CNET CNET Individual Typing & Assessment Process 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What distinguishes the Narrative Enneagram's typing panels from other personality assessment approaches?
- Panels use actors trained to portray each type
- Panels feature real people of identified types sharing their inner experience in first person (Correct answer)
- Panels are conducted online using AI moderation
- Panels require participants to take a validated instrument first
Correct answer: Panels feature real people of identified types sharing their inner experience in first person
Typing panels in the Narrative Tradition feature real, self-identified individuals speaking authentically about their inner life, making the experience direct and humanizing.
Question 2: What is the recommended stance for a CNET teacher when a participant types themselves but their narrative clearly fits a different type?
- Correct them in front of the group for pedagogical clarity
- Ask deepening questions that invite further self-reflection without assertion (Correct answer)
- Document the discrepancy and report to the IEA
- Pair them with a panel member of the more likely type for one-on-one coaching
Correct answer: Ask deepening questions that invite further self-reflection without assertion
CNET teachers use curiosity and open questions to support deeper inquiry rather than asserting an alternative type.
Question 3: Which Enneagram concept explains why two people of the same type can look very different on the surface?
- The Hornevian groups
- Subtypes (instinctual variants) layered on the core type (Correct answer)
- The law of seven
- MBTI correlation patterns
Correct answer: Subtypes (instinctual variants) layered on the core type
Instinctual variants (self-preservation, social, sexual/one-to-one) create significant surface variation in how the same core type is expressed.
Question 4: When assessing type in a CNET context, why is childhood origin story often explored?
- To diagnose personality disorders
- To trace the early formation of core motivational patterns and coping strategies (Correct answer)
- To identify family-of-origin trauma for therapeutic referral
- To verify that the participant's story is authentic
Correct answer: To trace the early formation of core motivational patterns and coping strategies
The Enneagram teaches that core type patterns emerge early in life, so childhood narratives often reveal the original formation of the type's defensive structure.
Question 5: What is the CNET-recommended response when a participant says 'I'm a little bit of every type'?
- Confirm they are a rare multi-type individual
- Explain that while all types exist in everyone, one type drives the core motivational structure (Correct answer)
- Administer a written test to identify the dominant type
- Skip that participant in the typing exercise
Correct answer: Explain that while all types exist in everyone, one type drives the core motivational structure
All nine patterns exist in every person to some degree, but the Enneagram teaches that one type reflects the core motivational and attentional structure.
Question 6: How does a CNET teacher use the concept of 'attention' in the typing process?
- By tracking eye contact during panel interviews
- By exploring where a person's attention automatically and habitually goes without their conscious direction (Correct answer)
- By measuring response time on written assessments
- By observing which subjects the participant finds boring
Correct answer: By exploring where a person's attention automatically and habitually goes without their conscious direction
In the Narrative Tradition, each type has a characteristic fixation of attention, and identifying where attention habitually goes is a primary diagnostic tool.
CNET CNET Individual Typing & Assessment Process 2
What distinguishes the Narrative Enneagram's typing panels from other personality assessment approaches?