Elio Perlman MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Elio Perlman? Elio Perlman is an INFP personality type in MBTI, 4w5 - sx/so - 479 in Enneagram, RLUAI in Big 5, IEI in Socionics.
I decided to comment on the book page since I think that’s where we get a truly close look into his personality through him being the narrator…but I’m curious whether anyone’s going to even see this comment. Anyways: The majority of us seem to agree that Elio is an ennea 4 but when it comes to his instinctual variant, the conclusion is a bit messier – sx/sp on the film version and sp/sx on here. As I state in the begging of my typology comments, I’m relatively new to the Enneagram, by no means an “expert”. It's only that I felt like sharing my thoughts and starting up a discussion on Elio’s instincts because I haven’t seen it brought up anywhere… I fail to understand why Elio would be a self-preservation 4. Even if I try to see it separate from his type (how apparently many people still interpret the instincts…) to me there’s nothing about him that would suggest he’s concerned with security, having enough resources, focusing on physical needs, comfort etc. Now if I consider the self preservation 4 as a subtype (as we should) I’m still pretty clueless. Self-preservation Fours unlike the other Type Four subtypes, act on their envy and strive to get what they long for. Yes, Elio is actually quite bold and initiative but not in a way I think an sp 4 would be. He tries to catch Oliver’s attention with these sneaky little hints and references that are sometimes even self-deprecating – sp Fours avoid connecting with their own suffering whereas Elio literally wallows in it, that’s what the whole book is about. Sp Fours are described as outwardly resilient, stoic, long-enduring. Elio repeatedly attempts to appear indifferent but fails terribly. „ - The best I can do is pretend I don’t care - That much we’ve known for a while already” The reason why he tries to act this way seems to come from the fear of rejection while self-pres. Fours tend to think they can attract others by being strong in the face of pain and hiding their weaknesses. Moreover, Elio isn’t very consistent in acting coldly and however hard he tries to ignore Oliver, it doesn’t work, he can’t put a stop to his need of chasing him, he says that he’s like an „addict”. His desire for such an intense romantic connection could be indicative of a sx dominant, he repeatedly expresses wanting to become „one” with Oliver, wanting to merge with him. „Did I want to be like him? Did I want to be him? Or did I just want to have him? Or are being and having thoroughly inaccurate verbs in the twisted skein of desire?” Overall, Elio definitely has a sx 4 vibe – when his provocative and demanding „side” kicks in. He highly values emotional intensity and even tries to escalate things when it’s calmer, he can also be quite possessive of Oliver – especially in the beginning. On the flipside, I can’t see him as someone who „makes others suffer” in order to make up for his own painful feelings. His attitude towards shame and suffering is more that of a Social Four – wanting to be recognized for his own suffering, looking for redemption and reassurement. „Perhaps the very least I wanted was for him to tell me there was nothing wrong with me, that I was no less human than any other young man my age” He entertains the idea of an unrequited love/desire and finds it somewhat comforting or painfully enjoyable. As I have already pointed out he tends to agonize over things a LOT which is most common by soc 4s. “Just wait and be hopeful. I was hopeful though perhaps this is was what I had wanted all along. To wait forever” He also tends to take pride in his intelligence and remarkable knowledge but hardly to the extent of displaying extreme competitiveness or superiority. Although Sexual Fours’ outward superiority stems from their inner feeling of lack, Elio puts himself down in front of others more than he is arrogant. If you ask me, Elio is a bit too impulsive and proactive for the archetype of the Social Four, yet too mellow, self-sabotaging and diffident for a Sexual Four… Is he maybe someone so balanced between these two instinctual variants that it’s hard to decipher which one would be the dominant? Also, the thing that confuses me here is that almost anyone with low self-esteem could identify with the vast majority of Social Four traits…
