could be achieved with

information from the attachment typology alone.

Overall, the results of this dissertation provide support for a conceptualization of the

integrated typology as reflecting attachment related differences in the organization of attention

that are relevant with respect to related variables, such as relationship satisfaction. The

prototypes that are derived from the integrated typology can be conceptualized as displaying

specific patterns of anxiety, avoidance (from the attachment typology) and focus of attention,

and excluded information (from the Enneagram typology). In addition, each type is associated

with different attachment related relationship problems and challenges, and with different

attachment related strengths and talents. Table 11 summarizes the information about the

typology prototypes that is contained in the integrated typology.

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Table 11

Integrated Typology

Attach Style Low Anxiety, Low High Anxiety, Low Anxiety, High Anxiety, High
Avoidance Low Avoidance High Avoidance Avoidance
Enneagram 1, 3, 9 (w1) 2, 4 5, 7 6, 8, 9 (w8)
Type
Focus of 1 – error 2 – other people’s 5 – intrusion 6 – hazard
Attention 3 – success needs 8 – power
9 - other people’s 4 – what’s 7 – pleasant future 9 – other people’s
position missing options position
Blind Spot 1 - Shades of grey 2 - Own needs 5 - Existing 6 - Actual power of
(excluded 3 - Failure 4 - What’s good abundance authority
information) 9 - Own agenda in present 7 - Actual 8 - Impact on others
limitations 9 - Own agenda
Relationship 1 - Dedicated to 2 - Aware of 5 - Aware of what 6 - Loyal
Talent working to other’s needs other’s want 8 - Protective
improve situation 4 - Able to share 7 - Aware of 9 - Aware of other’s
3 - Optimism intense emotions creative solutions position
9 - Aware of to problems
other’s position

Attachment Security

Increasing clients’ security in close relationships is a key goal in most attachment- based

therapies (Bowlby, 1979; Johnson, 2007; Makinen & Johnson, 2006). However, a wide array of

different understandings of what security means has led to many diverse approaches to

enhancing security. Furthermore, research on outcomes of attachment based therapies indicates

that current understandings of the relationship between therapy and enhanced security are still

not complete (e.g. Makinen & Johnson, 2006; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).

The attachment relationship is comprised of three basic components (Main, 1999; Siegel,

1999). These components involve the exchange and processing of attachment related information

in the attachment dyad. Since these components comprise a system, they occur cyclically and

simultaneously, but are presented linearly here. First, an individual receives attachment

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information (verbal and nonverbal) from the attachment partner. Next the individual processes

this information. This processing includes drawing on past attachment experiences (memories)

and information about the future (expectations derived from past and current experience).

Finally, the individual responds to the partner. Restrictions or diversions of attention in any of

these phases will result in an attachment experience that is incoherent and therefore less than

secure (Siegel, 1999). In both parent - child attachment relationships and adult attachment types,

attachment strategies are enacted by means of (primarily) unconscious habits of attention that

affect specific parts of this attachment cycle (receive-process-respond). These habits of attention

determine the intra- and interpersonal patterns of sensation, emotion and thought that constitute

attachment patterns, and prevent a person from experiencing security.

Attentional differences in the EnneaAttach categories point to differences in the way

people fail to think and speak coherently in terms of this receive, process, respond cycle, and to

different ways that restricted attention contributes to insecurity in attachment relationships. In

these terms, a person who is “secure” with regard to attachment is, first, able to take in all

attachment related information (verbal and nonverbal) from the partner. Secondly, a secure

person is able to process this information with full access to relevant memories, and to relevant

expectations about the future. These expectations about the future, which are also included in the

processing, are based on current experience and complete processing of past events. Finally, the

person is fluent in verbal and nonverbal attachment language. This means the person can

communicate the results of the processing to the partner with precision and nuance (Siegel,

1999).

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 Clinical Implications

Bowlby (1988) hypothesized that there are two ways to experience attachment security in

adulthood. One way was to be raised in an attachment relationship in which attachment needs

were consistently met. Bowlby believed this would result in an adult who was secure. The other

way, which Bowlby called “earned secure” was for an adult who had grown up insecure to

participate in corrective relationships in adulthood. This concept of earned security lies at the

heart of attachment related approaches to therapy. However, the research pathways that have

developed to study and treat adult security issues began with Ainsworth’s (1967; 1978) research

on parent-infant dyads.

Ainsworth noted that the word “secure” stems for the Latin sine cure, meaning without

care (Bowlby & Ainsworth, 1991). Bowlby (1973) expanded on this definition of security by

stating:

For not only young children, it is now clear, but human beings of all ages are found to be

at their happiest and to be able to deploy their talents to best advantage when they are

confident that, standing behind them, there are one or more trusted persons who will

come to their aid should difficulties arise. The person trusted provides a secure base from

which his companion can operate (p. 359).

In the parent-child dyads that Ainsworth studied, the secure children appeared to exist in

the happy state described by Bowlby, in which changing situations were met with changes in

attention, accompanied by changes in thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. In the Strange Situation

procedure, while the mother was with the child, the child’s attention turned to the toys in the

room. When the mother left the room, the secure child’s attention was focused entirely on the

missing mother, and this focus of attention was accompanied by crying and searching behavior.

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When the mother returned, the secure child asked for and received reassurance from the mother,

and then the child’s attention turned back to exploration of the toys in the room (Ainsworth et al,

1978). This is an example of existing “without care” not because the child was not dealing with

problems, but because the child’s attention was free to respond appropriately to the changing

situation.

The attention of the children who were partners in insecure dyads was limited by the

requirements of the attachment relationship. For the anxious/ambivalent child, attention

remained focused on the mother long after she returned and tried to provide reassurance. For the

avoidant child, attention remained focused away from the mother, even though the child was

experiencing distress. In both insecure styles, the child’s attention is bound to the attachment

relationship, rather than flowing freely to respond to the next development in the environment.

Adult attachment researchers, building on Ainsworth’s conceptualization of security in

parent-child dyads, have taken several different approaches to conceptualizing adult security.

Developmental psychologists conceptualize adult security in terms of the mind’s ability to freely

remember and process childhood attachment experiences (Hesse, 1999). Social psychologists

conceptualize adult security in terms of low anxiety and avoidance, indicating that the adult is

not engaging in high levels of attachment related monitoring and appraising, nor is he or she

engaging in high levels of moving away from attachment related experiences (Kobak, 2002).

Finally, the Emotion Focused Therapy model, drawing on attachment theory, conceptualizes

security as resulting from the resolution of attachment injuries (Makinen & Johnson, 2006).

These different models share a common goal in their attempts to conceptualize and

operationalize security. Each model is trying to capture the sense of free attention that Ainsworth

et al. (1978) originally identified in parent-child dyads. This challenge is especially difficult

85
because it require a translation from an interpersonal level (parent-child dyad) to an intrapersonal

level (individual adult attachment style).

Alternative Conceptualization of Attachment Based Therapy

The results of the present study support an alternative conceptualization of adult security,

and by extension, an alternative model of attachment based therapy, based on the integration of

attachment style and Enneagram type. In this model, security is conceptualized as flexible

attention (Main, 2000) accompanied by minimization of the blind spot (Palmer & Brown, 1997).

In this model, security is not derived from a particular pattern of attention with regard to one or a

few other human beings. Rather, security reflects, “the capacity to engage directly, flexibly,

creatively, and actively in the solution of interpersonal and intrapsychic attachment problems as

they arise” (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999. p 99) and is derived from the ability to process

information freely, without being impeded by pre-established patterns of relationship. Table 12

summarizes the three major approaches to conceptualizing security, and the model that is derived

from the results of this dissertation. For each model, examples of how security is measured in

each tradition and the treatment implications that flow from these conceptualizations are

included.

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Table 12

Models of Adult Security

Developmental Social Psychology Emotion Focused Integration of

Psychology (e.g. Kobak, 2002) Therapy Enneagram and
(e.g. Hesse, 1999) (e.g. Makinen & Attachment Style
Johnson, 2006)
Definition of Narrative Coherence Low Anxiety, Resolution of Flexible
Security Low Avoidance Attachment Injury Attention/Reduction
of Blind Spot

Measurement Adult Attachment Experiences in Attachment Injury Subjective

Interview (AAI) Close Measure (AIM), Narrative of
Relationships ECR-R Experience
(ECR-R)
Possible Clinical Develop coherent Reduce attachment Identify and Develop self-
Implications narrative of early related anxiety/ process observation
attachment avoidance attachment related skills/bring
relationships emotions attention to blind
spot

Clinical Practices Associated with Integrated Model

The clinical implementation of this model resembles an integration of mindfulness based

therapy (e.g. Germer, Siegel, & Fulton, 2005) with Emotion Focused Therapy (e.g. Greenberg,

2008). Clinical practices associated with this model might focus on developing self-observation

skills, including learning how to work with the blind spot (which, by definition, is not easily

accessible to self-observation), accompanied by the development of emotional regulation skills.

Assessment of security in this model would be accomplished by qualitative interviews that

focused on identification of habitual focus of attention (Enneagram type) and degree of

flexibility of attention (rigidity of blind spot).

In the attachment experience, attention is actively focused on one aspect of the

attachment relationship. Other aspects of the relationship are either ignored, or actively

suppressed. In this way, the person is actively constructing reality. This pattern is established

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early in life when the person begins to develop a strategy for managing his or her primary

attachment relationship. The person then internalizes this strategy, so that he or she is no longer

managing the relationship, but is instead managing him or herself, by controlling what

information is taken in and what is excluded. In the integrated model of therapy, clients learn to

voluntarily relax attention that has been unconsciously incorporated into habitual attachment

patterns, and instead allow attention to move freely, including into the blind spot. This process

functions to create an experience of security, in which attachment related information is neither

being excluded nor magnified, and thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are attuned and resonant

with the needs of both the self and the attachment partner (Siegel, 1999; Sigel & Hartzell, 2003).

Integrated Typology and Spiritual Experience

One reason that attachment theory has become so widely used in MFT is because it lends

itself to integration with existing models and theories of therapy (Johnson, 2004). However,

despite the wide variety of clinical applications that attachment theory has engendered, there has

been virtually no discussion in the MFT literature of spiritual and religious implications of using

attachment based therapies. While attachment processes in religious and spiritual experiences

have been studied (see Miner, 2007 for a review) there are apparently no MFT clinical models

that attempt to integrate attachment based approaches to therapy with spiritual or religious

orientations to therapy. This lack of an integrative model is surprising, given the growing calls to

address spiritual and religious dimensions of experience in MFT (Carlson & Erickson, 2002;

Onedera & Greenwalt, 2008, Walsh, 1999). In addition, there is increasing evidence that

incorporating spirituality into therapy approaches increases the effectiveness of the therapy

(Galanter, 2005; Pargament, 2007; Richards & Bergin, 2005; Worthington & Sandage, 2002).

Attachment based differences in religious and spiritual experiences and development

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have been identified among adults (Granqvist, 2002; Granqvist, Ivarsson, Broberg, et al., 2007;

Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1992; Rowatt & Kirkpatrick, 2002) and among children and adolescents

(Granqvist & Dickie, 2006). However, so far virtually no conceptual or empirical work has been

published that attempts to integrate a spiritual dimension with attachment based therapies.

Over the last several decades, there has been a surge of interest in religious and spiritual

issues, both in the general U.S. population and among marriage and family therapists (Grams,

Carlson, & McGeorge, 2007; Miller, Korinek, & Ivey, 2004). When Stander, Piercy, McKinnon,

and Helmeke. (1994) surveyed the marriage and family therapy literature over two decades ago,

they found very little attention was being paid to matters of spirit in family therapy. In

commenting on these findings eight years later, Carlson, Kirkpatrick, Hecker, and Kilmer (2002)

stated:

The silence in the literature as to these issues seemed to send a message that the topics

of spirituality and religion were inappropriate to address in therapy. During the past five

years, however, the silence has been broken and there has been a significant

increase in attention to the importance of addressing the spiritual and religious aspects of

client’s lives. (p 158)

Similarly, a substantial majority of MFTs report that spirituality and/or religion is

important in their own personal and professional lives (Carlson et al., 2002). MFTs’ interest in

working with spiritual and religious issues in their clinical practices has been documented

(Miller, Korinek, & Ivey, 2004; Prest, Russel, & D’Souza, 1999; Wendel, 2003) and religion and

spirituality are considered important topics both personally and professionally by a majority of

MFT faculty members (Grams, et al., 2007).

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 MFTs’ interest in religion and spirituality is in tune with the needs and desires of the

American public. A recent report by the Pew Research Center (2008) found that over 90% of

Americans believe in God or a universal spirit. In addition, Stewart and Gale (1994) found that

66% of clients “prefer a therapist with spiritual values….and [and 81%] desire a therapist who

would enable them to integrate their values and beliefs in therapy” (Prest et al. 1999, p. 61).

Until fairly recently, spiritual and religious resources were not considered appropriate

tools for clinicians to use (O’Hanlon, 2006; Pargament & Saunders, 2007; Stander et al., 1994).

However, over the past several decades therapists have become increasingly comfortable with

incorporating spiritual and religious components into models of therapy (Miller et al. 2004). Yet

despite the clear desire by both MFT clinicians and clients for therapeutic approaches that

include a religious or spiritual dimension, the field of MFT is divided over how to integrate

spirituality with existing clinical models.

History of Spirituality in MFT

The field of MFT has been engaged since its inception with the challenge of including a

spiritual dimension in models of therapy. Bateson (1972) in particular saw his work as

encompassing something extra-ordinary, or spiritual, when he wrote about the necessity of

changing epistemologies in order to change systems. Bateson discussed the challenges of

grasping what it means to move back and forth between constructed and unconstructed reality

(which Bateson referred to as “the map and the territory), writing:

Let me say that I don’t know how to think that way. Intellectually, I can stand here

and I can give a reasoned exposition of this matter; but if I am cutting down a tree,

I still think “Gregory Bateson” is cutting down the tree. I am cutting down the tree.

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 “Myself” is to me still an excessively concrete object, different from the rest of what I

have been calling “mind.” (p 468)

However, Bateson apparently did not attempt to integrate any existing spiritual models with his

approach as a way to solve the problems he encountered in trying to move between map and

territory.

The work of Virginia Satir also holds examples of the importance of spirituality in the

early days of MFT (Brothers, 1993; Lee, 2002; McLendon, 2000). In general, early MFT

theorists seemed to agree that spirituality was important, that it had something to do with a

systemic approach to understanding and resolving human problems, but it was difficult, or

impossible to explain or even talk about. As the field of MFT matured, religious and spiritual

issues faded as appropriate topics to be addressed either in practice or research (Walsh, 1999). In

moving away from spirituality and religion, MFT clinicians and theorists were in step with other

branches of psychology and psychotherapy of that time, all of which did not view spiritual issues

as within their domain (Miller, 1999).

Current Approaches to Spirituality in MFT

By the mid nineties, critiques of this exclusionary stance were being articulated and

possible solutions for spiritually and religion to be re-integrated into the practice of MFT was

being offered. Doherty (1995) argued that in avoiding addressing spirituality and religion with

clients, therapists were abdicating their responsibility to address moral issues. Doherty made a

strong case for the importance of a moral dimension to MFT theory and practice. However, this

approach sidestepped the question of whether spiritual approaches had anything to offer other

than a moral dimension. In contrast to Doherty, Frame (1996) presented an approach to therapy

in which spiritual and religious issues were dealt with from a social constructionist perspective.

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 Both of these approaches were challenged by Wendell (2003) who argued that neither a

generic morality approach, nor a social constructionist approach, could adequately address the

spiritual needs of clients. Wendell argued that in practice, spirituality cannot be separated from

religion. Based on this analysis, Wendell believes that therapists who want to work with spiritual

issues need to receive pastoral training in addition to their psychotherapy training. However, as

Doherty (2003) points out, this requirement would virtually ensure that the vast majority of

MFTs would not address spiritual issues in therapy. In addition, Wendell’s proposal argues

against the viability of incorporating a spiritual dimension into already existing clinical models.

At present, the field is at something of an impasse. While the social constructionist

approach is prevalent, it is not a complete solution, as Wendell notes. At the same time, there is

an increasing sense of the need of some kind of resolution. Spiritual directors recognize the

usefulness of traditional psychology in helping people with their spiritual life, and

psychotherapists recognize the usefulness of spirituality in helping people with their ordinary life

(Miller, 1999; Pargament, 2007; Sperry & Shafranske, 2005; Watson, 1997). Increasingly, there

is a need for integrative approaches that bring together sacred and secular psychologies in a way

that preserves the integrity of each of the individual models.

The integrated typology developed in this study provides an alternative approach to

addressing spirituality in MFT. In this model, attachment experience and spiritual experience are

understood to be two side of a coin (Forman, 1999). These two sides correspond to the double

faced nature of human consciousness, as discussed in Chapter One (Foreman, 1999; Helminiak,

2001). This model of spirituality asserts that both attachment experiences and spiritual

experiences are products of specific placements of attention. An infant learns the attachment

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placement unconsciously. In contrast, the placement of attention that results in spiritual

experience can be consciously learned.

Attachment styles characterize differences in how infants and adults establish, monitor

and repair attachment bonds. This work is done through the management of attention.

Specifically, infants learn to withdraw attention from some aspects of reality and direct attention

to the attachment relationship in order to maintain the relationship. In this way, infants learn to

actively shape the relationship, as well as the context of the relationship (constructed reality).In

contrast, spiritual experience can be thought of as an experience of unconstructed reality. Rather

than active construction, spiritual experience is an experience of receptivity, experiencing things

as they actually are. The integrated typology emphasizes that both of these states are founded on

specific placements of attention. Humans learn the active, constructive placement as infants, in

order to be in relationship with caretakers. Lack of knowledge about unconstructed attention by

contrast may contribute to relationship problems.

As noted above, in the attachment experience, attention is actively focused on one aspect

of the attachment relationship. Other aspects of the relationship are either ignored, or actively

suppressed. In this way, the person is actively constructing reality. A person begins life by

developing a strategy for managing his or her primary attachment relationship. The person then

internalizes this strategy, so that he or she is no longer managing the relationship, but is instead

managing him or herself, by controlling what information is taken in and what is excluded.

The key feature of the attachment experience is the focus of attention and the

corresponding blind spot (area of excluded information). The blind spot is the place where the

attention has been removed, in order to maintain the focus of attention on the attachment

relationship. This placement of attention is inherently incoherent, because it involves missing

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attachment related information (Siegel, 1999) and by extension, inherently insecure (Siegel,

1999).

In spiritual experience, attention is withdrawn from maintaining the attachment

relationship (this is the only active part of the experience), and allowed to return to the blind

spot, creating an experience of coherence. Once attention has been withdrawn from the

attachment mechanism, attention becomes passive and receptive, and the person is no longer

constructing reality. Instead, the person is experiencing unconstructed reality, which is a spiritual

experience (Palmer, 2000). In this model, adult attachment relationships are the “crucible”

(Schnarch, 1991) in which the shift from active to passive attention can occur. The attention is

actively engaged with the attachment relationship, and the focus of attention is relatively easy to

identify. The therapist can assist the clients in relaxing this focus of attention on the attachment

relationship, thus experiencing the self and other in unconstructed reality, or spiritual security.

Future Research

The most pressing issue for future research is to gather additional qualitative information

organized around the integrated typology. In keeping with the narrative tradition on which this

new typology draws, it is essential to collect narratives from different Enneagram types about

their subjective experiences of anxiety and avoidance in terms of both human relationships and

spiritual experiences.

In terms of quantitative research, this dissertation provides a way forward for Mikulincer

and Shaver’s (2007) agenda of learning more about sub group differences among the four

attachment styles. As Mikulincer and Shaver suggest, it would be worthwhile to continue work

on refining self-report attachment measures to better distinguish among subgroups. By working

with these scales in the context of the EnneaAttach groups, and the information about differences

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in focus of attention provided by these groups, progress could be made in increasing the validity

and clinical usefulness of these types of measures.

Conclusion

This present study has developed and tested a new integrated typology for use in MFT.

This typology addresses the limitations of both the attachment typology and the Enneagram

typology on which it is based, and in addition, provides new perspectives on attachment based

models of therapy. Perhaps most importantly, this integrated typology provides an alternative

approach to spirituality in MFT. The main contribution made by this study is bringing attention

to the importance of the role of attachment related focus of attention in understanding and

working with both relationship problems and spiritual difficulties, and the role that MFT

clinicians can play in helping to resolve these difficulties.

95
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Appendix A: Attachment Style Questionnaire

Enneagram type__________________

Sub-type (if known) _______________

Wing (if known) __________________

The statements below concern how you feel in emotionally intimate relationships. We are
interested in how you generally experience relationships, not just in what is happening in a
current relationship. Respond to each statement by circling the number that indicates how
much you agree or disagree with the statement.

1. I'm afraid that I will lose my partner's love.

2. I often worry that my partner will not want to stay with me.

3. I often worry that my partner doesn't really love me.

4. I worry that romantic partners won’t care about me as much as I care about them.

5. I often wish that my partner's feelings for me were as strong as my feelings for him or her.

6. I worry a lot about my relationships.

7. When my partner is out of sight, I worry that he or she might become interested in someone
else.

8. When I show my feelings for romantic partners, I'm afraid they will not feel the same about
me.

9. I rarely worry about my partner leaving me.

10. My romantic partner makes me doubt myself.

11. I do not often worry about being abandoned.

12. I find that my partner(s) don't want to get as close as I would like.

13. Sometimes romantic partners change their feelings about me for no apparent reason.

14. My desire to be very close sometimes scares people away.

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15. I'm afraid that once a romantic partner gets to know me, he or she won't like who I really am.

16. It makes me mad that I don't get the affection and support I need from my partner.

17. I worry that I won't measure up to other people.

18. My partner only seems to notice me when I’m angry.

19. I prefer not to show a partner how I feel deep down.

20. I feel comfortable sharing my private thoughts and feelings with my partner.

21. I find it difficult to allow myself to depend on romantic partners.

22. I am very comfortable being close to romantic partners.

23. I don't feel comfortable opening up to romantic partners.

24. I prefer not to be too close to romantic partners.

25. I get uncomfortable when a romantic partner wants to be very close.

26. I find it relatively easy to get close to my partner.

27. It's not difficult for me to get close to my partner.

28. I usually discuss my problems and concerns with my partner.

29. It helps to turn to my romantic partner in times of need.

30. I tell my partner just about everything.

31. I talk things over with my partner.

32. I am nervous when partners get too close to me.

33. I feel comfortable depending on romantic partners.

34. I find it easy to depend on romantic partners.

35. It's easy for me to be affectionate with my partner.

36. My partner really understands me and my needs.

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Please complete the following items if you are currently in a committed relationship (e.g.
married, living together, or living separately but committed to the relationship)
(Partner = husband, wife, lover, etc.)

How satisfied are you with your relationship?

How satisfied are you with your partner as a partner?

How satisfied are you with your relationship with your partner?

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Appendix B: IRB Forms

Directions
ƒ Type responses to all questions / requests below. It is recommended that you read through this document
before completing.
ƒ Do not leave a question blank unless directed. If a required question is not applicable to your study, explain
why.
ƒ Do not restrict your responses to the space provided. Provide a thorough response to each question. Be as
specific as possible, keeping in mind that you are introducing the study to the IRB. Incomplete applications
will result in requests for clarification from researchers and will cause delays in review and final approval.
ƒ Type responses in the designated shaded boxes or check the designated check boxes.
ƒ Use non-technical language throughout your application. Federal regulations require IRB applications to
be written in lay language at an 8th grade reading level. Do not use jargon or scientific terms in your
explanations/descriptions.
ƒ Check for grammatical or typographical errors before submitting. Protocols with substantial errors will be
returned for corrections.
ƒ This form must be completed and submitted (as a Word document) electronically. Submit all required
documents (e.g., Review Form, Initial Review Application, all study forms requested within this
application, and bio-sketches) to [email protected]. For questions, contact Carmen Green, IRB Administrator, at
[email protected] or (540) 231-4358.

Section 1: General Information

What is the Study Title: Attachment Styles and Enneagram Types: Development and Testing of an
Integrated Model of Personality for Use in Marriage and Family Therapy
[Note: If this protocol has been submitted to a federal agency for funding, the title of that application must match the title of this
submission.]

Check this box if this study only involves the collection or study of existing data, documents, records,
pathological specimens, or diagnostic specimens and respond only to the following sections within this
document: Section 1: General Information; Section 2: Justification; Section 8: Confidentiality / Anonymity; Section
14: Research Involving Existing Data; and Section 15: Additional Information below (Note: Section 15 is optional).

1. Will this research involve collaboration with another institution?

No
Yes

If yes,

A. Provide the name of the institution(s):

B. Indicate the status of this research project with the other institution’s IRB:
Pending approval
Approved [submit approval letter with this IRB application]
Other institution does not have a human subject protections review board
Other, explain:

Section 2: Justification

2. Describe the background of this study, including supporting research: Attachment theory has a long
history of useful integrations with clinical research and practice (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999; Rholes &

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 Simpson, 2004). Specifically, attachment theory has been used successfully to enrich MFT research
and clinical work (Johnson, 2004; Wampler). Fraley, Brennan, & Waller (2000) developed an
instrument to measure attachment styles (the Experiences in Close Relationships - Revised (ECR-
R) that makes it possible to investigate possible relationships between attachment styles (Hazan &
Shaver, 1987; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) and attention styles (Palmer, 1988; Daniels and
Price, 2000)

3. Describe the purpose / objectives of this study and the anticipated findings/contributions: Current
therapies based on attachment theory lack a rich base of knowledge about the inner experience
associated with different attachment strategies. This lack may limit therapists’ abilities to help
clients experience attachment security. The enneagram model of human development has
developed a wealth of knowledge about how people subjectively experience close relationships. The
enneagram model focuses on individual differences in attentional processes in close relationships.
However, there is as yet no theoretical model for how attachment styles and enneagram attention
types might be related. The proposed study will develop and empirically test an integrated model of
attachment style and enneagram attention type for use in marriage and family therapy.

4. Explain what the research team plans to do with the study results (e.g., publish, use for dissertation, etc.):
The study results will be used for my dissertation research.

5. Briefly describe the study design: Subjects will complete a paper and pencil questionnaire. The
questionnaire will be comprised of the Experiences in Close Relationship - Revised (ECR-R)
instrument and the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS). In addition, subjects will be asked
to report their (self-identified) enneagram attention type. The data will be entered into SPSS and
analyzed.

Section 3: Recruitment

6. Describe the subject pool, including inclusion and exclusion criteria (e.g., sex, age, health status,
ethnicity, etc.) and number of subjects: The subject pool will consist of members of the Association of
Enneagram Teachers in the Narrative Tradition (AET). The AET is an international organization
dedicated to the development and teaching of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition.
Membership is restricted to people who have completed at least one week of enneagram training
with the Enneagram Professional Training Program. AET membership is approximately 400
people, from approximately 24 countries. This subject pool was chosen to ensure that all
participants have received enough enneagram training to be able to accurately self-identify their
enneagram attention type. Because of the purposeful sampling, there are no other inclusion or
exclusion criteria.

7. How will subjects be identified to participate in this research study (If searching existing records to
identify subjects, indicate whether the records are public or private. If private, describe the researcher’s
privileges to the data)? I have received permission to distribute the questionnaire at three different
AET workshops this spring and summer. At each workshop I will have the opportunity to
announce the study and distribute the questionnaires and pre-addressed, pre- stamped return
envelopes.

8. The IRB must ensure that the risks and benefits of participating in a study are distributed equitably among
the general population and that a specific population is not targeted because of ease of recruitment.
Provide an explanation for choosing this population: I chose to limit the study to AET members
because there is as yet no well validated self- report measure for assessing enneagram attention
type. Currently, the "gold standards" (Daniels & Price, 2000, p. 107) for assessing enneagram
attention type are: 1) a diagnostic typing interview by a certified enneagram teacher; 2) self-typing
after completion of a ten-week enneagram course, or equivalent training (Daniels & Price, 2000).
However, both of these methods are prohibitively time consuming for the sample size (200 - 300
participants) that I need for the statistical analyses required by the research design I have chosen.

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9. Describe recruitment methods, including how the study will be advertised or introduced to subjects
[submit all advertising / recruitment forms (e.g., flyers/posters, invitation letter/e-mail, telephone
recruitment script, etc.) with this IRB application]: At each AET workshop, I will announce that I am
conducting research on the relationship between enneagram attention types and attachment styles.
I will explain that the questionnaires are anonymous, and that participation is completely
voluntary. Questionnaires and stamped return envelopes will be distributed after the
announcement. I will instruct participants to complete the questionnaire at their convenience and
mail the completed questionnaire back to me using the pre-addressed and stamped envelope.

Section 4: Requesting a Waiver for the Requirement to Obtain Signed Consent Forms from Participants

This section (Section 4) not required for studies qualifying for exempt review

Many minimal risk socio-behavioral research studies qualify for a waiver of the requirement for the
investigator(s) to obtain signed consent forms from subjects [i.e., researcher does obtain verbal or implied (i.e.,
consent implied from the return of completed questionnaire) consent from subjects; however, does not obtain
written consent from subjects]. Examples of types of research that typically qualify for this type of waiver are as
follows: internet based surveys, anonymous surveys, surveys not requesting sensitive information, and oral
history projects. You may request a waiver of signed consent for either some or all of the study’s procedures
involving human subjects.

10. Are you requesting a waiver of the requirement to obtain signed consent forms from participants?
No, consent forms will be signed by all research participants prior to participating in all research
procedures [submit consent document template(s) with this IRB application]
Yes

If yes,

A. Select one of the criteria listed below and describe how your research meets the selected
criteria:

Criteria 1: [Typically used for anonymous surveys] The only record linking the
subject and the research would be the consent document and the principal risk would be
potential harm resulting from a breach of confidentiality. Each subject will be asked
whether the subject wants documentation linking the subject with the research, and the
subject’s wishes will govern:

Or

Criteria 2: The research presents no more than minimal risk of harm to subjects and
involves no procedures for which written consent is normally required outside of the
research context (e.g., sitting down and talking with someone, calling someone at home
and asking everyday questions, mall survey, mail survey, internet survey, etc.):

Either selection of either Criteria 1 or Criteria 2 above, the IRB suggests and may
require the investigator to provide subjects with a written or verbal (for telephone
interviews) statement regarding the research, which should provide subjects with much
of the same information that is required within a consent document. This is typically
accomplished by providing subjects with an information sheet (i.e., a document similar
to a consent form; however, does not request signatures), supplying the information
within the invitation letter, or reading the information sheet to the subject over the
phone.

B. Will you be providing subjects with a written or verbal statement regarding the research?
Yes [submit supporting document(s) (e.g., information sheet, invitation letter) with
this IRB application]

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 If yes, check all methods that will be utilized to provide subjects with a statement
regarding the
research:
Information sheet physically provided to subjects
Information sheet will be read to subject over the phone
Information captured within the invitation document
Other, describe:
No, provide justification for not supplying subjects with this information:
C. Does this waiver of written consent cover all study procedures involving human
subjects?
Yes
No, list the study procedures for which this waiver is being requested to cover (Note:
a consent document may be required for the study procedures not included under this
waiver):

Section 5: Consent Process

11. Check all of the following that apply to this study’s consent process:
Verbal consent will be obtained from participants
Written consent will be obtained from participants
Consent will be implied from the return of completed questionnaire (if the study only involves implied
consent, skip to Section 6 below)
Other, describe:

12. Provide a general description of the process the research team will use to obtain and maintain informed
consent and respond specifically to A-D below:

. A. Who, from the research team, will be overseeing the process and obtaining consent from
subjects?

B. Where will the consent process take place?

C. During what point in the study process will consenting occur (Note: unless waived,
participants must be consented before completing any study procedure, including
screening questionnaires)?

D. If applicable [e.g., for complex studies, studies involving more than one session, or
studies involving more of a risk to subjects (e.g., surveys with sensitive questions)],
describe how the researchers will give subjects ample time to review the consent
document before signing:
Not applicable to this study

Section 6: Procedures

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13. Provide a step-by-step thorough explanation of all study procedures expected from study participants,
including the length of sessions involved, and total time commitment: Study participants will complete
the paper and pencil questionnaire at a place and time of their own choosing. The questionnaire
consists of two parts. The first part asks the participants to report their enneagram attention type
and a limited amount of demographic information (age, gender, number of weeks of enneagram
training). The second part of the questionnaire consists of the 36 item ECR-R and the 3 item
KMSS, for a total of 39 items. For the ECR-R items, participants indicate amount of agreement on
a seven point scale. For the KMSS items, participants indicate level of satisfaction on a seven point
scale. Completion of the questionnaire was estimated to require approximately 20 - 30 minutes.

14. Describe how data will be collected and recorded [submit all data documents (e.g., questionnaire,
interview questions, etc.) with this IRB application]: Participants will complete a paper and pencil
questionnairre at time and place of their conveineance, and mail the completed questionnaire back
to me in pre-addressesd, pre-stamped envelopes (provided with the questionnaire). I will code the
questionnaires and enter the data into SPSS for analysis.

15. Where will the study procedures take place? I will distribute the questionnaires at three separate AET
workshops: Asheville, NC; Dayton, OH; and Colorado Springs, CO.

Section 7: Risks and Benefits

16. What are the potential risks (e.g., emotional, physical, social, legal, economic, or dignity) to study
participants? (do not state, “There are no risks involved.” Acceptable language = “There are no more than
minimal risks involved.”) There is a potential risk to study participants that the self-reflection
associated with completing the questionnaire could cause emotional pain that the participant did
not anticipate and did not want to experience. However, this risk is expected to be very low because
all study participants have completed at least one week of intensive training in self- observation and
self- reflection, including training and practice in coping with the emotional pain associated with
this type of work. In addition, both of the instruments included in the questionnaire are widely used
by researchers, and no adverse effects to study participants have been reported.

17. Does this study involve (check one box): minimal risk or more than minimal risk to study
participants?
Minimal risk means that the probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research
are not greater in and of themselves than those ordinarily encountered in daily activities or during the
performance of routine physical or psychological examinations or tests.

18. Explain the study’s efforts to reduce the potential risks to subjects? The study will attempt to reduce
the potential risk of unanticipated, unwanted emotional pain associated with self-reflection by
explaining the nature of the questionnaire, and by stressing that participation is completely
voluntary. Furthermore, the potential risk will be reduced by instructing that participants complete
the questionnaire at a place and time of their own choosing.

19. What are the direct or indirect anticipated benefits to study participants and/or society? Study
participants will benefit from this study because the membership of the AET is dedicated to
development and teaching of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition, and the results of this
study will contribute to this organizational goal by increasing knowledge about the enneagram
model of personality. Society will benefit from this study because the results should contribute to
increased effectiveness of attachment-based therapies.

Section 8: Confidentiality / Anonymity

20. Will the study release personally identifying study results to anyone outside of the research team (e.g.,
participants identified in publications with individual consent)?
No

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 Yes

If yes,

To whom will identifying data be released?

21. Will researchers be collecting and/or recording identifying information (e.g., name, contact information,
etc.) of study participants?
No (identifying information of participants will not be recorded in study files [including signature on
consent form])
Yes

If yes,

The IRB strongly suggests and may require that all data documents (e.g., questionnaire responses,
interview responses, etc.) do not include or request identifying information (e.g., name, contact
information, etc.) from participants. If you need to link subjects’ identifying information to
subjects’ data documents, use a study ID/code on all data documents.

A. Describe if/how the study will utilize study codes:

B. If applicable, where will the linked code and identifying information document (i.e., John
Doe = study ID 001) be stored and who will have access (Note: this document must be
stored separately from subjects’ completed data documents and the accessibility should be
limited)?

22. Where will data documents (e.g., questionnaire, interview responses, etc.) be stored? In a fireproof lock
box in my home office

23. Who will have access to study data? Myself

24. Describe the study’s plans for retaining or destroying the study data: I plan to retain the original
questionnaires until I have completed all analyses.

25. Does this study request information from participants regarding illegal behavior?
No
Yes

If yes,

Does the study plan to obtain a Certificate of Confidentiality [visit our website at
http://www.irb.vt.edu/pages/studyforms.htm#COC for information about these certificates]?
No
Yes (Note: participants must be fully informed of the conditions of the Certificate of
Confidentiality within the consent process and form)

Section 9: Compensation

26. Will subjects be compensated for their participation?

No
Yes

If yes,

A. What is the amount of compensation?

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 Unless justified by researcher (in letter B below), compensation should be prorated based
on duration of study participation. Payment must not be contingent upon completion of
study procedures. In other words, even if the subject decides to withdraw from the study,
he/she must be compensated, at least partially, based on what study procedures he/she has
completed.

B. Will compensation be prorated?

Yes, please describe:
No, explain why and clarify whether subjects will receive full compensation if they
withdraw from the study?

Section 10: Audio / Video Recording

27. Will your study involve video and/or audio recording?

No
Yes

If yes,

A. Select from the drop-down box select one

B. Provide compelling justification for the use of audio/video recording:

C. How will data within the recordings be retrieved / transcribed?

D. Where will tapes be stored?

E. Who will have access to the recordings?

F. Who will transcribe the recordings?

G. When will the tapes be erased / destroyed?

Section 11: Research Involving Students

28. Does your study include students as participants?

No (if no, skip to Section 12 below)
Yes

If yes,

A. This study involves (select all that apply):

Students in elementary, junior or high school (or equivalent)
College students (select all that apply):
College upperclassmen (Juniors, Seniors or Graduate Students)
College freshmen – please note that some college freshmen may be minors (under
the age of 18).
If the study meets the specified criteria, the IRB may grant a waiver of parental
permission to include
these minors without individual guardian permission [see question 32B for further
information].
Select one of the following:
These minors will be included in this research
Minors will be excluded from this study. Describe how the study will ensure
that minors

125
 will not be included:

B. Does this study involve conducting research with students of the researcher? (Note: If it is
feasible to use students from a class of students not under the instruction of the researcher,
the IRB recommends and may require doing so):
No
Yes, describe safeguards the study will implement to protect against coercion or undue
influence for participation:

C. Will the study need to access student records (e.g., SAT or GRE scores, or student GPA
scores)?
No
Yes [if yes, a separate signed consent/assent form (for student’s approval) and
permission form (for
parent’s approval if subject is a minor) must be obtained and submitted to the
Registrar’s office] [submit
consent form template(s) with this IRB application]

Section 11A: Students in Elementary, Junior, or High School

[Answer questions 29 & 30 below if your study involves students in elementary, junior or high school (or
equivalent)]

29. Will study procedures be completed during school hours?

No
Yes

If yes,

A. Students not included in the study may view other students’ involvement with the research
during school time as unfair. Address this issue and how the study will reduce this outcome:

B. Missing out on regular class time or seeing other students participate may influence a
student’s decision to participate. Address how the study will reduce this outcome:

30. You will need to obtain school approval. This is typically granted by the Principal or Assistant
Superintendent and classroom teacher. Approval by an individual teacher is insufficient. School approval,
in the form of a letter or a memorandum should accompany the approval request to the IRB. Is the
approval letter(s) attached to this submission? Yes or No, if no, explain why:

Section 11B: College Students

[Answer question 31 below if your study involves college students]

31. Will extra credit be offered to subjects?

No
Yes

If yes,

A. Include a description of the extra credit to be provided in Section 9: Compensation above

B. What will be offered to subjects as an equal alternative to receiving extra credit without
participating in this study?

Section 12: Research Involving Minors

126
For more information about involving minors in research, visit our website at
http://www.irb.vt.edu/pages/newstudy.htm#Minors

32. Does your study involve minors (under the age of 18) (Note: age constituting a minor may differ in other
States)?
No
Yes

If yes,

A. The procedure for obtaining assent from these minors and permission from the minor’s
guardian(s) should have been described in Section 5 (Consent Process) in this form.

Researchers may request a waiver of parental permission if the study meets the criteria
specified under letter B below. Requesting a waiver for the requirement to obtain informed
permission from guardians may be helpful when recruiting college students for minimal risk
socio/behavioral research. Most studies involving minors must obtain parental permission
prior to the recruitment of minors.

B. Are you requesting a waiver of parental permission?

No, parents/guardians will provide their permission
Yes, describe below how your research meets all of the following criteria:
A) The research involves no more than minimal risk to the subjects:
B) The waiver will not adversely affect the rights and welfare of the subjects:
C) The research could not practicably be carried out without the waiver:
D) (Optional) Subjects will be provided with additional pertinent information after
participation:

C. Does your study reasonably pose a risk of reports of current threats of abuse and/or suicide?
No
Yes, thoroughly explain how the study will react to these reports (Note: subjects must be
fully informed of the fact that researchers must report reasonable threats of abuse or suicide
to the appropriate authorities/persons in the Confidentiality section of the Consent or
Permission documents):

Section 13: Research Involving Deception

For more information about involving deception in research and for assistance with developing your
debriefing form, visit our website at http://www.irb.vt.edu/pages/newstudy.htm#Deception

33. Does your study involve deception?

No
Yes

If yes,

A. Describe the deception:

B. Why is the use of deception necessary for this project?

C. Describe the process of debriefing [submit your debriefing form with this IRB application]:

D. By nature, studies involving deception cannot provide subjects with a complete description
of the study during the consent process; therefore, the IRB must waive a consent process
which does not include, or which alters, some or all of the elements of informed consent.
Provide an explanation of how the study meets all the following criteria for an alteration of

127
 consent:
A) The research involves no more than minimal risk to the subjects:
B) The alteration will not adversely affect the rights and welfare of the subjects:

C) The research could not practicably be carried out without the alteration:
D) (Optional) Subjects will be provided with additional pertinent information after
participation (i.e., debriefing for studies involving deception):

The IRB requests that the researcher use the title “Information Sheet” instead of “Consent
Form” on the document used to obtain subjects’ signatures to participate in the research.
This will adequately reflect the fact that the subject cannot fully consent to the research
without the researcher fully disclosing the true intent of the research.

Section 14: Research Involving the Collection or Study of Existing Data Documents, Records, Pathological
Specimens, or Diagnostic Specimens

34. Will your study involve the collection or study of existing data?
No
Yes

If yes,

A. From where does the existing data originate?

B. Provide a description of the existing data that will be collected:

Section 15: Additional Information

35. Provide additional information not captured within this worksheet here [response to this question not
required]:

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 Institutional Review Board
Request for Exempt Review

Directions
This form must be typed and submitted (as a Word document) to the IRB office
electronically along with the other required documents (e.g., Initial Review Application, all
study forms relating to human subjects, and bio-sketches of investigators) to [email protected].
In addition to submitting electronically, this form, signed by all appropriate parties, must
be received by the IRB office before the submission is processed. Mail or deliver the
original signed copy of this form to: IRB, Virginia Tech, Office of Research Compliance,
1880 Pratt Drive, Suite 2006 (0497), Blacksburg, VA 24061. To speed up the approval
process, signed Review Forms may be scanned or faxed [(540) 231-0959] to the IRB office;
however, the original signatures must also be mailed or delivered to the IRB office for
documentation.

Section 1: Contact Information

Principal Investigator [Faculty or Faculty Advisor] (all fields required) HST = Human
Subjects Training
Name: Dr. Katherine Allen PID: kallen HST completed
What is a PID? (scroll through:
over) VT in-class training
Department: Human Development Email: [email protected] Mail Code: 0416

___________________________________________
__________________
Signature of Principal Investigator Date

Co-Investigator(s) [Faculty or Student] (all fields required for each Co-Investigator)

Co-Investigator #1
Name: Kristin Arthur PID: kbedow HST completed
Organization Name: Virginia Tech Email: through:
[email protected] VT in-class training

___________________________________________
__________________
Signature of Co-Investigator #1 Date

Co-Investigator #2
Name: PID: HST completed
Organization Name: Email: through: select source

___________________________________________
__________________
Signature of Co-Investigator #2 Date

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 Co-Investigator #3
Name: PID: HST completed
Organization Name: Email: through: select source

___________________________________________
__________________
Signature of Co-Investigator #3 Date

Co-Investigator #4
Name: PID: HST completed
Organization Name: Email: through: select source

___________________________________________
__________________
Signature of Co-Investigator #4 Date

Departmental Reviewer: (not required for all departments)

Name: Dr. Joyce Arditti PID:

___________________________________________ __________________
Signature of Departmental Reviewer Date
Section 2: General Information
1. Project Title: Attachment Styles And Enneagram Types: Development And Testing Of
An Integrated Model Of Personality For Use In Marriage And Family Therapy

Enter title as you would like it to appear on the official IRB approval letter.

2. Number of Human Subjects: 200

3. Do any of the investigators on this project have a reportable conflict of interest? No If yes,
explain:

All investigators of this project are qualified through completion of human subject
protections education. Visit our website at http://www.irb.vt.edu/pages/training.html to
view training opportunities accepted by the VT IRB. (Note: Do not submit your IRB
application until all investigators are qualified)

All investigators listed on this project, along with the departmental reviewer (if applicable),
have reviewed this IRB application and all requested revisions from these parties have been
implemented into this submission. (Note: Do not submit your application until all parties have
reviewed and signed off on the final draft of the materials)

Section 3: Source of Funding

4. Source of Funding Support (check one box):
Departmental Research [if Dept. Research, skip to Section 4]

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 Sponsored Research, including VARIOUS funds & OSP/VT foundation funds [if Sponsored
Research, respond to letters A-D below]
A. Name of Sponsor [if NIH, specify department]:
B. Title of study as listed on OSP application:
C. OSP number: * Proposal # (enter 8 digit number, no dashes/spaces): , OR
* Grant # (enter 6 digit number, no dashes/spaces): , OR
* OSP # pending (check box if pending):
D. Is this project receiving federal funds (e.g., DHHS, DOD, etc.)? select one

Section 4: Exemption Criteria

Note: To qualify for Exemption, the research must meet all of the following criteria (a – f):
(a) Be of minimal risk to the subjects; AND
(b) Must not involve pregnant women, prisoners or mentally impaired persons; AND
(c) Must not include survey research with minors unless involving standard educational activities (e.g., educational tests) within
the particular education system; AND
(d) Must not include observation of a minor’s public behavior unless there is no researcher interaction, AND
(e) Research must not involve video or audio recording of subjects; AND
(f) must be in one or more of the following categories:

5. Please mark/check the appropriate category or categories below which qualify the proposed
project for exemption:
1. Research will be conducted in established or commonly accepted educational settings,
involving normal educational practices, such as (a) research on regular and special
education instructional strategies, or (b) research on the effectiveness or the comparison
among instructional techniques, curricula, or classroom management methods.
2. Research will involve the use of educational tests (cognitive, diagnostic, aptitude,
achievement), survey procedures, interview procedures or observation of public behavior,
unless the subjects can be identified directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects
and disclosure of responses could reasonably place the subjects at risk or criminal or civil
liability or be damaging to the subjects’ financial standing, employability or reputation.
3. Research will involve the use of educational tests (cognitive, diagnostic, aptitude,
achievement), survey procedures, interview procedures, or observation of public behavior
that is not exempt under item (2) above, if (a) the subjects are elected or appointed public
officials or candidates for public office; or (b) Federal statute(s) require(s) that the
confidentiality or other personally identifiable information will be maintained throughout
the research and thereafter.
4. Research will involve the collection or study of existing data, documents, records,
pathological specimens, or diagnostic specimens, if these sources are publicly available
or if the information is recorded by the investigator in such a manner that subjects cannot
be identified directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects.
5. Research and demonstration projects which are conducted by or subject to the approval
of federal agency sponsoring the research, and which are designed to study, evaluate or
otherwise examine (a) public benefit or service programs, (b) procedures for obtaining
benefits or services under those programs, (c) possible changes in or alternatives to those
programs or procedures, or (d) possible changes in methods or levels of payment for
benefits or services under those programs.
6. Taste and food quality evaluation and consumer acceptance studies, if (a) wholesome
foods without additives are consumed, or if (b) a food is consumed that contains a food

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ingredient at or below the level and for a use found to be safe, by the Food and Drug
Administration or approved by the Environmental Protection Agency or the Food Safety
and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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