How to work out your enneagram tritype (long post)
Alright I’m trying to actually make a post of my own instead of just reblogging other posts lol. Anyway I’m going to try to make a guide about enneagram tritypes, hopefully it’s helpful and makes sense.
Before figuring out your tritype, however, you first need to understand the concept of the centres of intelligence.
The centres of intelligence are based on how we process and respond to life. There are 3 centres of intelligence and each consists of 3 types:
1. The gut (or instinctive) centre - types 8, 9 and 1
2. The heart (or feeling) centre - types 2, 3 and 4
3. The head (or thinking) centre - types 5, 6 and 7
We all have one dominant centre of intelligence, however this does not mean that we don’t use the other two at all. We all use our gut, heart and head in different ways and at different times.
Knowing whether you are in the gut, heart or head centre can help you to determine your enneagram type if you are still unsure, and can help you understand why you react to life the way you do.
Alright, now I’m going to go more in depth into the 3 centres of intelligence:
The gut centre consists of the enneagram types 8, 9 and 1. 8s, 9s and 1s all take in life through their instincts and generally respond based on what their instinct is telling them to do.
The types in the gut centre are all concerned with justice and seeking autonomy.
Their underlying issue is anger.
Each type deals with anger differently:
8s tend to display their anger (in hopes of controlling it)
9s tend to deny their anger (in hopes of not upsetting anyone and maintaining the peace around them)
1s tend to repress their anger (in hopes of achieving perfection or righteousness)
The types in the gut centre have gifts and issues surrounding their instinct. When they are healthy and balanced, they have strong relational skills with others and their environment. When they are unhealthy, their relationship skills become imbalanced.
The essential qualities of this centre involve the deep connection with their instincts. Instinct involves our inner wants and needs and our ability to assert them in a way that is harmonious with the world around us.
The heart centre consists of the enneagram types 2, 3 and 4. 2s, 3s and 4s all take in life through their feelings and generally respond based on what their feelings are telling them to do.
The types in the heart centre are all concerned with their image and are seeking attention.
Their underlying issue is shame.
Each type deals with their shame differently:
2s tend to focus their feelings outwards (in hopes of not feeling shame)
3s tend to deny their feelings (in hope of resiting shame)
4s tend to focus their feelings inwards (in hopes of avoiding further shame)
The types in the heart centre have gifts and issues surrounding their emotions. When they are healthy and balanced, their use of emotion is constructive and especially beneficial to their relationships. When they are unhealthy, their emotions become imbalanced.
The essential qualities of this centre involve the deep connection with their feelings. Feelings help us recognise our love and value for others. Through feelings we understand our identity.
The head centre consists of the enneagram types 5, 6 and 7. 5s, 6s and 7s all take in life through their thinking and generally respond based on what their mind is telling them to do.
5s, 6s and 7s are all concerned with strategies and seeking security.
Their underlying issue is fear.
Each type deals with their fear differently:
5s tend to be anxious of the outside world (and thus try to isolate themselves)
6s tend to be anxious internally (and thus are always thinking about worst-case scenarios)
7s tend to try to deny their fear (and this are always trying to keep their minds and bodies busy)
The types in the head centre have gifts and issues involving their thinking. When they are healthy and balanced, they have incredibly keen insights and ideas. When they are unhealthy their thinking becomes imbalanced.
The essential qualities of this centre involve the deep connection with the intelligence of the mind. The gifts of the mind include the ability to observe, perceive and effortlessly understand things. The mind also provides us with confidence and inner guidance.
Alright that was a pretty long intro but hopefully now you have an overview of the centres of intelligence which are key to finding out your tritype!
The term “Tritype” refers to an advanced and more specific application of the enneagram, created and coined by Katherine Chernick Fauvre, an enneagram coach. Tritype theory states that while individuals primarily utilise one of the enneagram types as their “core type”, everyone actually employs 3 enneagram types - the one that is most dominant in each centre of intelligence - gut (8, 9, 1), heart (2, 3, 4) and head (5, 6, 7).
Tritype explains the distinct differences of those sharing the same enneagram type. For example, the 874 is likely to be a fast-paced, optimistic, creative and emotional type 8, while the 826 is more likely to be a more dutiful, heroic, loyal and helpful type 8.
Your tritype will consist of 3 numbers, one from each centre of intelligence, e.g. 548 (my tritype).
The first number will be your core enneagram type, for example if you are a 7w8, the first number in your tritype will be a 7.
To determine the other two numbers in your tritype, think about which centre of intelligence you relate to the most and which one you relate to the least. For example, if you relate to the head centre the most and the gut centre the least, the order of the numbers in your tritype will be
1. head type (your core type)
Then think about which number you relate to the most from each centre of intelligence. For example, let’s say you’re the 7w8 from before, and you relate to the head centre the most and the gut centre the least. Now let’s say you relate to type 3 the most from the heart centre and type 8 the most from the gut centre. Your tritype would therefore be 738.
Alternatively, if you cannot figure out the order of the centres, figure out the numbers first and then put them in order of which you relate to the most.
Tritypes can take a while to figure out. Just make sure you focus on the key emotions assosciated with each centre (shame, fear and anger) and think about how you respond to each emotion. Also, consider what each centre is focused on, e.g. the gut centre is concerned with justice and seeking autonomy. It’s alright if you think your tritype is one thing and later figure out it’s something else, too, as this happened to me. I basically went from thinking I was a 514, to a 584, to (now) a 548.
Alright I hope this is helpful and sorry for being a bit ranty lmao but this topic really interests me so I wanted to make a post about it! Also feel free to ask any questions, I’m happy to help if you need help figuring out anything enneagram related!
