Posted by Ryan on July 28, 1999 at 10:59:46:
In Reply to: 9s, 8s and wings posted by Rocko on July 27, 1999 at 20:15:00:
> I'm am a nine. I scored very low on 8 and 1. Point nine seems so far from 8 and 1 that I have a hard time believing that any nine could score high on either 8 or 1.
> The 9w1 or 9w8 descriptions, therefore, seem to be convenient ways to describe different 9 tendancies, nothing more nothing less. Wing theory, in other words, seems to generate more type distinctions, but is wholly insufficient to capture the infinite variety found in human behavior. Wouldn't it be just as accurate to modify the base type with the second highest preference? Why not 9/5 or 9/2? But then what would that really describe?
> Seems useless to me to speak in terms of wings. Just try to understand the behavior of each point and use that knowledge to improve.
> BTW, as a nine, I experience anger best when I'm in my car and the jerk speeding by can't see or hear my cursing or hand gestures. Its odd though that I almost always catch myself and look around to see if anyone is watching. But I do experience the emotion...something that I never feel in other situations.
> Rocko
Rocko,
Varieties in behavior are created by A) the amount of the particular
"wing" that you have in you. B) your health level and C) how many other
traits you might have from nearby points of the enneagram. For instance,
I am a 5 with a 4 wing who also has a 6ish aspect that comes out in
stressful situations. And I have a few 3ish qualities as well. If you
take all these factors then you do basically get an infinite variety of
personalities. Wing type is a tool to show tendencies because no one is
so simple that you can just type him or her by saying that he or she is a 5
and acts like a 5 in all situations. A 5w4 is significantly different than
a 5w6 in my opinion to warrant a separate classfication. I also believe
wing type is pretty important in how you interact with other types from
around the enneagram. As an example, a 5w6 is much more likely to get
along with a 6 than a 4, and vice versa is true for a 5w4. These are all
big generalizations but they are general rules that I believe can be
observed among human behavior.
As for just picking the type that you score second best in as a
classification method, I argue that this doesn't mean as much because it
doesn't accurately represent what the enneagram attempts to measure. In
my opinion, to develop as a person one must gradually subsume the
enneagram qualities of adjacent types to your primary type in order to
strengthen the qualities of your primary type. Thus, a 5w4 is someone who
has many of the good 5 qualities and some of the good 4 qualities. The 5w4
then uses the 4 qualities to enhance their 5 traits. The problem with
saying that "well, I scored second best in 9, so I am a 5/9, is that, from
the enneagram perspective, 5s and 9s are completely different people, even
if they share some behaviors, the motivations for these behaviors are
completely different. And this is what the enneagram measures, inner
motivation, "why" a person does things, not "how" they do them.
Many of the current enneagram tests measure behavior aspects rather than
motivational ones. For instance, answering yes to a statement such as "I
sometimes act withdrawn around people I don't know" could make you either
a 9 or a 5. It does not address WHY you act withdrawn around new people,
which would be completely different depending on whether you were a a 9 or
a 5. Questions like these are a good measure of whether you actually are
a "withdrawn type." But they lead to confusion when a 5 takes the test
and says, "Hey, I scored high in 9 too. That must be my wing type."
Because personality development takes place among adjacent points of the
enneagram and not randomly within it, I believe it is impossible for
somebody to be a 5w9 (although many out there argue with me on this).
You know I could go on a while with this. :) Any comments welcome.
Ryan