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Writer's pictureKrista Bontrager

Is the Enneagram a Valid Psychological Tool?

Guest: Jay Medenwaldt; reliability and validity of the Enneagram; Krista and Monique’s recent blog posts and livestreams


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Segment #1: Interview with Jay


The Enneagram claims that it is a psychological and spiritual personality assessment that reveals our inner motivations. It has become very popular in recent years, particularly among Christians. It is seen as a useful tool for spiritual growth.


About a year ago, Krista wrote a blog post about the Enneagram. She tackles more of the spiritual side of the issue.


For this show, we invited Jay Medenwaldt to share with us. Jay is a doctoral student (PhD - Social Psychology) who has been researching the question: Is the Enneagram a valid personality test? He shared his research and experience with us


Jay, an expert in Social and Personality Psychology, helped us understand that the Enneagram is a personality test or system that attempts to explain someone’s personality using nine different personality types. The Enneagram seeks to discover a person’s core motivations that drive their behavior. Some of the well-known proponents include Richard Rohr, Helen Palmer, and Ian Morgan Cron.


Jay concludes that the Enneagram is not well studied from a scientific standpoint (approximately 10-15 published studies). Regarding the psychometric properties (reliability and validity), the Enneagram scores fairly low, compared with other personality inventories such as the Big Five Personality Test, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).


Monique asked, “Why does the Enneagram seem to be so eerily accurate?

Jay has a blog post that answers this very question!


Connect with Jay and his work:

 

Segment #2: What Have We Been Up To?


We have been busy getting the word out about Biblical Unity!


Check out Monique’s recent blog post: “The Myth of Reverse Racism


Krista did a livestream last week on reparations. She asked: Does the story of Zacchaeus offer a biblical case for reparations? Does it address the problem of what to do with unjustly acquired wealth by 250 years of slavery, 90 years of Jim Crow, and 35 years of racist housing policies?


Monique spoke on Race, Injustice, and Critical Theory at the 6:33 Event at the Living Truth Christian Fellowship in Southern California.


Thank you for your support of the Center for Biblical Unity! Check out our website to get your CFBU swag!


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