Expanded Description of Type Eight

Eights are usually energetic, intense, rebellious, protective, dogmatic, and some might say a little bossy with an all-or-nothing style of approach.  They are people who work hard, play hard, and often take charge of any enterprise they are involved in, from a trip to the pub to a big business deal.


Eights project their energy and have the capacity to fill a room with their presence, even when they are quiet. Other people can find this energetic presence a little overwhelming at times but this is often shocking to an Eight for they do not see themselves as overbearing,  and they are often unaware of their impact. Although they are aware their interpersonal style is often direct.
 

Eights have very personal ethics, involving integrity, truth and justice, through which they view the world as either/or; they feel you are either with them or they do not trust you- and there is rarely a grey area in between those extremes. They are often dogmatic - "I may be in error but I'm never in doubt" - and though they have strong values related to fairness. When they are in “doing mode” they can be slow to hear another viewpoint.


Their response to situations is immediate and most, though not all, are happy to raise their voice and become energised to stress a point. People who meet their directness with evasion, half-truths, rationalisation, or seem to withhold information, will be confronted. Eights demand truth, and a clear resolution- the intention behind their style is not to damage, or to provoke fear, but to get to clarity.


Eights trust people who match their energy, and become focused and supportive when an issue is in the open. Others may be surprised to find that if they fight back they are liked, and that once an argument is over the anger is forgotten. Eights can appear to act impulsively most of the time, they trust their “gut feel” about things. . With a low boredom threshold, they are usually very active, but when there is nothing intense to do some can sit around 'doing nothing' for days or months, on the basis that "if there's nothing worth doing, why do anything?".


Passionate, and excessive in everything that feels life-enhancing or important to them, they are the last to leave a party they are enjoying, but also the last to leave work if they have committed to a goal. If they see it as worthwhile they immerse themselves, and keep going till exhausted. If life is quiet they either turn to something else or increase their own energy to get things moving.


"I can be provocative without even thinking of it and take up people's space without necessarily being aware of it - it's just that I feel something and it needs to be expressed, and I don't think of the impact or the consequences."  

Eights seem to want to control. They take centre stage, are persistent in pursuing issues and seem only to be happy directing things. They have an intuitive sense of power: where it lies, whether they are threatened, and how to take or regain control. This is not always as clear cut as it seems, as in fact they seek not to be controlled, and would prefer not to have to take charge.

"It really isn't that I have to dominate, though I suppose some Eights are like that, but I refuse to be controlled. 'They' ain't going to get me! And I walk away as often as I fight. If I don't care about the issue or respect the person, I can't be bothered."


It is not so obvious that Eights also control themselves. Most say they feel they are holding back constantly lest their energy and emotions overwhelm them and others. Big things which matter may take time to get under way, and anger towards people who matter may be displaced or suppressed until the pressure is so great it is forced out, often explosively.

Eights' vulnerability is hidden from themselves as well as others. Trusting their gut feelings, they can seem to be naïve when they trust, and are deeply hurt by betrayal. They test people's trustworthiness and the bond they have with others. This can be unconsciously, by raising painful issues or making cutting remarks.


Being strong, they do not allow themselves to admit what they need, and if they do, "it is so hard to ask that it may come out like a demand because it has so much power behind it".  Eights are extremely protective and supportive of friends and loved ones, and can fight hard on behalf of anyone treated unjustly who is not strong enough to fight for themselves. Powerful people, most of them enjoy empowering others.


Aware Eights can be deeply loving, protective and empowering, using their great energy and natural authority to take a leadership role in combating injustice in the home and in society. Unaware Eights can be cynics, bullies, law-breakers, strong-arm people, unaware of others' feelings and using force, lies, manipulation or violence to get their own way.

 
To stay strong, Eights adopt a habit of internal denial which protects them from awareness of their own vulnerability, and the needs which; “strong people such as myself do not have.” They may well be emotional people but this is usually conveyed as sentiment, or is related to the suffering of others. Eights are not emotional in regards to expressing any vulnerability.


Denial also protects Eights from the devastating knowledge that their focus of attention produces in them the very behaviour they hate in others: domination, insensitivity and injustice. Although Eights are self-referencing - they act on their own rather than others' opinions – they are also 'self-forgetters'. Denial is a facet of self-forgetting, in which Eights replace their inner reality and feelings of vulnerability with the energetic pursuit of justice for those less strong than themselves, helping friends, or the pursuit of enjoyment.

The Scripts that Motivate Type Eights 

to live with an intensity that makes me feel alive

to prove my strength through action or acheivement

to have what I need to be independent
 
to fully engage with all that life has to offer

to share life with those who know what loyalty means

to be self-reliant, and be able to take control when I need to

 to be strong so that others cannot have control over me

to put my arms around and defend all those who depend on me

to protect and give a voice to those less able to speak for themselves

 to stand up against those who abuse their power 

to fight for what is fair and just in this world

to be strong, and feel secure in an unsafe world

to live with vitality