Attitudinal Psyche

Attitudinal Psyche (AP)

Attitudinal Psyche (AP) measures four aspects of reality: Volition (V), Logic (L), Physics (F), and Emotion (E) (now called Expression). AP seeks to measure the driving attitudes behind people’s actions and decisions, whereas the Enneagram serves more to explain the “why” of people’s behavior. The order of each attitude expresses how comfortable a person is with it. Their dominant attitudes are the approaches a person naturally leans toward, whereas their inferior attitudes are usually what a person tries to avoid, protect, and neglect.

Positions:

Confident attitude (1V, 1L, 1F, 1E): This is a person’s dominant attitude, where they are confident in their own abilities and decisions in this aspect of reality. This is called being self-positive (Xs+). This also makes them aware of their own abilities and therefore dismissive of others’ views on the matter, only taking them into account when they align with or help their motivations. This is called being others-negative (Xo-). This is why a person prefers to keep their motivations to themselves, only sharing their insights with others as a way of imparting their competence in this sector.

Flexible attitude (2V, 2L, 2F, 2E): This is a person’s secondary attitude, where they are also confident in their own abilities and decisions in this aspect of reality (Xs+), but are also open to others’ insights and enjoy openly discussing this aspect of reality. This is called being others-positive (Xo+).

Insecure attitude (3V, 3L, 3F, 3E): This is a person’s vulnerable attitude, where they are highly aware of their weaknesses and shortcomings in this sector of reality (Xs-) and will therefore need a lot of validation to make sure they are following the right course of action. This also makes them aware of the negative consequences and manipulations in this area, while making them unaware of the cues that others give in this area (Xo-) due to the self-fixation of their insecurity.

Unbothered attitude (4V, 4L, 4F, 4E): This is a person’s dismissed attitude, where they are unconcerned with how this aspect of reality affects them (Xs-). Yet they can become aware that others have competence in this aspect of reality (Xo+). They usually have a sense of calm and unconcern in this dimension, seeking swift conclusions when they must operate within it.

Example: 1F, 2L, 3E, and 4V make the Attitudinal Psyche (AP) type FLEV. Another example would be 1L, 2E, 3V, and 4F, which would be LEVF.

History:

Attitudinal Psyche (AP) is a personality typology system developed by Rob Zeke Collopy, building upon Alexander Afanasyev’s earlier work, Psyche Yoga (also known as Psychosophy). AP focuses on individuals’ attitudes toward four aspects: Volition, Logic, Physics, and Emotion (now called Expression). Unlike its predecessor, which incorporated concepts of psychic energy, AP centers exclusively on attitudes, offering a framework to understand how people perceive and interact with these aspects in themselves and others. Collopy’s system introduces 24 unique personality types, each representing a distinct combination of attitudes toward the four aspects. Since its inception, AP has gained attention within typology communities for its nuanced approach to personality assessment.

Official Attitudinal Psyche website: attitudinalpsyche.com