The Instinctive Triad and Anger

The three Types in the Instinctive Triad - the Eight, the Nine and the One - all have issues around anger.

The Eight is the Type (of all the personality Types) that most readily expresses anger. If an Eight is angry about something you know it because they tell you. They are honest and upfront about it. This can, however, lead them to be abrasive and rub people up the wrong way. They can lose their temper easily and come across as openly aggressive.

The Nine, in search of peace as they are, is the Type that is most conflict averse. As a result Nines don't show anger overtly. However, in order to maintain an internal and external peace, they expend a lot of energy denying their anger which manifests more as a stubbornness and resistance to reality. As a result they can sit on a lot of unexpressed rage which can occasionally explode unexpectedly and be a shock to everyone including the Nines themselves.

The One, because of their large superego, wants to be well-balanced and objective and so they exert a huge amount of self-control over their emotions in general but especially over anger which they feel to be 'wrong' or 'bad'. They repress their anger as much as possible which ends up manifesting more as tension, resentment or judgemental criticism of others and themselves.

It is worth noting that no Type, apart from the Eight, really feels comfortable with anger. We don't want to be angry. However, it is a great teacher and motivator. What we are angry about, and why, tells us a lot about our values and also how we see ourselves. It also creates a powerful energy - it is the fire inside us - a force that can propel us forward with our projects, allow us to stand up for ourselves and what we believe in and to accomplish a great deal.