Social 5(SO5)

Avarice in the Social Sphere

Combining the social instinct with the passion of avarice manifests as holding on to whatever the individual considers gives him his social standing. Often this person will have a hero to live up to, someone looked at as a intellectual. The SO5 has a greed for social recognition, though, due to the nature of the 5, they are highly avoidant of people they consider unworthy. They are very conscious of social hierarchies, and because of this this subtype is insanely picky with who they associate with, they consider ordinary life and people as boring, as they search for a higher meaning and higher understanding. Wanting to be a totem of knowledge for others, this subtype is heavily intellectual and oriented towards collecting knowledge. This subtype also intellectualizes and isolates their own feelings the most, constantly separating them from their thoughts and suppressing them, seeing them as not important. They're also the most arrogant and cold 5, though they are also the least transparent 5, as they want to maintain their image of knowledge, always hiding a part of themselves.

Ichazo titled SO5 "Totems", someone who has heroes to live up to, however this idealization both divinizes their heroes and dehumanizes everyone else. Naranjo described this character as someone who wants to feel that they matter, but they themselves feel unimportant or uninteresting, a place of "inner poverty", which causes them to seek magic of meaning, the richness of experience, the special, elevated, great or extraordinary.

Trait Structure

Idealization

Idealization, the main feature of the social E5, gives a false sense of fullness and self-importance. This subtype can be identified with the idealized part, leading him to love “perfect” and transcendent things. Things around him are classified as either sacred or worthless. Idealization masks a negative self-image, and there is a permanent conflict between his “real me” and his totemic demands.

Rationalization

Of the intellectual types (E5, E6, and E7), E5 is the most intellectual. And of the subtypes of E5, the social E5 is the most intellectual. This subtype rationalizes his experiences, transforming emotions and sensations into information. The social E5 is impersonal, avoiding intimacy, and relating through the head. Intellectual arrogance makes this subtype cold and distant, alienating himself from other people.

Compartmentalization

Compartmentalization, as the typical defense mechanism of E5, is the way for this subtype to defend against the fear of exposure. Thoughts and feelings are separated from each other, helping the social E5 not become aware of what he avoids feeling. Emotions linked to past experiences are lost.

Distancing

Despite being the most sociable subtype, this subtype is still seen as distant, reserved, and withdrawn. The social E5 does not expect to receive anything from relationships, and thus easily gives them up. There is an extreme attachment to the self.

Lack of action and Little energy

Due to a tendency to save energy, the social E5 suffers from great difficulties taking action. This subtype is also barely available for relationships, as the consequence of saving energy. Sometimes, all of their energy can be directed to areas of their lives they consider important, usually in the service of an ideal. The social E5 sometimes never feels ready enough to put his energy into the world, becoming a simple observer of life, and wasting both opportunities and talents.

Concealed atmosphere

In relationships, there is a lack of transparency, as part of trying to maintain an ideal image. Being mysterious and shy, the social E5 is always hiding part of himself.

Desensitization

The social E5 is both insensitive and hypersensitive. This subtype walks around indifferent, being insensitive to the needs of others. At the same time, the social E5 is very needy and vulnerable, something he compensates by becoming cold and distant.

Resignation and Difficulty saying no

The social E5 is resigned, preferring to keep frustration to himself. He can end up accepting the other's wish, because he does not know how to say “no” - as part of avoiding conflicts. The absence of conflicts is only maintained by renouncing life, leading to vital restriction and reduction of growth potential.

Arrogance

Arrogance is one of the main characteristics of the social E5, as he seeks in knowledge the affirmation of his self-importance. It is difficult for the social E5 to renounce his own theories. This subtype holds a professorial attitude of one who is always teaching. The social E5 disparages ordinary life and ordinary people. Arrogance is a compensation for low self-esteem and fragile self-worth. Absorbed in his own world, the social E5 presents an attitude of not caring and not needing the other.

Restrained greed and abundance

The mind of the social E5 is not oriented to abundance. This subtype lives with little, with a kind of taboo on greed. Fighting for his own wishes requires energy he does not want to waste. The social E5 prefers to find justifications for not committing himself and convincing himself that he does not need anything.

Feeling of internal impoverishment

This subtype feels a sense of lack. They were not sufficiently nourished by maternal warmth. His idealizations reinforce the sense of inadequacy, because compared to the ideal, he is devalued and diminished all the time.

Stinginess

The social E5 is stingy with the other and with himself. They do not realize what they need. They have given up, learning to endure great deprivation. There are great difficulties with being empathetic, and with recognizing the needs of the other.

Autistic traits

The social E5 lives sheltered in his inner world, living in the abstract. He does not know how to communicate, and can live with great anguish without anyone knowing. There is a tendency to become solitary and hermetic. Being very sensitive, the social E5 defends himself to the maximum from external stimuli. Being so indifferent to the world, there is a great attachment to the self. In extreme cases, psychiatry gives us the cases of autism and catatonia.

Claudio Naranjo's Social 5 Description

E5 Social – Totem

If the E4 are so intense, that this makes them very differentiated or contrasting characters, the E5, on the other hand, in their usual lack of intensity, appear to us as more difficult to differentiate between them.

In reference to the passion of social E5, Ichazo used the word totem, which I find very evocative, a good image. But the passion of the social E5 is something similar to the need for the essential, the sublime, we could say, instead of the need for what there is. Totem indicates both height and the character of being a constructed object rather than a human being. The height of a totem evokes a tendency of these people to look up, towards the ideal, and to relate to the most outstanding and prominent among people, something like Midas wanted everything he touched to turn to gold.

The tragedy is that, by seeking the social E5 a super value, it implicitly despises ordinary life and ordinary people. He is only interested in the quintessence of life, the elixir of existence, the ultimate meaning. But in this orientation towards the stars he becomes someone who is little interested in life here below... He becomes, therefore, too spiritual, since affective impoverishment, which moves away from compassion, is precisely contrary to spiritual achievement. Thus, in this character, a polarity is established between the extraordinary and what does not make sense, so that nothing makes sense until the extraordinary or magical is reached.