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What's Better - Enneagram Wings or Tritype?

What's Better - Tritype or wings?


  • Total voters
    50

Santosha

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Feb 1, 2011
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1,516
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HUMR
Enneagram
6
Instinctual Variant
sx
I relate more to wing than tri-type, but I can't figure out the tri-type for the life of me. Sure I can take a test and get a result.. but it almost seems like it dilutes the meaning. I kind of compare it to astrology in the sense that you have all these planetary positions, sun, moon, mars, libra, venus, pluto, squares, trines, etc. Whenever you get into a highly complex system based on subjective interpretations, tremendous potential for misunderstanding.

Anyhow, I think I will find the basic core/wing fixations, growth and disintegration points to be enough material alone to keep me reeling on self actualization for some time. I don't discount that tri-types could be accurate or have value.. but for now I'm good, lol. =)
 

highlander

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[MENTION=5627]BlackCat[/MENTION] explained it far better than I did, but generally when people look to tritype for further predictive power it's because they're focusing a lot on the descriptions and the characteristics rather than the core motivations to the types. However in order to provide better descriptive power, it sacrifices the real meaning of an enneagram type in the first place. Really all there is to it.

I certainly found tritype interesting at first, but thought it just too intellectually flimsy and that it eroded some of enneagram's integrity in the first place. That's not to say it could never be adapted or developed a little differently in order to be useful though.

It's interesting you don't identify with an adjacent wing however. Typically they do a good job in focusing the core fixation. Is it more you don't identify with either, or that they're equal so you can't choose?

Core motivations of 5 and 7 don't really resonate with me at all nor do the 6w5 and 6w7 descriptions. It's like the shadings they describe just don't fit. Core motivations for 3 and 8 however do fit to some degree though not as much as 6. That's what I came down to.
 

Hazashin

Secret Sex Freak
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This might be a simplistic way of understanding it but the analogy I have for wings is that the Enneagram circle is like a compass. It seems to me that you have a "compass pointer" on the circle which represents your type. You might be a 7 but your compass pointer on the enneagram circle is not exactly on 7 but towards 8 or 6 in some degree (e.g. you are not pointing directly North but and between North and East - more North than East for example). The degree to which your compass pointer is closer to that other number affects how strong your wing is. If you are straight on 7, they you have little to no wing. It's not clear to me what would happen if you were exactly or almost exactly between a 7 and an 8 however. That's one of the questions I have about wings. I don't believe I have much of a wing because while I do identify with the 6 descriptions very well, I do not identify so much with the 6w7 or 6w5 descriptions. So with respect to me personally, either those descriptions are A) Not very good or B) I don't have much of a wing. Maybe they work for 90% of the population however and I'm just an exception.

You know, I didn't know how to verbalize it, but that makes a lot of sense. I agree with that. :yes:
 

highlander

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You know, I didn't know how to verbalize it, but that makes a lot of sense. I agree with that. :yes:

I rechecked the wing descriptions for 6. I found myself a agreeing with parts and disageeing with parts of each wing. So each is partially correct and partially wrong. Maybe that is what it looks like to be in the middle.
 

SilkRoad

Lay the coin on my tongue
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I rechecked the wing descriptions for 6. I found myself a agreeing with parts and disageeing with parts of each wing. So each is partially correct and partially wrong. Maybe that is what it looks like to be in the middle.

I genuinely think I might be a 6 with fairly balanced wings. I would think that I'd lean a bit more toward 6w5, but on certain sites/in certain books I've identified more with the 6w7 description, in others more with 6w5.

I just think that the basic 6 description fits me better than any others, and I have found 6 sp/sx descriptions (or at least sp) which were absolutely spot on.
 

Thunderbringer

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6w7
I think enneagram authors shot themselves in the foot by describing how each type acts instead of focusing more on the core motivations and elements like that. By describing how each type "behaves", they've allowed people to think that they can be every single type which isn't what the enneagram is about. The enneagram was never built to describe personalities or cover every aspect of a person's personality. It was created to tell people that "Hey, you care too much about being a perfectionist. Stop that and do these things to better yourself." This is the main reason I don't like tritypes, but as people have already said, the entire system can get very messy, especially when people add wings to their tritypes. "I'm a 3w2-5w6-8w9 and I stress to 9w1 when I'm depressed but I go to 6w7, which means I have mostly every enneagram type in me!" It just ends up being ridiculous and missing the entire concept of the enneagram. Everyone has every single personality type described for each enneagram type, but no one has the same core motivations/essences of every enneagram type.
 

PeaceBaby

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I tend to like tritype myself ... there's a nuance existing in 937 not explained by 9w1 for me. I'm posting now to remind myself to come back and elaborate.
 

Tyrinth

...
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I tend to like them both. I'm 6w5 and 649. Neither one of them is completely accurate, and yet they both have parts that describe me that the other lacks. I probably have a slight preference for the wings though. I think tritype may attempt to overextend itself past what typology can really do. I don't know.
 

Viridian

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I think enneagram authors shot themselves in the foot by describing how each type acts instead of focusing more on the core motivations and elements like that. By describing how each type "behaves", they've allowed people to think that they can be every single type which isn't what the enneagram is about. The enneagram was never built to describe personalities or cover every aspect of a person's personality. It was created to tell people that "Hey, you care too much about being a perfectionist. Stop that and do these things to better yourself." This is the main reason I don't like tritypes, but as people have already said, the entire system can get very messy, especially when people add wings to their tritypes. "I'm a 3w2-5w6-8w9 and I stress to 9w1 when I'm depressed but I go to 6w7, which means I have mostly every enneagram type in me!" It just ends up being ridiculous and missing the entire concept of the enneagram. Everyone has every single personality type described for each enneagram type, but no one has the same core motivations/essences of every enneagram type.

Interesting... Would you say the Enneagram is more of a "pseudo-pathopsychology" guide than a personality type system per se?

In your opinion, does "integration" consist more of "subduing" your fixation, of focusing it in the right direction, or of balancing it?

I tend to like them both. I'm 6w5 and 649. Neither one of them is completely accurate, and yet they both have parts that describe me that the other lacks. I probably have a slight preference for the wings though. I think tritype may attempt to overextend itself past what typology can really do. I don't know.

I tend to agree with your thoughts. :yes:
 

highlander

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I think enneagram authors shot themselves in the foot by describing how each type acts instead of focusing more on the core motivations and elements like that. By describing how each type "behaves", they've allowed people to think that they can be every single type which isn't what the enneagram is about. The enneagram was never built to describe personalities or cover every aspect of a person's personality. It was created to tell people that "Hey, you care too much about being a perfectionist. Stop that and do these things to better yourself." This is the main reason I don't like tritypes, but as people have already said, the entire system can get very messy, especially when people add wings to their tritypes. "I'm a 3w2-5w6-8w9 and I stress to 9w1 when I'm depressed but I go to 6w7, which means I have mostly every enneagram type in me!" It just ends up being ridiculous and missing the entire concept of the enneagram. Everyone has every single personality type described for each enneagram type, but no one has the same core motivations/essences of every enneagram type.

These are some good points. The core motivations and how we respond to them (which is not the same as behave) is by far the most important thing. I am not sure why you would be limited to only one however.
 

Thunderbringer

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Interesting... Would you say the Enneagram is more of a "pseudo-pathopsychology" guide than a personality type system per se?

In your opinion, does "integration" consist more of "subduing" your fixation, of focusing it in the right direction, or of balancing it?

Eh... somewhat. As many people have said, the enneagram can be a good system to figuring out the core aspect of what you base your personality around, but there are too many things about it that seem arbitrarily placed, such as the aforementioned wings, as well as things like integration and disintegration lines and even the entire design of the enneagram.

These are some good points. The core motivations and how we respond to them (which is not the same as behave) is by far the most important thing. I am not sure why you would be limited to only one however.

What I got from enneagram texts is that everything you do is focused around your core type, so even if it seems like you're doing things similar to other types, it isn't the same because the motivation is different. For example, as a 6, I can be very much into helping others and sacrificing myself for them. Sp 2 descriptions pretty much fit me to a T, however, once I analyze why I do this, I find that it's moreso because I don't want to be left alone by others rather than to be loved by them, as it would be for a 2. This is why tritypes don't work for me. I'm able to see why the many things I do are because of my 6 nature rather than just attributing them to other enneatypes.
 

Hazashin

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These are some good points. The core motivations and how we respond to them (which is not the same as behave) is by far the most important thing. I am not sure why you would be limited to only one however.

I mean, after all, it is a core motivation, not your ONLY motivation. >.<
 

OrangeAppled

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I think wing, integration/disintegration points, and the instinctual stackings cover enough so that tritype becomes redundant or even misses the whole point of enneagram. It doesn't really make sense if you view the core type as the ego.
 

animenagai

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Here's a question for you guys, do you think wings are meaningless too? I mean really I agree with you anti-tritype guys when you say that the point of the enneagram is just for us to realise the lens in which we view reality in. Once we can at least partially overcome these fixations, we live healthier lives. It seems to me that we can simply get this from our main type. As soon as we look into wings we are going into descriptive and behavioral territory that is not essential to the core of the enneagram. Using the same logic, would you be in favor of getting rid of wings too as part of our enneagram discussions?
 

David468

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Tritype and Wings

I appreciate the interest in Tritype, the discovery that we actually have 3 types not just one, and each of those types always occurs 1 each in each of the 3 Centers of Intelligence, Head, Heart and Gut. There is a free video we did on Tritype here [YOUTUBE="http://youtu.be/T3MB4dQUBIQ"][/YOUTUBE] On an advanced level, Type is just the tension of the wings. So, for example, all 4s actually have both wings. They just manifest differently. Tritype measures something different, how you use each Center of Intelligence. So as a 468, I use my Heart Center like a 4, my Head Center like a 6 and my gut Center like an 8. I am a 4w5 468. There is no need to ask which fits you better as we all have both a wing and a Tritype. To determine your Tritype, you can take our professional $10 test here: http://www.enneagram.net/tests There is more free info on Tritype here http://Enneagram.net David
 
G

garbage

Guest
What I got from enneagram texts is that everything you do is focused around your core type, so even if it seems like you're doing things similar to other types, it isn't the same because the motivation is different.
...
I'm able to see why the many things I do are because of my 6 nature rather than just attributing them to other enneatypes.

Yeah. Ideally, and according to the base system, no matter what our secondary fixations have to be, they are rooted in our main fixation. We may display tendencies of the other types, and we ought to learn to draw upon their strengths, but any line of questioning about why we exhibit certain behaviors should be traceable to our main type. I've got a similar phenomenon going with 6 and 3, where my main motivation is difficult to tease out but that it seems that I exhibit 3-like behaviors to serve 6 goals.

Wings and tritype both serve to 'color' our main type and provide more explanation, and they're rooted in different (but not incompatible) theories. I'd say that it might be useful, in some capacity, to identify other type energies that we individually tend to harness. For myself, I identify with 6 and 3 very strongly; to ignore the latter is to ignore a significant aspect of my personality, even if it is more 'surface-level.' A wing, tritype, or direction of integration/disintegration could explain this, but, frankly, it's difficult to care where the explanation comes from so long as it seems true to the individual.

This is sort of like the MBTI questions that center around whether 'My heart serves my head / My head serves my heart'--it boils down to which is more fundamental in the individual.

Also, everything you said about the 'point' of the Enneagram is spot on.
 
G

garbage

Guest
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Character-Neurosis-Integrative-Claudio-Naranjo/dp/0895560666[/url]

This came in the mail yesterday, and I powered through most of it. He actually provides an overall view of why the types are ordered as they are and how adjacent types may be said to be similar to and affect one another. This is information that I hadn't seen anywhere else--it seems to be missing from most discussion on Enneagram.
 

Thunderbringer

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This came in the mail yesterday, and I powered through most of it. He actually provides an overall view of why the types are ordered as they are and how adjacent types may be said to be similar to and affect one another. This is information that I hadn't seen anywhere else--it seems to be missing from most discussion on Enneagram.

Was it so informative that it made you rethink the validity of tritypes?
 

highlander

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I appreciate the interest in Tritype, the discovery that we actually have 3 types not just one, and each of those types always occurs 1 each in each of the 3 Centers of Intelligence, Head, Heart and Gut. There is a free video we did on Tritype here [YOUTUBE="http://youtu.be/T3MB4dQUBIQ"][/YOUTUBE] On an advanced level, Type is just the tension of the wings. So, for example, all 4s actually have both wings. They just manifest differently. Tritype measures something different, how you use each Center of Intelligence. So as a 468, I use my Heart Center like a 4, my Head Center like a 6 and my gut Center like an 8. I am a 4w5 468. There is no need to ask which fits you better as we all have both a wing and a Tritype. To determine your Tritype, you can take our professional $10 test here: http://www.enneagram.net/tests There is more free info on Tritype here http://Enneagram.net David

Well this helps to explain some things :).

Nothing like hearing from the person who discovered/created something.

You talk about each wing manifesting itself differently. Can you elaborate on this a little? Also, do you think all people have a wing or can it be so slight as to be indiscernable?
 

Hazashin

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Okay, question for you anti-tritype-ists...

One of my close friends is frankly spit between types 1 and 5. He often exhibits both motivations (and is even aware of it in himself, too), and he consistently scores highest on both types -- even to the point where they were like .1 apart (i.e., 1w9 would 15.4, while 5w4 would be 15.3, etc.)! On top of that, the two aren't even connected through integration nor disintegration, so I don't know how you would explain that.

Why do you think this is?
 
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