What's Better - Enneagram Wings or Tritype?

[highlander]

Do wings fit you better or do you think Tritype is a better representation of who you are?

 

[Silveresque]

My wing really doesn't fit me very well. Generally type 1 is one of my lowest scores on tests, and I hardly relate to it at all. My tritype is a much better fit.

 

[Zarathustra]

This thread needs a poll...

I think my wing fits well.

I don't know my tritype.

 

[SilkRoad]

To me, tritype is a bit of a copout and is kind of a way of compromising when you're not 100% sure of type and identify with bits of a few of them. So I think wings SHOULD have more bearing on reality...but then again, I'm still a bit uncertain about mine. I identify strongly with aspects of both 6w5 and 6w7, let's say.

 

[Zarathustra]

I also think part of my issue with tritype is that it makes the enneagram even more "hand wavy" than it already is. The theoretical underpinnings for the enneagram are already questionable, imo. That doesn't stop me from thinking it's useful, though, as, if someone would self-identify as an ENFP e8 vs an ENFP e4 or ENFP e2, I think there's a lot of value to those distinctions. In other words, it's still meaningful, despite the lack of solid theoretical grounding (which is not to say that someone couldn't come up with a reasonably solid theoretical grounding -- at least as solid as Jung's typology [which, imo, is, likewise, not completely solid]), because it does describe the person to some degree (and the fact that reasonably strong correlations exist between MBTI types and enneagram types, and that, if you understand both systems, you can understand why those correlations would exist, only serves to further buttress this point). But once you bring up, "Oh, you're actually 3 out of the 9 types", and then the question can even become, "Well, do my 3 tri-type types have wings, too?", which would entail you now kinda being 6 out of the 9 types... and then you start throwing in the integration and disintegration points... I mean, as you can see (or at least as I see it), it all starts sounding very wishy-washy...

My $0.02. I don't really have a strong background in the enneagram.

 

[JocktheMotie]

Wings. Tritype is nonsense for some of the reasons already stated, but mostly because it's born from people trying to find typological reasons for why they like chocolate ice cream.

 

[Burger King]

The wing theory fits best with me. I can see clearly its influence. I agree with the criticism against the tritype theory.

Overall the theories are all over the place. With wings, tritypes, and arrows of integration/disintegration, it becomes extremely confusing and convoluted.

 

[Such Irony]

Tritype explains why I identify alot with both 5 and 9. I identify with 9 more than either wing of type 5.

 

[Mycroft]

I mean, whatever. All of this typology stuff is necessarily unscientific and impossible to prove one way or the other, so if you've found tritypes better account for behavior, then there you go.

I've found Enneagram and MBTI to provide useful frameworks for discussing human behavior, but it's important to remember that all frameworks are only frameworks. If they accounted for everything, they'd just be "reality" and would be useless since they don't simplify anything. My opinion is that tritypes add too many layers of complexity so that the system becomes cumbersome and inelegant.

 

[highlander]

Wings. Tritype is nonsense for some of the reasons already stated, but mostly because it's born from people trying to find typological reasons for why they like chocolate ice cream.

Tritype fits me much better. Maybe i dont have a wing because neither of them resonate. I do think enneagram ise extremely useful - more practical value than mbti, functions, etc.

 

[BlackCat]

Most tritypes are explained within your enneagram type, so I'd say wings. If you can't relate to both of your enneagram type partners in some way I'd say you're mistyped. If you read Naranjo's work you will realize how ridiculous tri type theory is just because of how deep the theory really runs with the motivations... 9s are no longer about just "conflict", it goes deeper than that.

 

[BlackCat]

My wing really doesn't fit me very well. Generally type 1 is one of my lowest scores on tests, and I hardly relate to it at all. My tritype is a much better fit.

I personally am a 9w8 and my type 1 scores on tests are close to zero if not zero most of the time, yet I definitely have some 1 tendencies whether I want to admit it or not. I am very, very 1 inclined when it comes to how I judge people; I set standards in my head seemingly automatically for a lot of things in life. Just the way that a 1 goes about doing it I don't relate to it, and how pretty much their entire life is run by said standards. It's more of a feeling for me. I thought the idea of being neighbors with the 1 was ridiculous until I read Naranjo's book and then realized that it's definitely an unconscious thing that I do a lot of the time.

 

[King sns]

Two types fit me well, they seem to mesh equally well into my persona and sometimes one is heavier than the other, though it's like the two could fit as one. I understand and can see how they can go hand in hand with me. I could do away with the third, I don't really care, some things can be described other ways without throwing in that whole third tritype. The wings don't strike any big deep chord though I can see influences/ components on some level. I've tested in enneagram a few times when I was younger, I got the same two types that I am now on tests, (4 or 7), and now that I've gone through all the reading and legwork, they both still seem to come out in the wash as patterns and themes over time. I can read information about the entire enneagram and two types just leave me full of light bulbs, epiphanies, ways to improve, things that make me tick, etc. What more can I ask for from a theoretical model that is designed as an aide into deeper self-reflection and understanding?

In other people, sometimes I can see a strong type or wing, other times I can see four or five, especially as I'm getting to know them. I figure as long as I keep my perceptions open and fairly objective, I am open to learn a lot. I don't understand people's needs to "correctly" type people or even themselves. The mind strives to reach set answers for everything in life and I've yet to see a decent argument about why this is so urgently necessary or even valid. (In this setting, at least.)

 

[garbage]

'Allowing' one to identify with multiple types (at different strengths) would provide more explanatory power than tritype, but without requiring some arbitrary 'hand-waving' theoretical nonsense (e.g. we have one each of gut, head, and heart fix) to back it up.

 

[highlander]

Most tritypes are explained within your enneagram type, so I'd say wings. If you can't relate to both of your enneagram type partners in some way I'd say you're mistyped. If you read Naranjo's work you will realize how ridiculous tri type theory is just because of how deep the theory really runs with the motivations... 9s are no longer about just "conflict", it goes deeper than that.

Can you elaborate on tritypes explained within enneagram type? Also I thought Katherine studied with Naranjo.

 

[Rasofy]

First of all, it sounds rather arbitrary to consider that a person of any Enneagram has to be more connected with his wings than any other Enneagram. I agree that it can overcomplicate things, but I'm pretty sure it gives a better assessment of personalities. To name a few issues with wings that I can easily detect, there are many 4w5s around that are much more like 7s than 5s. And in my case, I don't relate enough either to En 6 or En 4 to call it a wing. I'd definitely reach 5w6 by elimination, but I consider it a poor approach.

 

[King sns]

'Allowing' one to identify with multiple types (at different strengths) would provide more explanatory power than tritype, but without requiring some arbitrary 'hand-waving' theoretical nonsense (e.g. we have one each of gut, head, and heart fix) to back it up.

We're open enough to accept the truth around here, Bologna. And let me tell you, it's not about you being a 6w5 and a 3w4 and a 9 because you just can't be 5 types because you are only one person.

Edit: GOD.
You are just trying to win @ life with your small straight of 3456. I bet you would throw a 7 or a 2 in your type if you were allowed!!!!!

 

[Anew Leaf]

Do wings fit you better or do you think Tritype is a better representation of who you are?

So... it has come to this.

I haven't really studied much about the Enneagram. I type myself as 4w5 because that is who I am inside and how I relate to things that I take seriously, ie, not this forum or the internet at large. Being 4-9-5 would explain more about me and how I relate to events and issues within myself and others. It also gives me some clues to the areas I need to bolster in myself: my reclusive nature, and my view that too many things involving other people require far more energy than I care to expend on them (ie, usually conflict with others falls under this heading).

In the end these are all just ideas and theories and within them there is a small pearl of truth that is moistened by the clam tongue of our own Narcississtic needs to explain who we are so that we have meaning and importance. It is a matter of public record that all of what I state here is true because otherwise this is just another example of why we can't have nice things.

 

[animenagai]

Ultimately they're both inferior to your main type, because that explains the motivations in your personality. My wing explains my general vibe when coupled with my main and my tritype is good for more behaviorist things. They're sort of apples and oranges.

 

[Speed Gavroche]

To me, tritype is a bit of a copout and is kind of a way of compromising when you're not 100% sure of type and identify with bits of a few of them.

This.