What is Tritype®? How do I find my Tritype®? Mistyping

Katherine is an IEA Accredited Professional with Distinction and an IEA Board Member from 1997-1999. She is a Triple-certified Enneagram Teacher with Palmer-Daniels, Riso-Hudson, and Hurley-Donson. She has the distinction of being the only person to have attended intensives with both Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo, with Naranjo validating her 1994 qualitative research on the subtypes in 1996.  Katherine was inducted into the Marquis Who’s Who in America Biographical Registry, the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) in 2023, and awarded the Top Enneagram Coach of the Year 2023, Best Consultant of the Year for the City of Menlo Park for 2015 and 2023, named the IAOTP Empowered Woman of the Year for 2024, and in 2025, IAOTP voted Katherine as the Best Enneagram Coach of the Decade.

What is the Enneagram of Personality?

The Enneagram is a useful tool for determining personal patterns of relating and understanding differing communication styles.

Origins of the Enneagram of Personality

The Enneagram (pronounced “any-a-gram”) is a 9-point personality system. “Ennea” is the Greek word for nine, and “gram” means drawing or graph. The Enneagram symbol is a circle enclosing nine equidistant points connected by nine intersecting lines. This unusual symbol has its roots in ancient Eastern spiritual traditions and modern Western psychological systems. This symbol dates as far back as Pythagoras. The Enneagram of Personality created by Oscar Ichazo symbolizes a vital link between the psyche and the spirit, a complex and sophisticated conceptual system that is at once both a sensible and easily understood tool for self-discovery and personal growth work. Ichazo’s  nine Enneagram points represent how each of the nine different personality types perceives and defends their realities.

How does the Enneagram Work?

The nine Enneagram types are distinguished from one another by unconscious motivations and preoccupations, which produce patterns of perceiving, feeling, and behaving. These patterns can be gifts or obstacles to the personality. The Enneagram identifies the specific idealized images, ddthe core fears, and the defense strategies of the type . These elements  merge creating the core motivations  that must be manages to feel safe and be at ease.of the nine Enneagram Types.

These motivations are often unconscious, unmet needs, regardless of whether they are real or imagined, that can cause the personality to go on red alert and react defensively. Many personality typologies identify important behaviors and character traits, which are very instructive. However, the Enneagram is the only personality typology based on motivations rather than behaviors and identifications; in other words, it is not what we do but rather why we do what we do.

The Enneagram is a useful tool for determining personal patterns of relating and understanding differing communication styles. Through deeper insight, one can more fully understand one’s own communication style and the styles of others. The wisdom of the Enneagram is that it recognizes nine very different yet inherently valid views of reality, all of which are inherently valid. The power of the Enneagram is that it is a profound and comprehensive tool to harness and transform self-defeating behavior into life-enhancing personal empowerment. The gift of the Enneagram is that through self-discovery, one can create and sustain meaningful and lasting relationships.

How is the Enneagram different from other Typologies?

Many personality typologies identify important behaviors and character traits, which are very instructive. However, the Enneagram is the only personality typology based on motivations rather than behaviors and addresses what is beneath the level of behavior, in other words, it is not what we do but rather why we do what we do. It creates a map of the more hidden motivations of the nine distinct attentional patterns of the personality types that are observable once one developed the critical self-awareness needed to track their motivations.

Enneagram Type vs Tritype®

How is Tritype® different from the Enneagram Type? Does Tritype® utilize a core Enneagram Type? 

What is the Enneagram Primary Enneagram Type? Within the Enneagram system, individuals are classified into one of nine types, each characterized by specific traits, motivations, and fears. However, Tritype® expands upon this framework by revealing that each person not only has one “core” Enneagram Type, but also utilizes three Enneagram Types in total. These three types are associated with the three centers of intelligence: the heart types (2, 3, and 4) - our passionate emotional responses, the head types (5, 6, and 7) - our mental assessments and preoccupations, and the gut types (8, 9, and 1) - our physical actions and sensations.

How is Tritype® different from Type?

In the Tritype® system, these three Enneagram Types come together dynamically, creating a unique composite personality profile. The interplay between these three types defines one's worldview and the primary focus of one's attention, thus creating a much more nuanced, “signature” point of view. This innovative approach enhances the accuracy and depth of Enneagram typing, offering individuals a deeper understanding of their personality. The defense strategies of the three types within the Tritype® merge to create a “new” type unto itself with a shared worldview, which is one’s Tritype® Archetype.

Tritype® Identifies a Critical Blindspot to Self-Awareness

Research suggests that the common theme found among the three types within an individual’s Tritype® identifies that individual’s archetypal life purpose: a very specific viewpoint, special expertise, and set of values. Tritype® also identifies a critical blind spot that limits one’s ability to be self-aware.

This blind spot is inherent and emerges as a result of the merging of the three types in the Tritype®. Whatever the three types share in common is amplified and creates the dominant focus of attention. Whatever the three types do not focus on is minimized and creates the blind spots. The dominant type of the three types is the charge of the Tritype® stacking, but it is the needs and concerns of the instinctual stacking that trigger the Tritype® to handle the perceived threat to security.

High Side and Low Side of Tritype®

Just like our Enneagram type, we have a "high side" and a "low side" of these Tritype® interactions that distinguish each as having a separate purpose. The values and concerns of the three types in our Tritype® come together to become the guiding principles in life and give us our core values, sense of purpose, and the guiding principles we should follow. This synergistic merger of the three types in the Tritype® is both an asset and a liability. An individual’s strengths result from these three types working in concert with one another. An individual’s weaknesses also result from this collusion, which limits self-awareness and spiritual growth, creating an “egoic" blind spot.

The high side of the intersection of these three Enneagram Types is that they define what gives life direction, focus, and purpose for the individual with that Tritype® combination.

The low side of this intersection is that the defense strategies collude or "miss the mark" in the same way, narrowing one’s ability to accurately self-assess and may even prevent a person from achieving a higher level of self-awareness by keeping the individual mired in outdated, rigid beliefs. 

Making this blind spot conscious often releases neurotic symptoms, just as aligning oneself with the archetypal energies found in the three types in one’s Tritype® can align an individual with their life purpose and mission. Identifying one’s Tritype® Archetype creates an opportunity to discover one’s innate abilities, develop expertise, and experience greater satisfaction.

Can your Tritype® Change?

Just as with your primary type, your Tritype® will never change. The only times you may think you have changed your Tritype® is when you have not yet discovered your correct Tritype® and when you are tracking changes in your behaviors due to a current situation rather than your innate motivations.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation as to what happens when the three types in your Tritype® merge and create the specific focus of attention of your Tritype®. This Trityping® error can happen if you have identified with your behaviors or descriptions of the types and Tritypes® rather than your motivations and the actual defense strategies you use.

Do Enneagram Tritypes® have Wings and Lines of Connection?

Yes, the Tritypes® have wings and Lines of Connection. Each Tritype® fully represents the entire type, which includes Ichazo’s and Naranjo's explanation that we always use both wings and both lines of connection; and that the type emerges from the tension between the two wings for each type.

Correct use of the Wings and Lines of Connections
Correct use of the lines of connectionsare always used both positively or negatively, combine the three Types, which in turn creates the Tritype® Archetype. Each of the 27 Tritypes® has wings with participants identifying with one wing more than the other. Research revealed that one is generally expressed inwardly and the other outwardly with introverts more identified with their more introverted wing and extroverts more identified with their more extroverted wing.

The Enneagram of Personality includes these wings and lines because the Enneagram is a Trialectic System created by Oscar Ichazo. The Tritype® is made based on the Law of 9 with three triads or centers of intelligence; each with three Enneagram types. The hierarchical ranking of these three types determines the dominant Enneagram type in each of the three centers of intelligence, which, when combined, create the 27 Tritype® Archetypes.

Dynamic Aspects of the Enneagram Types

Each type within the Tritype® uses all dynamic aspects of the three types, including the wing types and the lines of connection related to the type. So, if the nine types have wings, and they do, then the three types in the 27 Tritypes® have wings as well. This is because Tritype® is a dynamic, integrated system that moves in a continuous, clockwise sequence, reflecting the fluid motion and progression inherent to the Enneagram’s Trialectic structure.

A common source of mistyping the types within a Tritype® stems from the mistaken belief that one's Tritype® consists of the three Enneagram types one most identifies with or relates to in each center. This is not the case. The types in the Tritype® are not chosen based on identification or resonance alone, they are determined by the underlying defense strategies of three of the nine Enneagram types. It is essential to understand that the Tritype® is not merely a combination of favored or familiar types. Instead, it is a precise configuration in which the defense strategies of the three selected types merge and interact as a unified triad, forming a new type unto itself with its own focus and internal logic.

Tritype® and the Lines of Connection Example

Although one of these three Types in your Tritype® is dominant, or your primary Type, the other two Types are an essential part of your defense strategy. What is noteworthy is that these other two Types are not always the Types along the lines of connection (the lines connected to your primary Type). 

For example, if you are a Type 9, you may or may not have Type 3 and/or Type 6 as part of your Tritype®. And each Enneagram type has y variations. So you could have a Tritype® of 925, 926,927, 935, 936,937, 945, 946 or 947. 

The Tritype® System recognizes that each person has three types, one from each center of intelligence, each with their own core fears, idealized images, and defense strategies. These three types work together to form a composite defense structure that is more nuanced and adaptive than any single type alone. When one of the types in a Tritype® is also a wing type of another, or when the types mirror those found along the Enneagram’s lines of connection, those overlapping values are amplified. This amplification enhances the personality expression, adding layers of depth, subtlety, and precision.

379 Tritype®

For example, in the 379 Tritype®, the 3 and 9 are connected via the line of connection, while 3 and 7 share an assertive, image-conscious orientation. All three types avoid discomfort and value optimism, likability, and competence. This overlap intensifies the desire to be perceived as successful, pleasant, and harmonious. The result is a Tritype® that is particularly focused on positivity, adaptability, and interpersonal ease, often minimizing internal conflict in favor of maintaining outer composure. 

This synergy adds advanced nuance and may obscure deeper motivations unless one examines the defense strategies beneath the surface behaviors. The merging and resulting amplification of types explains why each Tritype® is unique and must be determined based on these factors.
© 1985-2025 Katherine Chernick Fauvre • All Tights Reserved

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Tritype® Influences

Influence of Tritype® using Nine Patterns:

1. Types: The 9 Tritype® in each Type -125,126,127,135,136,137,145,146,147 - (Nature)
2. Canonical Order of Tritype®: 125: 125, 152, 215, 251, 512, 521- (Nature)
3. Centers: 1st Type, Core Type, 2nd Type: Resistant Type, 3rd Type: Blindspot. 
3. Stacking Patterns: Visual Bar Graph Distribution (Nature)
4. Stacking Order: Hierarchical order ranks the types in order of dominance. (Nature)
5. Stacking Proportions: Percentages of each type in the Tritype® (Nature)
6. Stacking Identifications: Positive (+), Negative (-), Neutral (+/-) (Nature) 
7. Tritype® Stackings: Combination of the Instinctual Subtypes and the Tritype® Stacks
8. Instinctual Stackings, Tritype®: Combined with TrueType and MBTI (Nature)
9. Holy Virtue, Holy Idea, and Holy Action (Free Flowing Essence)
© 1985-2025 Katherine Chernick Fauvre • All Rights Reserved

What are the 5 Ways of Working with Tritype® System?

1. Tritype® within Type: Modifies the expression of Core Type

Katherine has found that there are five distinct ways to work with the Tritype® material. Within type, Conically, Stacking Patterns, the Essential Qualities: Holy Virtues, Holy Ideas, and Holy Actions, and Subtypes.

One way is to study the different variations within a single Enneagram type by examining which of the 9 possible Tritype® are influencing its reality. Comparing those with the same dominant type but different Tritype® combinations reveals how each Tritype® shapes, amplifies, or moderates the expression and experience of the core type.

For example, Type 1 has 9 possible combinations: (125, 126, 127, 135, 136, 137, 145, 146, 147). Through observation of how these different combinations of Type 1 conceptualize and navigate the social world, distinctions may be noticed depending upon the types in the Tritype®.

In the case of type 9, the 9 may or may not have type 3 or type 6 as part of their Tritype®. Type 9 could have a Tritype® of 925, 926, 927, 935, 936, 937, 945, 946, or 947. Each type combination of type 9 creates a different expression and focus of type 9. If the 9 does have the 3 and 6 in their Tritype®, as with the 369, the influence of these three types is greater do to the lines of connection already linking the 3, 6, and 9 together. This creates a very distinct version of the type 9 focus of attention that matches the common descriptions of type 9. However, if the 9 has types in their Tritype® that are not connected by a line, such as the 945 or 947, they will outwardly appear to be very different from the 9s that have the 936 Tritype®.

2. Tritypes® Conically: Archetypes

Another key method is to look at the Tritypes® conically; the three types together in any order. This method of working with Tritype® focuses on the similarities among individuals who share the same three Enneagram types, regardless of order. By examining the shared worldview and underlying patterns of those with the same Tritype®, this approach reveals the common lens through which they interpret and engage with reality.

Each of the 27 Tritype® combinations illustrates a particular and individual archetype that emerges when combining the three types in the Tritype®. This merge creates the Tritype® archetype, amplifying whatever views and values these three types share in common and revealing the overall archetypal focus of each Tritype® combination. These archetypes were identified through the observation of recurring patterns, core triggers, core fears, life purposes, blind spots, and “growing edges” that consistently define how each Tritype® experiences and engages with the world.

Comparing individuals who share the same Tritype® but have different dominant Enneagram types further reveals the consistent traits and worldview that arise from the shared three core types, regardless of which one is primary. By observing these similarities, it becomes clear how the Tritype® configuration contributes to the overall lens through which individuals perceive and respond to the world.

3. Tritype® Stacking Patterns: Order, Proportions, Identifications

1. Stacking Order: Refers to the hierarchical sequence (dominant, secondary, tertiary) in which the three Enneagram types within the Tritype® influence personality expression and responses.

2. Stacking Proportions: Indicates the relative degree or percentage each of the three Enneagram types contributes to the overall personality within the Tritype®, shaping emphasis and behavior.

3. Stacking Identifications: Represents the degree to which an individual consciously identifies with, values, or recognizes each of the three Enneagram types within their Tritype®.

4. Tritype® and the Essential Qualities create the Life Purpose

One of the most transformational ways of working with Tritype® is to use the Essential Qualities: Holy Virtues, Holy Ideas, and Holy Actions to counterbalance the ego level of the Tritype®, neutralizing the passions, fixations, and convictions.

5. Tritype® Subtypes: The Influence of Instinctual Stacking

Another method is to study the influence of the 27 Tirtypes® in conjunction with the 27 subtypes. Each individual has both a tritype® stacking and an instinctual stacking. Understanding the interplay between these dynamic elements reveals key nuances influencing each individual’s needs and worldview.

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Tritype® and the 3 Centers of Intelligence|

Head Center

The mental triad consists of Enneagram types 5, 6, and 7. This center determines how we make decisions. Depending on the dominant type, the focus of our head type is on what we need to know or learn to feel safe.

Heart Center

The emotional triad consists of Enneagram types 2, 3, and 4. Depending on the dominant type, the focus of our heart type is on the image we need to have to attract others to feel safe.

Gut Center 

Visceral; Instinctive triad consists of Enneagram types 8, 9, and 1. Depending on the dominant type, the focus of our gut type is on the physical world and what we need to do or not do to feel safe.

Research suggests that individuals use their main Enneagram Type, known as the “core” type, along with the two other types, one from each of the three centers of intelligence: head, heart, and gut, in a consistent, oscillating, cascading, and repetitive manner.

Therefore, while each type within the Tritype® is employed separately, combining all three types together gives each Tritype® a unique defense strategy (or way of defending against reality) and a more specific focus of attention.

More on Tritype® here: https://enneagramtritypetest.com

Enneagram Centers Overview Enneamap

Enneagram Centers Chart

Interrelationships of the Enneagram Triads:

Holistic Tritype® Approach

Tritype®, created by and further developed by Katherine Chernick Fauvre—an internationally recognized Enneagram author, teacher, researcher, and coach—is a natural evolution of the traditional Enneagram system. By identifying your dominant type in each of the Gut (Types 8,9,1), Heart (Types 2,3,4), and Head (Types 5,6,7) Centers, Tritype® reveals a unique internal configuration that guides how you perceive the world, relate to others, respond to challenges, and defend your view of reality.

These three types do not function in isolation; they operate in conjunction, informing and influencing one another to form a coherent and deeply personal psychological structure. The Trialectic union of the three types within the Tritype® also facilitates access to all three Centers of Intelligence.

According to the teachings of Oscar Ichazo, Claudio Naranjo, Katherine Chernick Fauvre, and her research findings.

Enneagram Centers of Intelligence

Head Center: The mental triad consists of Enneagram types 5, 6, and 7. This center determines how we make decisions. Depending on the dominant type, the focus of our head type is on what we need to know or learn to feel safe.

Heart Center: The emotional triad consists of Enneagram types 2, 3, and 4. Depending on the dominant type, the focus of our heart type is on the image we need to have to attract others to feel safe.

Gut Center: Instinctive triad consists of Enneagram types 8, 9, and 1. Depending on the dominant type, the focus of our gut type is on the physical world and what we need to do or not do to feel safe.

Research suggests that individuals use their main Enneagram Type, known as the “core” type, along with the two other types, one from each of the three centers of intelligence: head, heart, and gut, in a consistent, oscillating, cascading, and repetitive manner.

Therefore, while each type within the Tritype® is employed separately, combining all three types together gives each Tritype® a unique defense strategy (or way of defending against reality) and a more specific focus of attention.

More on Tritype® here: https://enneagramtritypetest.com

Mental Triad

Head Center (5,6,7): Preoccupied with following one’s notions, mental assessments.
Instinctual Triad: Adaptation Instinct - Practical Ego (Ichazo)
Primary Focus: Thoughts; assessments; Distorted Limiting beliefs; Irrational Ideas
Fundamental Question: Where am I? (Ichazo)
Ego Expression: Mental Fixation (Ichazo; Naranjo)
Essential Expression: Holy Idea (Ichazo; Naranjo)
Primal Expression: Social Instinct - Others; Safety in numbers; Groups (Naranjo)
Intrinsic Expressions: Understanding; Faith; Trust (Fauvre)
Basic Need: Practical knowledge; Trustworthy guidance; Reassurance (Fauvre)
Idealized Statement: I have the intelligence and know-how to know what to do. (Fauvre)
Core Fear: Chaos; psychic pain; not knowing what to think or do to be safe. (Fauvre)
Defense Strategy: Groups; Projection; Prejudice; Preconceived Ideas to survive. (Fauvre)
Prevailing Question: What do I need to know or learn in order to survive? (Fauvre)
Theme Statement: I must have practical knowledge and reassurance to survive. (Fauvre)
Tritype® Tristar: Initiating Triad; Focus on the issue that needs to be addressed. (Fauvre)

Emotional Triad

Heart Center (2,3,4): Preoccupied with following one’s heart; emotional intuitions.
Instinctual Triad: Relation Instinct - Image Ego- love-hate (Ichazo)
Fundamental Question: Who am I with? (Ichazo)
Primary Focus: Feelings; Emotional States; Passionate Expressions
Ego Expression: Emotional Passion - Distorted Feelings; Reactivity (Desert Fathers)
Essential Expression: Holy Virtue (Desert Fathers)
Primal Expression: Sexual Instinctual Type - Lower Mimic of Heart Center. (Naranjo)
Intrinsic Expressions: Sympathy: Hope; Renewal (Fauvre)
Basic Need: Affirmation; Emotional Validation; Accurate Mirroring (Fauvre)
Idealized Image: You and me against the world. (Fauvre)
Core Fear: Shame, not knowing how to create emotional rapport to feel safe. (Fauvre)
Defense Strategy: Identification, Love-Hate; Hysterical Emotions; Hostility (Fauvre)
Prevailing Question: What do I feel and need to express in order to survive? (Fauvre)
Theme Statement: I must have a likable image that is cherished to survive. (Fauvre)
Tritype® Tristar: Opposing Triad; Focus on the other side of every issue (Fauvre)

Physical/Visceral Triad

Gut Center (8,9,1):–Preoccupied with following one’s gut instincts; visceral intuitions.
Instinctual Triad: Conservation Instinct - Historical Ego (Ichazo)
Fundamental Question: How am I? (Ichazo)
Primary Focus: Physical Sensations; Gut Reactions
Basic Need:Acceptance; Space to be/exist;Autonomy
Ego Expression: Conviction - Dogmatic Actions; Distorted Ideologies (Fauvre)
Essential Expression: Holy Action (Fauvre)
Primal Expression: Self-Preserving Instinct - Lower Mimic of Gut Center (Naranjo)
Intrinsic Expression: Empathy; Love; Charity (Fauvre)
Idealized Image: I can make it on my own. (Fauvre)
Core Fear: Neglect; Not existing; Not being accepted as one is to be safe. (Fauvre)
Defense Strategy: Anger;Resistance; Stony Indifference (Fauvre)
Prevailing Question: What actions must I take and/or avoid in order to survive? (Fauvre)
Theme Statement: I must care for myself and my body to survive. (Fauvre)
Tritype® Tristar: Integrating Triad; Reconciling; Focus on all points of view. (Fauvre)

Instinctual Types and Subtypes Chart

Tritype® Transformational Impact and Applications

The primary benefit of Tritype® lies in its capacity to increase psychological insight and deepen self-understanding. Learning your Tritype® enhances awareness of the layered motivations, defense mechanisms, and emotional dynamics that shape your inner world. This awareness fosters greater empathy, emotional intelligence, and personal development. It also allows for the recognition of ingrained patterns that might otherwise remain hidden, empowering you to engage more consciously with your internal experience and relationships.

Tritype® in a Contemporary Context

Tritype® has gained widespread recognition as a sophisticated typology utilized in coaching, therapy, organizational development, and interpersonal dynamics. Its value lies in its precision and depth, offering a comprehensive and holistic framework for transformation, healing, and authentic expression. Unlike other systems that attempt to flatten complexity, Tritype® embraces it, giving individuals and practitioners a profound tool for understanding personality in its full richness.

The Expansive Promise of Tritype®

In today’s rapidly evolving and psychologically aware world, Tritype® stands out by expanding the original Enneagram framework. It offers a dimensional map for both personal and relational development. By integrating emotional sensitivity, intellectual insight, and instinctual wisdom, Tritype® provides a holistic lens for understanding the human condition. It is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking a deeper, more complete understanding of who they are and how they relate to the world around them.

Tritype® Expansion of Identity

In addition, the shared view by the types in an individual’s Tritype® gives important clues as to what is needed to live a more conscious and meaningful life. The “core” or dominant type represents the ego’s preferred defense strategy and controls the 3Type: Tritype®defense system. The ego always uses the strategy of all three types in unison in a rapid, repeating, hierarchical stacking order throughout the day, every day.  The dominant type will continuously deploy the other two types in the Tritype® to make decisions and solve problems, handle emotional issues and relationships, and take or avoid the actions needed to prevail.

By thoroughly exploring all three types within their Tritype®, individuals can gain a more comprehensive understanding of their personality. This holistic insight encompasses their strengths, weaknesses, and core concerns, ultimately facilitating personal growth and self-awareness.

The Tritype® system offers an intricate and nuanced exploration of an individual's personality. It leverages the advanced application of the Enneagram to provide a more profound understanding of an individual's inner dynamics, emphasizing the importance of accurate self-identification within the system.

Enneagram Type and Tritype® Lexicon

Once Katherine Fauvre became familiar with each type's communication style and word usage, she noticed another pattern emerging in her research. Katherine states that each individual expresses themselves using the distinct language combinations of the three types that come together to form the Tritype®.

In effect, each Tritype® creates a type unto itself. This is because each type has a specific focus of attention that, when combined with two other Enneagram types, makes a new focus of attention that is a result of uniting the types within the Enneagram Tritype® Archetype.

Another pattern she noticed that has proven to be equally significant, and perhaps more significant, is that each type uses the defense strategy of one type from each triad or center of intelligence. Katherine originally called these critical findings one’s 3Types or TriCenter.

Analysis revealed through the use of the Enneastyle Questionnaire (EQ), Enneacards test results (measuring one’s dominant personality type, and Tritype®), and follow-up interviews that Enneagram Tritype® is an integral part of Enneagram Theory as the two supporting types are illustrated and evident in the questionnaires through participants’ language and self-conception descriptions.

One additional point of interest is that those with the 369 Tritype® needed more time to understand the influence of all three types in their word choices, fears, concerns, idealized images, and gifts. This is because they already recognized their movement to the types in their lines of connection, both positively and negatively.

This is because the 369 Tritype® contains all three primary types with more immediate access to all nine types via their wing types. This makes it easy to identify with more or all of the types, but more difficult to confirm which type and Tritype® is dominant.

Also, the primary types naturally identify with the behavioral traits they share with the types, making it more difficult for them to focus on motivation rather than the identifications and behaviors. The primary types are meant to adapt (3), to see the other side of every issue (6), and to be open to all points of view (9).

For example, the 478 Tritype® has the three hexad “creative" Enneagram Types, one from each triad (4,7,8), which include the two hexad types that prefer what is unusual (4,7).

The two hexad types that share the line of intensity (4-8) and the two hexad types that are assertive (7,8).

Together, these three types focus on what they share in common. When merged in a Tritype®, a more specific focus emerges, creating a personality structure that is seen as innovative, creative, outspoken, intense, assertive, and deep with an original sense of style.

The deeper motivations of the 478 are based on the unconscious need to maintain the idealized images of the three types in the Tritype®: being singular, unique, interesting and innovative, self-possessed, and protective. It also means avoiding the corresponding core fears of the three types: being inadequate, flawed, or defective; inferior, trapped, or limited; and weak, controlled, and harmed. The three defense strategies intervene when there is a perceived threat to the idealized images (real or imagined), triggering the three core fears, which lead to a restless sense of distress, which in turn triggers an immediate reaction and deployment of the three defense strategies to defend reality.

Tritype® not only names details about how the system works, but it also identifies the corresponding Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions/Intuitions of the 3 Types in the Tritype that can neutralize the intensity of the fixed beliefs, negative emotions, and habitual behavior that cause the unconscious suffering. By making the unconscious suffering conscious, one can ease their suffering enough to recognize more productive ways of handling a perceived threat to the ego types.

Quick Reference: Key Elements of Tritype®

Tritype® theory suggests that while individuals primarily utilize one of the main Enneagram Types as their ‘core type,’ everyone actually employs three central Enneagram Types - the one that is the most dominant within each center of intelligence, (the Head (567), Heart (234) and Gut (891).

These types are used in a specific oscillating, repeating, and hierarchal stacking order.

Although one of these three Types in your Tritype® is dominant, or your primary Type, the other two Types are an essential part of your defense strategy.

What is noteworthy is that these other two Types are not always the Types along the lines of connection (the lines connected to your primary Type). For example, if you are a Type 9, you may or may not have Type 3 and/or Type 6 as part of your Tritype®. You could have a Tritype® of 926, 936, 946, or 925, 927, and so on. The Tritype® System recognizes that each person has three types, one from each center, each with their own set of fears that merge to create a diverse defense strategy.

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Three Enneagram Types:

Extensive research that began in 1994 revealed that individuals use three Enneagram types, not just one. These three types occur as the individual’s dominant type in each of the three centers of intelligence. These three distinct Enneagram types are from the nine fundamental types. Serving as windows into different facets of their personality, these three types provide a profound understanding of the combined influence of one’s set of idealized self-images, core fears, motivations, and defense strategies.

Hierarchy and Stacking Order:

Tritype® organizes these three types in a hierarchical stacking order. The Enneagram type situated at the top of this hierarchy is referred to as the "core" type, exerting the most significant influence on an individual's personality. The other two types in the Tritype® configuration play secondary and tertiary roles.

Shared Focus of Attention:

The shared characteristics among the three types within the Tritype® identify the driving force and central focus of an individual's personality. These shared traits offer a finely tuned and nuanced perspective that can serve as both an individual's greatest strength and their most significant challenge. Exploring the high side of this intersection and the fusion of types can pinpoint an individual's archetypal life purpose and provide a profound sense of self. Conversely, delving into the low side of this intersection and the amalgamation of types may lead to an overly narrow perspective, creating blind spots in self-awareness and making it challenging to understand alternative viewpoints.

Behavior and Identifications versus Motivation:

It is important to note that just combining the three preferred types, one from each of the three centers, is not enough to explain the distinct attentional patterns of each of the 27 Tritype® Archetypes or to confirm which Tritype® is dominant. It is essential to distinguish between behavioral traits and character traits because it is not what you do but why you do it that determines Enneagram type and, therefore, Tritype®.

One can theorize about which type they “identify” with most in each triad as a starting point, but the focus of attention of the Tritype® emerges because of what happens when these three types merge and, in effect, become one type, which is the Tritype®. This is because the characteristics of all three types influence one another. As a result, some characteristics are amplified, while other characteristics are minimized by the characteristics of the two other types within the Tritype®. These distinct differences explain why each Tritype® is unique.

Precisely identifying the three types within an individual's Tritype® is essential. This identification relies on recognizing one’s idealized self-images, core fears, and the defense strategies one uses. This allows for a deeper understanding of the high and low sides of one’s emotional sensitivities, mental assessments, and visceral reactions.

How is Tritype® useful? Enneagram Types are dynamic!

It is helpful to note that the Enneagram types are dynamic due to each type’s relationship to both of its wing types and both of its lines of connection (both of which are patterns of three).

When combined, these forces generate the dynamic energy that creates each of the 27 Tritypes®.

This process is based on the Laws of one, three, and seven. G.I. Gurdjieff and Oscar Ichazo used this Enneagram symbol because it maps movement.

Any graph of a nine-pointed symbol would also be an Enneagram.

So, each type is a result of the dynamic interplay of the type with its two wing types, which is Ichazo’s Trialectics, and the type with both connecting lines, which is also Ichazo’s Trialectics.

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Trigram: Interconnections of the types in the Tritypes®

The Trigram shows the ego intersection among all three types in the Tritype®, revealing the more specific viewpoint.

Continuous and Oscillating Spiral of the 3 Types in the Tritype®

The interconnections of the Types in the Tritype®. Notice that the wing types are not connected in the Trigram image above. This is because you only have one type in each center. However, because the Enneagram, according to Ichazo, is based on Trialectics, your wings are omnipresent. The same is true for your Tritype®.

The Enneagram and Tritype® are not static but rather are continuously in motion. The unfolding process is mathematical and continues to infinity. Lines, types and wings ae part of the dynamic processes of the Enneagram.

The 27 Tritype® Archetype Descriptions

Katherine Fauvre created the names of the 27 Tritype® Archetypes due to many qualitative interviews with each of the three types in each of the 27 Tritypes®. These are the names that participants representing all three types in each Tritype® could agree on as their term.

The Mentor Tritype®: 125, 152, 215, 251, 512, 521

If you are a 125, you are diligent, caring, and knowledgeable. You want to be ethical, helpful, and wise. You are idealistic and see what needs to be done and the simple and effective ways to do it. You seek practical systems and procedures to measure results and effectiveness. You are intensely private but care about people and what is needed. So, you readily offer your time and energy when you think something is needed. 

The Supporter Tritype®: 126, 162, 216, 261, 612, 621

If you are a 126, you are diligent, caring, and inquisitive. You want to be ethical, helpful, and supportive. Highly responsible and cooperative, you are most comfortable when you do things ‘by the book’ and know what to expect. Focused on the needs and concerns of others, you feel you know what is important and what should or should not be done in any given situation. You seek ways to be of service and enjoy being the dynamic and influential power behind the throne.  

The Teacher Tritype®: 127, 172, 217, 271, 712, 721

If you are a 127, you are diligent, caring, and innovative. You want to be ethical, empathetic, and inspired. Engaging, fun-loving, and outgoing, you want to be with people and be a part of what will make a difference. You seek fun with a purpose. You need to meet your goals and be responsible, but you also make sure there is time to play, celebrate, and enjoy life. You love discovering new things. You have a gift of being able to squeeze the boredom out of anything tedious.  

The Technical Expert Tritype®: 135, 153, 315, 351, 513, 531

If you are a 135, you are diligent, focused, and knowledgeable. You want to be ethical, efficient, and wise. Highly rational, you seek systems and procedures. Detail-oriented, you like mathematical concepts and finding ways to break down and understand complex material. You are very precise and good with exacting details that others find difficult to manage. Often technical, you prefer to work with facts and logic and can, at times, seem unemotional or insensitive.  

The Taskmaster Tritype®: 136, 163, 316, 361, 613, 631

If you are a 136, you are diligent, ambitious, and inquisitive. You want to be ethical, efficient, and dutiful. Highly industrious and responsible, you are focused on achievement. You feel obligated to be orderly and create a successful image as dictated by society. You emulate people you admire and cultivate values that others respect. Most importantly, you focus on your duty and commonly accepted ways of doing things to feel confident and at ease.  

The Systems Builder Tritype®: 137, 173, 317, 371, 713, 731

If you are a 137, you are diligent, ambitious, and innovative. You want to be ethical, efficient, and upbeat. You are self-motivated and want to set and achieve your goals. Naturally perfectionistic, you present the image that is most admired.  You want to do your best and want to look good doing it. You naturally focus on success and seek ways to measure it. You do this by noticing what others value, mapping the steps to achieve your goal, and perfecting what you do so it is recognized by others.

The Researcher Tritype®: 145, 154, 415, 451, 514, 541

If you are a 145, you are diligent, intuitive, and knowledgeable. You want to be ethical, original, and wise. Highly intellectual, creative, and methodical, you naturally focus on what need to know and learn to express your internal sense of aesthetics. Researching comes naturally because you wish to be a true expert in whatever you do. An astute judge of what others perceive is correct, you seek and quote experts to avoid being seen as ignorant. Mastery provides the skills you desire to manifest your creative interests.  

The Philosopher Tritype®: 146, 164, 416, 461, 614, 641

If you are a 146, you are diligent, intuitive, and inquisitive. You want to be ethical, original, and certain. You are a private and introspective person and prefer to keep your world small to pursue your creative interests. Only one or two know your true thoughts and insecurities. Morally focused, you voice your expectations and criticisms, hoping your insights will help them to improve. However, you are kind-hearted, and cannot turn a blind eye to others you feel you should assist.

The Visionary Tritype®: 147, 174, 417, 471, 714, 741

If you are a 147, you are diligent, intuitive, and innovative. You want to be ethical, expressive, and positive. You are passionate and idealistic and want to make a difference in the world and do what is it right.  You see many possible approaches to any given situation. Diverse and hardworking, you uphold your idealism with standards of excellence and a strong moral compass. Perfectionistic by nature, you seek standards that improve lives.

The Strategist Tritype®: 258, 285, 528, 582, 825, 852

If you are a 258, you are caring, knowledgeable and protective. You want to be helpful, wise, and straightforward. You can take charge, be direct, and to the point but prefer to be relational. You are naturally empathetic and focused on people but need time on your own to follow your own pursuits undisturbed. You are both introverted and extroverted. Sometimes, you can be direct, move towards others, and ‘over' give or pull away to be alone and recharge.  This can be confusing to others.

The Problem Solver Tritype®: 259, 295, 529, 592, 925, 952

If you are a 259, you are caring, knowledgeable, and accepting. You want to be helpful, wise, and peaceful. You are naturally very quiet, soft-spoken, and shy, but observe and track everything going on around you.  You focus on problems and enjoy tinkering and fixing things. You need companionship and avoid feelings of loneliness by focusing on the needs and concerns of others. You are the smart, reserved, and sympathetic, ‘people’ person. You can see how to fix things but struggle with inaction when overwhelmed.  

The Rescuer “Hero” Tritype®: 268, 286, 628, 682, 826, 862

If you are a 268, you are caring, supportive and protective. You want to be helpful, engaging, and straightforward. You are playful, provocative, and outspoken with a sense of bravado. You want to be in charge of your world but tend to focus on others and what is needed. You are attracted to the noble cause. You are the “every man or woman” who will fight the “good fight” for the greater good. You may be uncertain at times but will instantly challenge what is unjust or step up to shield others from harm.

The Good Samaritan Tritype®: 269, 296, 629, 692, 926, 962

If you are a 269, you are caring, inquisitive and accepting. You want to be helpful, supportive, and peaceful. You like people and want to find ways to engage with them. Your sense of pride comes from getting along with others and being of assistance. You are known for your kindness, easygoing, and friendly disposition. You will push for what you think is needed but may struggle with being seen as passive or quietly passive-aggressive.

The Free Spirit Tritype®: 278, 287, 728, 782, 827, 872

If you are a 278, you are caring, innovative and protective. You want to be helpful, loving, and straightforward. You are independent and assertive with a heart of gold. You have a ready smile, a rapier wit, and a twinkle in your eye. You are fun-loving and enjoy people and adventures, nurturing those in your circle of care. You use your charming disposition to create an upbeat, positive, and action-packed environment. You follow your own muse but enjoy the attention and energy of a group of your choosing.

The Peacemaker Tritype®: 279, 297, 729, 792, 927, 972

If you are a 279, you are caring, innovative, and accepting. You want to be helpful, upbeat, and peaceful. You are very kind and tend to see the best in others. You focus on easy and comfortable ways of relating. You have a sunny disposition and are very kind and optimistic. You dislike any form of conflict or strife and use your sense of humor to smooth out difficulties. Your need for okay-ness can, at times, be seen as insensitive.

The Solution Master Tritype®: 358, 385, 538, 583, 835, 853

If you are a 358, you are ambitious, knowledgeable, and protective. You want to be efficient, wise, and straightforward. Tough-minded, you are good at studying a problem and finding both the original and practical solutions others often miss. You are a no-nonsense person and prefer to use logic over emotion to achieve your goals. Highly tenacious, you work tirelessly until you find effective solutions and can prevail against adversity.

The Thinker Tritype®: 359, 395, 539, 593, 935, 953

If you are a 359, you are ambitious, knowledgeable, and accepting. You want to be efficient, wise, and peaceful. Intellectual and clever, you have your eye on the prize but find amenable and pleasant ways to manage your goals. Kindhearted, you naturally offer help but prefer to avoid difficult situations. Often shy, you are very private and are slow to trust others. You need time to reveal yourself to others. You are ambitious but seek admiration in a subtle manner.  

The Justice Fighter Tritype®: 368, 386, 638, 683, 836, 863

If you are a 368, you are ambitious, inquisitive, and protective. You want to be accomplished, loyal, and straightforward. Verbally adept and a good reader of people and situations, you have the ability to identify unjust authority, rebel against tyranny, and verbally spar against it. You seek people and situations that share your values and work hard to achieve your goals. You want to get along with others but can struggle with being too direct and outspoken.

The Mediator Tritype®: 369, 396, 639, 693, 936, 963

If you are a 369, you are ambitious, inquisitive, and accepting. You want to be successful, engaged, and peaceful. You seek peace, balance, and harmony. You want to know what is expected of you and will adjust your behavior to succeed. You want to be the everyman or woman, the good neighbor, friend, and coworker. You adapt to maintain this rapport because you need affirmation, reassurance, and a sense of well-being to feel connected to others.

The Mover Shaker Tritype®: 378, 387, 738, 783, 837, 873

If you are a 378, you are ambitious, innovative, and protective. You want to be efficient, happy, and straightforward. You are a dynamic go-getter, focused on the prize. An expansive powerhouse, you see the big picture and have the will to make it happen. You are a true entrepreneur and empire builder who recognizes what is possible and will work hard to achieve results. Obstacles are seen as competitive challenges.

The Ambassador Tritype®: 379, 397, 739, 793, 937, 973

If you are a 379, you are ambitious, innovative, and accepting. You want to be focused, upbeat, and peaceful. You are outgoing even if you are shy. You seek companionship, so naturally, include others in your circle. Your friendly, welcoming, and diplomatic approach provides a warm and pleasant atmosphere that fosters a sense of goodwill. Secretly, you avoid complications, preferring to stay with pleasantries. You strive for success and a feeling of personal importance.

The Scholar Tritype®: 458, 485, 548, 584, 845, 854

If you are a 458, you are intuitive, knowledgeable, and protective. You want to be original, wise, and straightforward. You study what makes people tick and quickly form and share strong opinions about what you learn. Somewhat introverted, you are identified as being someone who is an intuitive, and intellectual strategic thinker. You look to the past and identify great historical thinkers and philosophers you wish to emulate. You see and focus on the interconnections that others often miss.  

The Contemplative Tritype®: 459, 495, 549, 594, 945, 954

If you are a 459, you are intuitive, knowledgeable, and accepting. You want to be original, wise, and peaceful. Highly self-aware and reflective, you are very shy, reserved, and self-conscious. You need regular quiet time to reflect on your thoughts and emotions. Easily flooded with emotion, it is difficult to voice your ideas and feelings. You are hurt when extroverts don’t ask for your thoughts and opinions, not realizing they may also be ill at ease. 

The Truth Teller Tritype®: 468, 486, 648, 684, 846, 864

If you are a 468, you are intuitive, inquisitive, and protective. You want to be original, certain, and straightforward. You are outspoken and opinionated yet deeply sensitive and introspective. Your high sensitivity drives you to seek immediate resolution to potential issues or threats. You excel at detecting inconsistencies and exposing hidden agendas, deception, and ulterior motives. While are very kind, loving, and protective, your intensity may lead to lightning-fast reactions to careless acts or thoughtless deeds. 

The Seeker Tritype®: 469, 496, 649, 694, 946, 964

If you are a 469, you are intuitive, inquisitive, and accepting. You want to be original, certain, and peaceful. You are very sensitive and can easily feel reserved and inhibited. You are a deep thinker with strong emotions and can struggle with intense feelings of self-doubt. You seek answers to life’s questions. As a result, you need multiple sources of confirmation. You want to be individualistic but avoid confrontation because you fear it will cause separation.  

The Messenger Tritype®: 478, 487, 748, 784, 847, 874

If you are a 478, you are intuitive, innovative, and protective. You want to be original, creative, and straightforward. A cutting-edge tracker of both your internal and external worlds, you are an unconventional, passionate, and self-possessed master of solutions. You seek what is new and innovative with a strong need to share what you learn with others. Outwardly, you come across as confident with a sense of panache, but inwardly, you are emotionally sensitive and shy.  

The Gentle Spirit Tritype®: 479, 497, 749, 794, 947, 974

If you are a 479, you are intuitive, innovative, and accepting. You want to be original, positive, and peaceful. Others see you as very receptive and ethereal. You are identified with the defense of optimism and possibilities. Secretly, you are shy and long-suffering and tend to hide your painful feelings and pessimism for fear of being rejected. You focus on what is new and giving meaning to your suffering. Others see you as gentle, tenderhearted, and lyrical. You are attracted to healing arts.

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History and Evolution of Tritype®

What is Tritype®? What is Trifix, What are Trigrams, 3Types, TriTypes, Tri-Type, TriCenter, Tritype® Tristar, Personality Numbers, and More?

In Katherine's own words…Each Enneagram type is an innate, elegant defense strategy built around a corresponding set of core fears. These core fears are based on the needs and concerns of each of the nine Enneagram types.

This dynamic gives rise to a complex personality structure and defense system. This is a unique way to understand the personality, not as only a collection of traits and behaviors but as an efficient defense structure trying to manage our core fears and protect us from harm.

Of course, we can recognize in our own experience that we have more than one core fear, so relating those different flavors of fear to a powerful map like the Enneagram Tritype® Personality System is essential to truly understanding what is driving each of us at the more unconscious levels of personality..

This is when I created the Tritype® System, a map that comprehensively lays out the significant influences within our personalities. This system removes some of the mystery from why people do what they do, making it easier to understand ourselves and others better.

What you can discover with your Tritype®!

Many teachers and many teachings…including many research participants!

I have had the good fortune of learning from many great teachers -- and certified with Helen Palmer-David Daniels, Don Riso-Russ Hudson, and Kathy Hurley-Theodorre Donson, as well as being able to attend intensives with the creator of the Enneagram of Personality, Oscar Ichazo, and the creator of the Subtypes, Dr. Claudio Naranjo. I even had the honor of Naranjo validating my research findings on my 1994-1995 Instinctual Types and Subtypes Research.

I have enjoyed every training I have attended. I appreciated Ichazo's sharp mind and the way in which he created the Enneagram of Personality that we all use today, and I have great respect for Dr. Claudio Naranjo, the first to disseminate Ichazo's information on the Enneagram of Personality actively, and is the originator of the Instinctual Subtypes.  Their teachings have greatly enriched my view of the types.

Differences with those of the same type…

I found that the Enneagram did not fully explain why there were still key differences in the nine personality types.

So, I began to research more and more. I was especially interested in the “internal experiences” of types and instincts.

Initially, I researched the Enneagram Types, Instinctual Types, and Subtypes. This helped add essential qualities to each type, which was very instructive but did not explain how those of the same type and instinctual subtype could still appear very different.

I wanted to know why and what could be learned to explain these differences and make it easier for people to type themselves and others accurately.

What is Tritype® Theory based on?

Tritype® and Instinctual Stackings are based on tens of thousands of coaching sessions, in-depth qualitative interviews, EQ surveys, and Enneacard test results; from it, I developed a body of work I called 3Types or Tritype®, with the Tricenter and Trigram symbols. I still use all the terms, including 3Types and the Tricenter and Trigram symbols. But, the overarching concept is known as Tritype®. I have also added the Tritype® Tristar symbol that shows the unfolding of the Tritypes®.

When did Tritype® emerge?

In 1985, the Enneagram primarily focused on the character traits of the nine types and how these traits could be a hindrance to becoming self-awareness interfering with spiritual growth and how the nine types can have distortions in the way they react mentally, emotionally, and viscerally. think, feel, and act and how tha tfeel (emotions-passions), think (thoughts-fixations), and Actions (actions-do or do not do), known as their passions and convictions. In January of 1994, I began my more official qualitative research on the “Internal Experiences of the Types and Subtypes.” This research was focused on learning what the types and subtypes would say about themselves.included Sentence Completion testing instruments, multiple choice test included

More specifically, it is based on the contributions of the 9 Enneagram types.

The In-depth Inquiry Process revealed distinct patterns

When I gathered data from my initial studies on “the internal experiences” of the Enneagram, the Instinctual Types, and Subtypes, I recognized a typical pattern of clients and test-takers identifying with the idealized images and core fears of three Enneagram types, not just one set of core fears.

At first, this might be explained by someone's wing types or types along the lines of connection to the primary type. But too frequently, the types were not connected by a wing or a line. Notably, these clients and participants used the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies of three types, not just one. Types 6 or 9 might have four types, but of the four, they are always identified with a type from each center.

There is much more to say about how types 6 and 9 test in all testing instruments. It is a study within a study and why I poured so much time, energy, and money into creating a testing instrument to alert them when they should consider Type 6, Type 9, or both.

For years, these types were often mistyped as other types and reported they only really felt the full transformational changes once they were accurately typed. I call this one’s TrueType™. When someone finds their correct Enneagram Type, Tritype®, Instinctual Type, and Subtype, they have identified their “Truetype™” and can much more readily work with their core type at a much deeper level. Identifying one’s Truetype makes this possible.

So, I just kept recording the patterns…

I even ran a mini-study focused on the core fears each type identified with to gather more data about the phenomena of people identifying with the core fears of three types. This was a new pattern that others had yet to notice.

I first researched the idealized images and core fears in the 1970s and 1980s when hiring, training, and managing others as an executive in the cosmetic industry. I worked with all levels and from all parts of the country. I used every typology I could find. I quickly had clusters of adjectives and expressions for each type I had noticed prior to learning about the Enneagram.

In 1985, when I found the Enneagram, I saw very similar patterns! And they turned out to be essential facets of the nine Enneagram types, not all of which were known in 1985. I also discovered that the Enneagram typology could hold all other typologies based on motivations rather than behaviors and identifications. All different personality typologies were based on behaviors and identifications.

Many students and teachers of the Enneagram discovered that people seemed to use two or even three types. This could be explained by the lead type and lines or wings to their other types. But far too many did not. So, I kept compiling and testing the data.

Teachers and enthusiasts who noticed these confusing patterns also noticed that some people were extremely hard to type because two or three types were so close. I hypothesized that Tritype® might explain this difficulty as to why some types were so hard to type and why some people strongly identify with more than one type.

Consistently Identifying with more than one type.

People identifying three sets of fears rather than just one also suggested to me that there was a reason people might identify with more than one type.

So, I began working with the interventions recommended for all three types they used, and my clients began to have faster results and more significant breakthroughs.

Katherine Fauvre added Tritype® to her work in 1994

Not overthinking it, I called this 3Types (individual types), TriCenter (the three triads), Trigrams (the Tritype Symbol with the interconnecting lines to the other types), and continued documenting my findings.

Then, in January of 1997, after teaching the Enneagram for 11 years, I attended an NCIEA morning event taught by a teacher from the Arica Institute, the spiritual school founded on the work of Enneagram pioneer Oscar Ichazo.

The instructor casually mentioned that she had recently learned about her "Trifix" and how it helped her to more fully name her gut responses but said nothing more. A few months earlier, I had just heard about this term from Jack Labanauskas and Andrea Isaacs of the Enneagram Monthly. They had recently interviewed Ichazo. In the interview, Ichazo gave Jack his Trifix and Andrea hers, but they did not know more than that…

So, after the morning class for the IEA, I approached the instructor. I shared that I had found that my clients and research participants appeared to have the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies of three types, not just one… and that these types included a type from each center: head, heart, and gut. I called these 3Types, TriCenter, and Trigrams.

The instructor confirmed that my research findings were meaningful as Ichazo had also realized people use all three triads and have three “fixations,” the mental preoccupations and fixed beliefs of the types of the types… not just one. 

I was pleased to hear that Ichazo had also found that people used all three triads. It confirmed what my study participants Because Ichazo had not published anything until 1997

Over two years later… in 1997,
Oscar Ichazo added Trifix to the Arica Institute

We did not know about Trifix because it was not a part of Ichazo’s early teachings. He added the term Trifix in an email to Jack and Andrea of the Enneagram Monthly in 1996 when he was interviewed by the Enneagram Monthly, 26 years after his first 10-month intensive in Arica Chile, which began in 1970.

Initially, Ichazo did not clarify that the Trifix was only the “mental fixations” of the three types in the Trifix. This meant that Trifix refers to the head fixations only and that there is neither a heart or a gut fix. He focused on the fixations of the types. The name implied this, but Jack, Andrea, and others assumed it was a term that meant types. Instead, Ichazo only focused on the three fixations of the three types and why he called it Trifix.

In 2007 an Arican attended my course. Afterward, we realized this critical distinction when talking about our experiences with the Enneagram. Then, I added the term Tritype® because my research uses the whole type, including each type's head, heart, and gut type in the Tritype®, not just the three head type fixations like Ichazo. Tritype® included the whole dynamics of the types: passions, fixations, and convictions of all three types, as well as the types’ wings and lines.

We felt that the terms Trifix and Tritype® could name this distinction. From then on, I used Tritype®.

In his book The Nine Constituents, published in 2019, Ichazo finally documented five paragraphs on the concept of Trifix. However, he still never taught anything about using the head, heart, and gut fixes. Nor did he teach about the combinations in the Trifix.

My explanations of Tritype® identified the variables that occurred with the 27 Tritype® Archetypes, not Trifix. Using three co-fixations for Ichazo still meant three head fixes only. It is still noteworthy that…

Independent of one another…
Katherine and Oscar discovered people use all 3 Triads

Ichazo and I both discovered that people use all three triads. However, after that, the theories are very different from one another.

Typing and Trityping®

Just as with a single Enneagram type, it is imperative to confirm one’s Tritype® based on internal motivations, idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies that one employs. Avoid basing it on identifications, behaviors, or associations.

Pay attention to the irrational fears associated with idealized images and observe which defense strategy you actually utilize. It is not determined by our actions or words or any changes we may have undergone, as those are examples of behaviors and identifications.

The Enneagram and Tritype® are rooted in the reasons behind what we do, not just the actions themselves, and in understanding the nature of our suffering at our core rather than attributing it to external sources of hurt. Instead, it's about exploring why we respond to hurt in the specific ways we do. What are we afraid of enduring if we acknowledge that we are the source of our problems?

What if someone we dislike is correct, and we are fundamentally wrong? What irrational fears do we need to confront or endure, and why? If we are denied what we believe we need to feel safe, how will we cope, and why?

Tritype® has proven to be a more complete "map" of the unconscious influences driving behavior…

The journey of making progress in life requires being able to see and identify the things that we fear, our reactivity to situations, the beliefs that reinforce our reactivity, and our understanding of why we react to people and situations the way we do.

As with the first teachings of the Enneagram of Personality in 1970, my initial 1994 qualitative research studies on the “Internal Experiences” of the types revealed key insights into the world of the types. These insights led to the discovery of the mathematical “Unfolding of 27 Tritype® Archetypes,” the three Tritype® Stackings, and the three Instinctual Stackings. These findings were so illuminating that all 24 qualitative studies are ongoing.

This first study began with 500 Enneagram-savvy participants, followed by a control group of 100 participants who were unfamiliar with the Enneagram and the Subtypes. The number of participants increased exponentially from 600 participants to thousands, then tens of thousands, and now, hundreds of thousands of international participants.

My most comprehensive testing instrument, Enneagram Tritype® Test version 8 (ETTv8), includes my latest research findings. It was introduced in 2020 and used by over 200,000 participants in less than two years. It has been continuously updated and retroactively shown in your test results.

The ETTv8 has ten testing instruments in one test and, among other features, has been specially programmed to gather the test-taker’s lexicon use, vocabulary, and ranking of the Enneacards and Enneasentences and to “detect” the important patterns used by the Enneagram types, Tritypes®, Instincts, and Subtypes.

It reveals patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving based on your choices throughout the testing process. It identifies the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies that shed light on the more specific attention patterns, adding nuanced perspectives of the types that paved the way for the emergence of Tritype®.

It provided an incredible shortcut on the path of personal growth and taught us how to recognize the Blind Spots that are missed. Once we accurately identify our Enneagram Type, Tritype®, Instinctual Type, and Subtype Stacking Order, we have access to a detailed map that clearly lays out many of the things we need to see and work with in order to become the happiest versions of ourselves.

Of course, we can get to all of this through the In-depth Inquiry Process, but having the benefit of a map like the Enneagram and Tritype® can cut years off the process.

Once we know the Enneagram Tritype® System and learn to identify the patterns of each type accurately, we are able to quickly understand the unique drivers inside each person in your life. and why they do what they do…

Identifying one’s idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies increases empathy, compassion, and understanding…

Understanding Tritype® enables you to help others feel seen as well as know what they need, how to relate to them in the best way, and how to avoid triggering their unconscious fears and insecurities.

Developing a deep knowledge and understanding of your Enneagram Tritype® is like removing the fog of perception from your eyes, both for your own journey of personal development and with how you relate to everyone in your life.

Tritype® identifies a more specific Focus Attention

Tritype® offers an In-Depth understanding of your personality and comes alive when you apply it. By itself, Tritype® is the map, but you also need to know how to follow that map. Whether understanding yourself, breaking old patterns, or helping clients improve the quality of their lives, you need to know how to apply it to have the greatest results.

You will know how to correctly determine and work with your Tritype®, Life Mission, Innate Strengths, Focus of Attention, and Blindspot, as well as the basic needs and concerns of the 27 Tritype® combinations. You will also be able to better understand key distinctions within a type.

Does Tritype® help with typing people?

Once you learn the qualities of the 27 Tritype® Archetypes, you can more accurately "type" people and know how to distinguish between common Enneagram look-a-likes to avoid common mistypings.

Watch all 27 Free Tritype® Mini Videos here 

478 Tritype®

478 Tritype® Example

The three types within your Tritype® intersect and create a more specific defense strategy and type unto itself.

The Tritype® brings both assets and liabilities. The high side of the intersection of these three Enneagram types is that together they define what gives your life direction, focus, and a sense of purpose.

On the low side, this combination of your three types creates a predictable blind spot, which lowers your ability to accurately self-assess (and may keep you locked in self-defeating patterns).

Video on the 478 Tritype®

Here's a short video where Katherine discusses the 478 Tritype®. Keep in mind that there are a total of 27 possible Tritype® combinations. The 478 is just one.

As you can see from the video, the depths to which you can use the Tritype® System to truly understand people is nearly limitless… far beyond that of the Enneagram alone.
watch here

Learn more about Tritype®
Evolution of Tritype®
What is Tritype® Page
How to Type and Tritype®
Take Enneagram Tritype® Test
Book a Coaching Session
Watch all 27 Tritype® Mini Videos here

Tristar: Mathematical Unfolding of the 27 Tritypes®

A special thank you to Waldemar Bandosz for creating the Tristar Image showing the Unfolding of the 27 Tritypes®. and to Rob Callopy (Zeke) for the two early Tritype® visuals based on Katherine’s research about the Unfolding of the 27 Tritypes®.

Tristar Symbol

For the first time, Katherine is teaching the Tritype® Tristar: How to Use the Tristar as the Map to understand the Path of Unfoldment for the 27 Tritype® Archetypes. Learn More

To understand the Enneagram Tritype® Tristar symbol, one needs to know of the similarities and differences between the Enneagram system and the Tritype® Archetype system.

The Enneagram is a 9-point personality system organized within a 3x3 matrix that is inherently divisible by 3. In contrast, Tritype® extends this framework into a 27-point personality system, introducing a 3x3x3 structure within a 3x9 matrix, which also maintains a divisibility by 3.

The Enneagram symbol is represented as a circle encompassing nine equidistant points connected by intersecting lines, forming three distinct triads (a Trialectic model). This symbol is believed to capture the dynamic spiral forces at play in the universe, incorporating principles associated with the numbers one, three, seven, and nine.

The Tritype® Tristar symbol takes the form of a circular representation, featuring an arrangement of 27 triangles signifying the 27 Tritypes® organized into three triads, with each triad consisting of 9 Tritypes®. Positioned at the center of this symbolic structure is the primary 369 Tritype®, which forms intricate connections with the 258 Tritype® and the 147 Tritype®. These connections offer valuable insights into the universal aspects of the core primary 369 Tritype® and its relationship to the two “core” hexads; Tritypes® 258 and 147, revealing the sequential path of unfoldment among the 27 Tritypes®.

In which Triad does your Tritype® reside?

What is your Tritype® meant to do in the Tristar Path of Unfoldment? Are you more inclined to Initiate and begin actions (3), Oppose and see the other side of every equation (6), or Integrate and reconcile all points of view (9)?

Oscar Ichazo’s Trialectics and the Tritype® Tristar

The Enneagram of Personality is a 9-point personality system created by Oscar Ichazo in 1970 in Arica, Chile. Ichazo, a Bolivian-born philosopher and spiritual teacher known for his work with integral philosophy, Trialectics as part of his larger system of Integral Psychology. His Trialectics is a model that can be used to see the spiraling unfolding of the 27 Tritypes® in the Tristar.

Trialectics is a philosophical framework that proposes a three-fold approach to understanding reality, which goes beyond the traditional binary logic of dialectics. Ichazo's Trialectics suggests that every phenomenon can be understood in terms of three interrelated aspects or perspectives: Initiation or Affirmation, Opposition or Negation, and Integration or Reconciliation. This process involves moving opposing polarities to synthesis, which creates Trialectic unity and a more holistic approach.

1. In Trialectics: Ichazo identified three fundamental aspects of reality:
   
   Affirmation: This aspect represents the positive or constructive element of a phenomenon. It encompasses qualities such as existence, being, and manifestation.
   
   Negation: This aspect represents the negative or deconstructive element of a phenomenon. It involves qualities such as non-existence, non-being, and dissolution.
   
   Reconciliation: This aspect represents the synthesis or harmonization of the first two aspects. It involves the integration of affirmation and negation into a higher unity or understanding.

2. Dynamic Interplay: Ichazo emphasizes that these three aspects are not static but dynamically interact with each other. Affirmation and negation are in constant tension, leading to a process of synthesis, reconciliation, and integration.

3. Application: Trialectics can be applied to various domains, including psychology, philosophy, spirituality, and personal development. It offers a framework for understanding complex phenomena and resolving apparent contradictions or paradoxes.

4. Integration with Other Systems: Ichazo's Trialectics is often integrated with other philosophical and psychological systems, such as Ken Wilber's Integral Theory and George Gurdjieff's Fourth Way teachings. It provides a complementary perspective that enriches these systems.

Overall, Ichazo's theory of Trialectics offers a nuanced approach to understanding reality, emphasizing the dynamic interplay of affirmation, negation, and reconciliation. It encourages practitioners to transcend binary thinking and embrace complexity and synthesis.

This Trialectic system, as represented by the Law of Three, is interpreted in various spiritual and philosophical traditions and often refers to the idea that every action has threefold consequences or aspects.

1. Affirmation, Negation, Reconciliation: This triad suggests that every action is followed by its opposite reaction but ultimately leads to a higher synthesis or resolution, reconciling the initial opposites.

2. Creation, Preservation, Destruction: This triad reflects the cycles of existence where creation leads to preservation, which eventually leads to destruction or transformation, creating space for new creation.

3. Birth, Life, Death: This triad mirrors the cycle of life, where birth initiates life, which eventually culminates in death. However, death is often seen as a transition or transformation rather than an end.

4. Thought, Word, Deed: In this triad, thought precedes action, and words often follow thoughts before actions are taken. Deeds, then, are the culmination of thoughts and words.

5. Initiation, Struggle, Attainment: This triad suggests that every endeavor begins with an initiation, followed by struggle or effort, and ultimately leads to attainment or achievement.

6. Integration, Differentiation, Harmony: This triad emphasizes the interplay between unity and diversity. Integration leads to differentiation, which, when balanced, results in harmony.

7. Ignition, Combustion, Dissipation: Analogous to the process of burning, this triad illustrates how ignition leads to combustion, which ultimately leads to the dissipation of energy.

These interpretations illustrate the Law of Three's multifaceted nature and how it can be applied across various domains, from physics and chemistry to psychology and spirituality.

Tritype® Path of Unfoldment

The Tritype® Path of Unfoldment is a structured journey within the Tristar diagram, starting with the 369 Tritype® at its core and extending outward in a systematic pattern. This pattern progresses from the most common Tritype® combinations to the least common ones, creating 27 distinct Tritype® Archetypes.

The Tristar map mirrors the three triads of the Enneagram, placing each Tritype® within the corresponding triad to which it belongs. The 369 Tritype® holds a central position and consists of the three primary numbers in the Enneagram (3, 6, 9), forming a 3x3 system that aligns with the spiritual Law of 9. This Tritype® is recognized for its universality and adaptability due to its more direct connection to all 9 types by way of its wing types in the center in which it resides in the Enneagram system.

The 369 Tritype® harmoniously interlocks with the two hexad (1428571) Tritypes®—the 147 and the 258. Together, these triads encompass all nine Enneagram numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). Remarkably, when you sum these numbers (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9), you get a total of 45. Reducing this sum to a single digit (4+5) results in 9, thereby concluding this process within the context of the 9-fold system.

The 369 Tritype® consists of the three primary types at its core, followed by the inclusion of two primary types along with one hexad type. As the path of unfoldment continues towards the outer center of the Tristar, it transitions to combinations comprising one primary type with two hexad types. Finally, the journey culminates with Tritypes®, which are composed entirely of three hexad types situated at the outermost edges of the Tristar. This intricate structure provides a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between different Tritype® combinations and their evolving relationships as they radiate outward from the core.

Think of the 369 Tritype®, which is made up of the three primary types, as the “generalist.” This is the most common and adaptable Tritype® because it has access to all nine Enneagram types via its wings. So, it is not by chance that the 369 Tritype® identifies with all nine types to some degree at first. This is because 369 Tritype® sees other points of view faster than the other Tritypes®, which is one of the reasons why it takes longer for them to accurately confirm their lead type.

In contrast, think of the 478 Tritype®, which is made up of the ending three hexad types, as the “specialist.” This is the least common Tritype®, residing on the outer points of the Tristar edge, which is the least adaptable Tritype®.

Why is the 478 Tritype® made up of the “ending” three hexad types?

The Enneagram is the 9-fold system that begins and ends with type 9. It is important to note that the Tristar symbol moves in a clockwise order, beginning and ending with type 9. This means that type 1 is the first move out of type 9 and that 8 is the last gut type before merging back to the wholeness of type 9. When organized by centers, it is much easier to see. To find the numerical significance of each type, add up the numbers, then reduce all numbers to a single digit.

The 234 is the heart center and is focused on emotions. The 234 becomes 2+3+4=9.

The 567 is the head center and is focused on thoughts. The 567 becomes 5+6+7=18 then, 1+8=9.

The 918 is the gut center and is focused on sensations. The 918 becomes 9+1+8=18 then, 1+8=9.

The centers combined equals 9. So, 9+9+9= 27. 2+7=9.

Each Tritype® thereafter adds up to one of 9 potential numbers from 1 through 9, which gives additional details about the focus of the Tritype®.

©1995-2025 Katherine Chernick Fauvre

A special thank you to Waldemar Bandosz for creating the above Tristar Image showing the Unfolding of the 27 Tritypes®. And to Rob Callopy (Zeke), for being kind enough to use his graphic skills to help me create the two early Tritype® visuals for my courses and books to make it easier for students to visualize what my research revealed about the Unfolding of the 27 Tritypes®. Watch more Tristar videos here

The 639 Tritype® and Instinctual Types and Subtypes

Katherine promised to say more about the commonly mistyped elusive, dedicated, smart, emotionally complex type6w7 639 Tritype®.
Ok, just this description for now...a very short example...

The 369 Tritype® is the most primary Tritype®

The 369 is the most amenable and adaptable of the 27 Tritypes®. This Tritype® includes the core types of each center of intelligence. The core of each center is seeking to balance the opposites within each center to create balance and resolution. The core of each center is usually out of touch with the focus of their respective center and tends to be caught in the dance of opposites created by the opposing defense strategies of the wings in each center.

So the 6, as the center of the head triad, struggles to trust themselves and their own inner guidance. They oscillate between feeling they need to be an expert about something or feeling they need to know a little about everything to feel safe. But they know they don’t truly know everything that is important, so they befriend those who can do what they cannot. This expands to include competent friends of their friends to seek advice from when they need it, or to have friends of their friends that can do whatever the 6 feels unsure about.

So, the 3 is trying to manage the overall fear of being ignored. The 6 is trying to manage the fear of fear itself and chaos, and the 9 is trying to manage the fear of being overlooked and unimportant. Together, the focus is on creating, restoring, and maintaining peaceful relating.

If your Tritype® is the 369, it reinforces the primary issues. As a result, neutralizing conflict is a primary concern.

The 7 wing gives the 6 a lighter touch and a desire to manage stress with quick-witted, often self-deprecating humor. So, the 6w7 with the 639 is the friendly boy or girl next door who wants to engage with others as a means of survival. This strategy is true even if the person is shy. And, the extroverted 639 still feels cautious and/or has doubts, but the extraversion makes it easier to bridge their shyness by saying something funny and/or witty. The introverted 639 uses their shy smile to disarm and engage others.

Self Preserving 639 Tritype®

The self-preserving 639 is preoccupied with their physical needs. They focus on their sense of security and what will keep them feeling safe, nurtured, and comfortable. They tend to worry about everything associated with their essential needs, focusing on the demands of their home, job, pension, and family, etc.

Being disarming and friendly are tools of the trade for the self-preserving 6. And a friendly and socially acceptable partner may be considered just as important as a good job as both reinforce that they have what they need in times of uncertainty. As such, they monitor their physical needs and resources to gauge if they are safe and secure. To maintain a sense of well-being, they may also track the physical needs of their designated other(s). This can be exhausting and feel difficult to manage, so they often keep their world small, letting in only one person or a trusted few.

The Social 639 Tritype®

The social 639 is preoccupied with their place or position within the group(s) of their choosing. Ideally, their group needs to be considered socially acceptable, and their partner needs to be considered friendly and successful to ensure and maintain the security that comes from status. 

They focus on being dutiful and supportive to the people, beliefs, values and/or creeds they have chosen to align with. As such, they monitor who is doing what with whom and whether or not they feel included and secure. To maintain their security, they seek a role or position within their group(s) and family systems to ensure they have others who will come to their aid should they need it. They see themselves as dedicated and loyal to the people in their lives. They instinctively shapeshift and become what their others need in order to be deemed worthy of admiration and protection. 

The Sexual 639 Tritype®

The sexual 639 is preoccupied with selecting and/or being a desirable and irresistible alpha mate. They are more intense and counter-phobic than the self-preserving and social 6. They seek intensity and chemistry in their intimate relationships and tend to push the edge in whatever they do. They manage their fears and anxiety by jumping into situations that cause distress proving to themselves that they are strong enough to manage whatever feels threatening. They can move from fear to action in nanoseconds when they have already projected a worst-case scenario and have prepared for it. As a result, they may not identify with having fear.

The sexual 639 focuses on having and being strong enough and/or beautiful enough to attract a desirable mate who will stand beside them and protect them when they feel insecure. Strength may mean physical strength and beauty or can be defined as someone who is extremely smart and competent. Ideally, they want their mate and close friends to be extraordinary in some way they feel they are not. As such, they may choose a mate that they think is smarter than most so that they feel they have all of their bases covered. To that end, they adapt to what their mate or partners want to ensure they have their special someone who will stand together with them against an uncertain world.

Watch all 27 Free Tritype® Mini Videos here 

©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre

The 358 Tritype® Archetype

Katherine also promised to say more about the commonly mistyped tough-minded, smart, dynamic, realistic and impersonal Tritype®.
Ok, just this description for now...a very short example...

358 - The Solution MasterIncludes the 358, 385, 538, 583, 835, 853.

This Tritype® is a dynamic achiever and power broker but is also often misunderstood.

From the outside, the 358 Tritype® may seem like a brash, confident, and success-driven achiever that does not suffer fools gladly. They can appear to be tough-minded individuals that can easily call a spade a spade but can also come across as stony and insensitive.

This is true in part because the 358s are street-wise and believe in the school of hard knocks. They think that one learns the most by doing, and they think that the best lessons in life are learned by having to do things the hard way.

The 358 is known for being strategically brilliant but also for being blunt and to the point. Their inner drive is to succeed and conquer. They do this by using a mind-over-matter approach to life and their innate ability to quickly size up the competition or situation at hand. They begin by setting their sights on something that is of interest to them and then developing and executing the plans needed to acquire it. They achieve their goals by employing foresight, strategic planning, and step-by-step analysis.

538’s are known for being impersonal and unemotional.

Yet the truth is everything is very personal for them. They see life as one giant chess game that they intend to win through mastery.

But that is only part of the story. They succeed not because they do not have emotions but rather because they are not limited by emotions. The 358 can separate their emotions from any issue at hand, which can, at times, be confusing to some of the more tender-hearted Tritypes® like the 269, 379, or 469, all of whom use their emotions to make decisions. In fact, the 358 Tritype® believes that emotions confuse and limit, only serving to slow them down.

358s focus on the long game and have very little use for ignorance. They are demanding of themselves and others. They are natural entrepreneurs and generally achieve whatever they set out to do. They seek and can readily identify the competitive advantage in any area of life, whether in business, sports, or love. They will always have or will readily develop a strategy for success.

358 focus in life is to achieve the realization of their ambitions

They do this by enduring and overcoming adversity. They never give up and do not back down or give in. Setbacks become fuel for future endeavors. Failures pave the way for greater successes.

They are no-nonsense people who value experience over titles or degrees. They are extremely hard workers and are very self-motivated. They can be seen as workaholics, but they truly love whatever they do, or they would stop doing it. They are what they achieve.

358s are actually thinkers and doers rather than feelers

Another important part of the story is that the 358s are actually thinkers and doers rather than feelers, especialy if they are the T function in Myers-Briggs. But, underneath their logical solution mastery is a impersonal yet sensitive person that manages distress by doing something to fix a problem rather than being trapped in what feels like illogical, emotional chaos. The truth is that the 358 is uncomfortable with emotions, both their own emotions and the emotions of others. This is because they value data and information and fail to see the data and information that emotions provide.

358s have a defense strategy that survives by learning from their experiences so that they can succeed the next time they face the same problem. Emotionally charged experiences that result in feelings of shame and humiliation leave the strongest impressions. As a result, these are the areas of life that the 358s wish to conqueror first. And these are the first lessons the 358s want to teach loved ones.

358s do not want anyone they care about to suffer or be disadvantaged because their loved one is mired in an emotional crisis or emotional paralysis. They vividly remember the times they felt debilitated because their own emotions got in the way of affirmative action. As a result, 358s prefer the power that comes from action and mental constructs even at the expense of their emotions. They are naturally more adept at using their will center and mental center. They see their ability to go into action and use a mind-over matter approach to life as much more reliable than the inconstancy of the heart. They prefer the world of logic, thoughts, actions, and willfulness over the world of feelings and emotions. Instead of offering sympathy, they offer strategies.

They respect those that overcome obstacles, and they admire those that develop the confidence that ensues as a result of overcoming adversity. They want their loved ones to learn how to provide for themselves so that they will have the confidence and know-how that comes from succeeding by learning from failures. They show love by teaching their loved ones how to provide for themselves and/or by providing resources for those in their circle of care rather than offering sentiment. But more specifically, they demonstrate love by teaching loved ones how to survive and make it on their own no matter what life throws at them.

Watch all 27 Free Tritype® Mini Videos here 

©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre • All rights reserved • This intellectual property cannot be used in whole or in part without written permission from Katherine Chernick Fauvre.

Endorsements

"Katherine is a gifted teacher and researcher with superb presentation skills. She has a great sensitivity to her audiences, a sparkling presence, and a command of different approaches to the Enneagram that gives her a unique perspective on the subject. Her work with the Instinctual Variants and Tritype® are original and innovative contributions. Her research into the inner world of the types has made it easier to understand the basic fears of the types. We highly recommend her work and look forward to her continued contributions to the field.”
-Don Riso and Russ Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram

Katherine is the most skilled and knowledgeable coach and teacher I've encountered. I have attended numerous trainings and find that her expertise, knowledge synthesis and charismatic and compassionate delivery is exemplary in every way. I write this with the highest recommendation possible.
-Sterlin Mosley Ph.d

"It's a pleasure to endorse Katherine Chernick Fauvre, an eminent pioneer in the field of Enneagram studies and the creator of Tritype®. As a master of microexpressions, visual archetypes, body language, and behavioral analysis within the Enneagram framework, Katherine has developed comprehensive Enneagram practices that integrate these elements seamlessly. Her creation of the in-depth inquiry process and her expertise in lexicon language specific to Enneagram types showcase her unparalleled understanding of personality dynamics.

Katherine's innovative approach also extends to combining Enneagram insights with Myers-Briggs personality types, offering a holistic view of individual and interpersonal dynamics. Her work on the Enneagram in spirituality and empathy further underscores her mastery and thought leadership. Co-creating and co-teaching the Personality Matrix with her has been a profound learning experience. This 10-week intensive program delves into Tritype®, archetypes, the processes of the 16 personality types, and the instinctual subtypes and stacking, providing rich, layered understanding at three levels.

As I near the completion of my certification as a master Enneagram teacher under her guidance, I am continually impressed by Katherine’s depth of knowledge and innovative spirit. Working with her has been an absolute privilege—her dedication to exploring and teaching the nuanced aspects of type is truly inspiring. Katherine Chernick Fauvre is not only a mentor but also a luminary in the psychological community, whose contributions continue to enrich and transform the way we understand human behavior and personality."
- Joyce Meng
Master MBTI Practitioner • Certified Enneagram Tritype® Teacher • Founder of Type Talks 

For more endorsements

Tritype® Research - IEA Journal 2012

Exploring Enneagram Tritype®: Theory and Practice

©2012 Katherine Chernick Fauvre  •  David William Fauvre. •  IEA Journal 2012
©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre  •  Updates and Additions

Abstract

When theory building for a system like the Enneagram, it’s important to meet those theories that are both elegant and intuitive. With the breadth of fine distinctions already built into Enneagram theory, it seemed that most avenues of distinction had been fleshed out. However, upon working with a multitude of clients, a fascinating pattern emerged. Research and test results with clients revealed that people utilize one type in each center of intelligence: head (5,6,7), heart (2,3,4), and gut (8,9,1), and that these types were used in a preferred order, with one being dominant. '

These Tritype®combinations also reveal specific character archetypes that enrich and enhance current Enneagram theory and provide Enneagram researchers and enthusiasts with a new typing language. Understanding the basics of Tritype®can help those working with the Enneagram (enthusiasts, clients, therapists, and coaches) communicate in a new typological language.

Aristotle suggested that true internal harmony could be achieved only when internal conditions allow each aspect of the psyche to perform what it was primitively meant to perform. The authors have found that one’s Enneagram Tritype®reveals critical aspects of the psyche and how they were meant to perform, thus allowing one to develop the self-awareness needed to create internal harmony and live a more fulfilling life. Read more here: Full Tritype® Research Article PDF

©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre • All rights reserved • This intellectual property cannot be used in whole or in part without written permission from Katherine Chernick Fauvre.

Tritype® Coaching Testimonial

I decided to work with Katherine without a specific issue or concern in mind, except to advance my self-awareness and understanding my enneagram tritype. In our first meeting Katherine helped me identify and clarify a self-limiting belief and a constellation of defence strategies organized around this belief. I have gained a deeper insight into how this belief system plays out, how to identify it and most importantly actionable steps to notice this previously unconscious mode of operating. I also gained a deeper understanding of how the tritype functions as a part of this pattern. If you are looking to up your game in terms of self-awareness or wondering just how much further you take your knowledge of the enneagram, fasten your seat belt and sign up for session with with Katherine. 
-Paul, Canada

©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre • All rights reserved • This intellectual property cannot be used in whole or in part without written permission from Katherine Chernick Fauvre.

Tritype® Specials

Tritype® 4.0 Advanced Video Series on Sale

Tritype® 4.0 Series - Sold as a set and sold separately by each Tritype®!

Tritype®r 4.0 Individual Tritypes: ®Save $10
• One Tritype® Archetype of your Choice
• Bonus Video: Introduction to Tritype® 4.0 Video 1.5-hours

Each Tritype® Archetype begins with an Introduction to Tritype® Video that covers the basics of using the Tritype® and Tristar System.

$65.00 on sale for $45.00-$55..  (for a limited time only).
Save $10 on individual videos with a special introductory price!
Learn more and purchase individual Tritype® videos here

Advanced Intro to Tritype® 4.0 + Evolution of Tritype®
125 - The Mentor
126 - The Supporter
127 - The Teacher
135 - The Technical Expert
136 - The Taskmaster
137 - The Systems Builder
145 - The Researcher
146 - The Philosopher
147 - The Visionary
258 - The Strategist
259 - The Problem Solver
268 - The Rescuer
269 - The Good Samaritan
278 - The Free Spirit
279 - The Peacemaker
358 - The Solution Master
359 - The Thinker
368 - The Justice Fighter
369 - The Mediator
378 - The Mover Shaker
379 - The Ambassador
458 - The Scholar
459 - The Contemplative
468 - The Truth Teller
469 - The Seeker
478 - The Messenger
479 - The Gentle Spirit
Full set of 29 Videos Includes Intro + Evolution of Tritype®

Learn more and purchase individual Tritype® videos here
©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre Working with Tritype®

What is Tritype®? What are Tritype® Archetypes?

What is Tritype®? What is Trifix, Tritype Explained, Trigrams, 3Types, TriTypes, Tri-Type, TriCenter, Tristar, 9 Personality Types?

Advancing the Enneagram with Tritype®

The Enneagram has long been recognized as a powerful 9-point model for personality assessment, categorizing individuals according to core motivations, idealized images, and fears protected by defensive strategies. While the Enneagram is profoundly effective, its single-type approach can sometimes fall short of capturing the fuller complexity of the human psyche. Tritype® addresses this limitation by offering a more multidimensional model that reflects the layered and intersecting nature of the three Centers of Intelligence: the Gut Center (8, 9, 1), the Heart Center (2, 3, 4), and the Head Center (5, 6, 7).

The Definiton and Origins of Tritype®

Tritype®, a 27-point personality system coined and created by Katherine Chernick Fauvre, emerged during her groundbreaking 1994 qualitative research on the “internal experiences” of the Enneagram Types and Subtypes. Her findings revealed that individuals unconsciously rely on three Enneagram Types, not just one. These three types correspond to the dominant type in each of the three Centers of Intelligence: the Gut Center (Types 8, 9, 1), the Heart Center (Types 2, 3, 4), and the Head Center (Types 5, 6, 7). Together, these types form a composite personality that reflects the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies of all three types. This combination functions as a unified system that operates in a rapidly repeating, hierarchical stacking order, with the top type serving as the "core" Enneagram type in the individual’s Tritype® Stacking.

Tritype® Qualitative Research Studies

Extensive and ongoing research with tens of thousands of international participants aged 12-95 years has confirmed that each Tritype® Archetype comprises the specific character traits of the three types within the Tritype®. These traits combine to form 27 distinct Tritypes®, based on the integration of the three sets of idealized self-images, core fears, and defense strategies found in the Gut Types (8, 9, 1), Heart Types (2, 3, 4), and the Head Types (5, 6, 7). 

Research also suggests that the common theme found among the three types within an individual’s Tritype® blend identifies that individual’s archetypal life purpose: a very specific viewpoint, special expertise, and set of values along with a critical blind spot to self-awareness. The dominant type, often referred to as the “core type,” is the lead type in the hierarchical Tritype® stacking. This type is the most conscious and recognizable in daily functioning and is usually the most accessible for identification.

Defining Features and Structural Precision of Tritype®

Each Tritype® is defined by a unique constellation of core values, needs, desires, emotional triggers, and psychological concerns. These combine to create a more specific focus of attention, a sense of mission, a developmental edge, and a distinctive blind spot. Each Tritype® also has its own set of wings and lines of connection. This intricate layering enhances the clarity, precision, and depth of the Enneagram typing process, making Tritype® a more advanced and comprehensive system of personality identification.

Instinctual Stacking Triggers the Tritype® Stacking

The triggering mechanism that activates this dominant type and the entire Tritype® configuration is governed by the Instinctual stacking. In other words, it is not just the Tritype® motivations alone that determine behaviors, but the needs, concerns, and perceived threats tied to one's instinctual drives, Self-Preservation, Social, or Sexual, that activate the Tritype® defense strategies in real-time.

Once triggered, the dominant type in the Tritype® deploys the primary center of intelligence (Gut, Heart, Head), and from there, the remaining two types in the Tritype® join in, forming a triadic response. This collaboration utilizes all three Centers of Intelligence:

Gut Types (8, 9, 1) for visceral responses, boundaries, and control; the action one needs to take or not take.

Heart Types (2, 3, 4) for emotional identity and image concerns; the emotion that needs to be soothed and expressed.

Head Types (5, 6, 7) for strategic thinking and future forecasting; the decision that needs to be made.

When there is a perceived threat to one's instinctual sense of security, the dominant instinct and subtype within the instinctual stacking act as the triggering mechanism. This activation engages the Tritype® stacking, prompting the core type to take the lead in response. The lead type drives the defense process, while the other two types, each from a different center of intelligence, support and amplify the response. Together, these three types coordinate to generate a synergistic defense strategy, leveraging the distinct emotional, cognitive, and visceral intelligence of the Head, Heart, and Gut centers.

What are the most common Mistakes when Trityping®?

1. Not Understanding the difference with Permanent Motivations Versus Temporary and changing Behaviors and Identifications

To accurately determine our Enneagram type and Tritype®, we must explore the deeper, more hidden motivations driving our behaviors. However, not all assertive individuals are type 8s or 1s. Our behaviors are the observable actions we take and may identify with, but they are shaped by deeper motivations. These motivations reflect the unconscious core fears, desires, and defense strategies of our Enneagram and Tritype® configuration and are essential to accurate typing.

Behavior: Behavior refers to the outward actions an individual takes, which can be observed and described. Behaviors are superficial and subject to change, making them unreliable indicators of type. For example, all nine types may experience feelings of sadness, confusion, or anger. Similarly, all types can sometimes display assertiveness. 

Motivation: Motivation refers to the internal drivers behind those behaviors, shaped by an individual's core fears, desires, and values. It identifies why we do what we do.
© 1985-2025 Katherine Chernick Fauvre • All Rights Reserved

2. Not Understanding the Significance of Tritype® Synergy
The Synergy of 3 Types in the Tritype® creates the “new” Type!

What makes each Tritype® unique is that the unique combination of three types produces a distinct psychological focus. It is important to note that each Enneagram type shares key values in common with every other type, while also holding key values that are distinctly different from - and even diametrically opposed to - those of each of the other types. Within a Tritype®, what the three Enneagram types share in common is either amplified, minimized, or even eclipsed. This is why it is essential to base your Tritype® on the synthesis of the three types and not merely the types in isolation. Each Tritype® functions as a synergistic combination and therefore has its own set of wings and lines of connection drawn from the Gut Types (8, 9, 1), the Heart Types (2, 3, 4), and the Head Types (5, 6, 7).

2.

478 Tritype® Example

For example, the 478 Tritype® has the three hexad Enneagram Types that are "creative" and individualistic; one from each triad (4, 7, 8), which include the two hexad types that are intellectual and prefer what is unusual (4, 7). It also has two hexad types that share the line of intensity (4-8) and the two hexad types that are assertive (7, 8).

Together, these three types focus on what they share in common. When merged in a Tritype®, a more specific focus emerges, creating a personality structure that is seen as progressive, innovative, creative, outspoken, intense, assertive, and deep with an original sense of style.

The deeper motivations of the 478 are based on the unconscious need to maintain the idealized images of the three types in the Tritype®: being singular, unique, interesting, innovative, self-possessed, and protective.

It also means avoiding the corresponding core fears of the three types: being inadequate, flawed, or defective; inferior, trapped, or limited; and weak, controlled, and harmed. The three defense strategies intervene when there is a perceived threat to the idealized images (real or imagined), triggering the three core fears, which lead to a restless sense of distress, which in turn triggers an immediate reaction and deployment of the three defense strategies to defend the 478's view of reality.

Tritype® not only names details about how the system works, but it also identifies the corresponding Essential Qualities: Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions/Intuitions of the 3 Types in the Tritype® that can neutralize the intensity of the habitual behaviors, negative emotions, and fixed beliefs that cause the unconscious suffering. By making the unconscious suffering conscious, one can ease their suffering enough to recognize more productive ways of handling a perceived threat to the ego types.

478 Tritype® Video

Tritype® is based on the synergy of the three types, which create a new focus of attention that is indicative of the Tritype® itself, not just the three types with which we most readily identify. This is because the  Tritypes®, like the Enneagram types, are based on the more hidden motivations, not our behaviors, talents, or our personal identifications with the type. Tritype® reflects the synergistic fusion of three motivational forces into one cohesive archetype, not just the presence of three independently chosen types.

Tritype®: Dominant Enneagram Type in each Triad

In every Tritype®, there are three distinct Enneagram types—a dominant type from the heart center (Type 2, 3, or 4), a dominant type from the head center (Type 5, 6, or 7), and a dominant type from the gut center (Type 8, 9, or 1), in a hierarchical stacking order.  The type at the top of the stacking in Tritype® is the "core" type, which is in charge of the three types in the Tritype®.

The Idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies of the three types within the Tritype® merge into a “new” type unto itself with a shared worldview, creating a much more specific focus of attention, which is our Tritype® Archetype.

Passions, Fixations, and Convictions of all 3 Types in the Tritype®

Each Type contributes a complete set of three passions, fixations, and convictions. These elements do not merely coexist; they converge into a unified psyche that functions as a single, emergent personality pattern. Through the fusion of the three emotional drives (passions), the three cognitive lenses (fixations), and the three guiding principles (convictions), a new, more precise focus of attention arises—one that transcends any individual type and defines the unique Tritype® Archetypal focus.

Passions
Passions are deeply rooted emotional habits that drive each Enneagram type, forming repetitive, automatic emotional responses anchored in the heart (Types 2, 3, 4). Each type's passion compulsively reinforces defensive emotional patterns, distorting perceptions and provoking habitual feelings that protect and maintain one's idealized self-image. These emotional fixations act as survival strategies, falsely promising security and reinforcing ego patterns that perpetuate internal suffering. When passions are activated, emotional reactions become intense, narrowing perception and diminishing reason. Becoming conscious of one's passion allows intentional interruption of automatic emotional loops. This awareness opens a pathway toward emotional authenticity, freedom, and healing.

Fixations
Fixations are deeply embedded mental habits that define each Enneagram type, forming repetitive, automatic cognitive patterns rooted in the head (Types 5, 6, 7). Each type’s fixation continuously reinforces distorted perceptions, sustaining obsessive thought loops that rationalize behaviors and maintain one's idealized self-image. These rigid mental preoccupations serve as protective strategies, falsely promising certainty and reinforcing ego patterns that perpetuate cognitive rigidity. When fixations are active, thinking becomes narrow, habitual, and inflexible, diminishing clarity and insight. Recognizing one's fixation allows intentional interruption of habitual thought processes. This awareness fosters greater cognitive flexibility, adaptability, and mental clarity.

Convictions
Convictions are deeply internalized existential beliefs that define each Enneagram type, forming repetitive, automatic assumptions anchored in the gut (Types 8, 9, 1). Each type’s convictions dogmatically reinforce core assumptions about how the world must operate to ensure survival, maintain identity, and function effectively. These existential beliefs serve as foundational truths, falsely promising emotional and psychological security while reinforcing ego structures that perpetuate internal rigidity. When convictions are challenged, individuals experience intense emotional reactivity, defending these beliefs as fiercely as physical survival. Becoming aware of one's core convictions enables conscious interruption of automatic existential assumptions. This awareness invites openness, deeper flexibility, and transformative personal growth.

Tritype® Synergistic Forces

More specifically, the three passions of the types in the Tritype® blend into a single emotional tone, determining what feels most urgent. Simultaneously, the three fixations of the types in the Tritype® interact to form a unified mental pattern, shaping how reality is interpreted, and the three convictions of the types in the Tritype® fuse into an overarching creed that guides every choice. These merged forces of the passions, fixations, and convictions do not act in isolation; When the three passions merge, the three fixations merge, and the three convictions merge, these new mixtures then combine with each other. This synergy produces the "new" type unto itself, whose focus emerges from the seamless integration of all three elements.

Neutralizing Passions, Fixations, Convictions with Holy Qualities

The process of neutralization unfolds through the application of each type’s corresponding Holy State— Holy Virtues that counterbalance the distortions of passions, the Holy Ideas that counterbalance the fixations, and the Holy Actions that counterbalance the convictions within the Tritype®.

How do I Find my Tritype®?

The Enneagram Tritype® Test v8 identifies an individual’s Type, Tritype®, and Instinctual Stacking..

279: Neutralizing Passions, Fixations, Convictions

Using Tritype® 279 as an example, each type contributes three Holy States—one for the passions, one for fixations, and one for convictions—that work in concert to neutralize emotional, mental, and physical distortions:

Type 2 (Supporting Advisor):

• Passion (Pride): Holy Virtue—Holy Humility dissolves the heart’s impulse to earn love through an inflated sense of value and service.

• Fixation (Flattery): Holy Idea—Holy Freedom dispels the mind’s tendency to seek approval and earned entitlements based on superficial rapport.

• Conviction (Need to Be Needed): Holy Action—Holy Generosity redirects the drive for worthiness toward genuine compassion and service without expectation.

Type 7 (Entertaining Optimist):

• Passion (Gluttony): Holy Virtue—Holy Sobriety calms the restless quest for stimulation, fostering presence with experience.

• Fixation (Planning): Holy Idea—Holy Wisdom/Plan frees the mind from compulsive anticipation, allowing ideas to flow organically.

• Conviction (Stimulation): Holy Action—Holy Inspiration channels the drive for pleasure into wholehearted engagement without clinging.

Type 9 (Peaceful Mediator):

• Passion (Sloth): Holy Virtue—Holy Right Actions transforms passive avoidance into active kindness.

• Fixation (Indolence): Holy Idea—Holy Love/Harmony breaks mental inertia, inviting full awareness of inner and outer reality.

• Conviction (Comforts): Holy Action—Holy Charity shifts the focus from conflict avoidance to conscious connection.

When these nine virtues, ideas, and actions converge—three from each type—they form an integrated field of awareness that transcends individual motives. This unified presence illuminates how emotional drives, cognitive lenses, and guiding principles interweave to create a distinct Tritype® Archetype.

In practical terms, one experiences greater clarity of purpose: reactive impulses soften, habitual blind spots become noticeable, and choice emerges where compulsion once reigned. Through this conscious integration of Holy Virtues, Holy Ideas, and Holy Actions, the emergent Tritype® focus shifts from fragmented reactivity based on the chaotic passions, fixations, and convictions into a cohesive self‑direction, enabling authentic expression of one’s archetypal life purpose while preserving balance and inner harmony. © 1985-2025 Karherine Chernick Fauvre • All Tights Reserved
Watch all 27 Free Tritype® Mini Videos here 

Katherine’s Tritype® vs. Oscar’s Trifix

What is Tritype®? How did it come into being?

1994: Katherine discovers 3Types (Tritype®) during her qualitative research
1997: Arica Institute adds Trifix to their offerings

Tritype® and Trifix share a fundamental similarity: both acknowledge that individuals use all three triads—emotional, mental, and visceral. However, Katherine Chernick Fauvre's Tritype® theory and Oscar Ichazo's Trifix theory differ significantly in their name, focus, and methodologies.

Tritype®
Katherine Fauvre discovered Tritype® in 1994 through her research, which revealed that people use the entire dynamics of their dominant types from each center of intelligence, including the heart (emotional passions), head (mental fixations), and gut (visceral convictions). A key feature is that the merging of the three types creates a new, more specific, singular focus and view of reality unique to each Tritype®.

Trifix
In contrast, Ichazo introduced Trifix in 1997, focusing solely on the mental “fixation” of each leading type of each triad without incorporating the heart (emotional passions) or gut (visceral convictions) aspects. Fixations refer to the fixed mental beliefs and preoccupations associated with each type.

Tritype® and Tritfix Hybrids
Enneagram enthusiasts have innocently combined aspects of both systems without fully understanding each system. So, it is not true to either system, and calling it Trifix. This is problematic and often interferes with accurately Trityping® and determining your Trifixing.

Therefore, it is essential to note that we only have a mental “fix,” because “fix” is short for “fixation.” So it represents your mental fixations only; one from each triad (2,3,4), (5,6,7), and (8,9,1).

When someone defines Tritype® or Trifix as having a “head-fix,” a “gut-fix,” or “heart-fix,” they are not accurately describing Tritype® or Trifix. Instead, they are describing Tritype® but using incorrect terms, making it a hybrid rather than Tritype®. Full Backstory, lower right column.

What is Tritype® Factor Analysis? 1994 Research

How did Tritype® Emerge?

Tritype®: An advanced application of the Enneagram of Personality?

In 1994, during her pioneering qualitative research on the “internal experiences” of the Enneagram types and subtypes, Katherine Chernick Fauvre discovered a hidden blueprint embedded within the system—the Enneagram Tritype®. This insight revealed how personality distinctions emerge from the synchronized influence of three types across the Heart (2,3,4), Head (5, 6, 7), and Gut (8, 9, 1) centers.

What began as an inquiry into how individuals subjectively experienced their Enneagram type quickly evolved into her recognition of significant and far-reaching patterns. Again and again, people described internal experiences that pointed to three dominant types shaping their worldview, each from a different Center of Intelligence. This breakthrough showed that individuals do not operate from a single type alone, but from threetypes—each representing the dominant influence from one of the three Centers: the Heart Center ( 2, 3, 4), the Head Center ( 5, 6, 7), and the Gut Center ( 8, 9, 1). 

As she conducted 3-hour in-depth interviews and meticulously tracked patterns across hundreds and then thousands of participants, Katherine found that these three types worked together in a repeating, Hierarchical, Stacking Sequence, shaping how individuals feel, think, and act. This discovery forever altered the landscape of the Enneagram of Personality, expanding the understanding of both Enneagram types and Instinctual Subtypes and adding key nuances that allowed for a more refined and transformational application.
Watch all 27 Free Tritype® Mini Videos here 

What is the purpose of Tritype®?

Katherine Introduces Tritype® (3Types, TriCenter, and Trigram)

In 1994, during her pioneering qualitative research on the “internal experiences” of the Enneagram types and subtypes, Katherine Chernick Fauvre discovered a hidden blueprint embedded within the system—the Enneagram Tritype®. This insight revealed how personality distinctions emerge from the synchronized influence of three types across the Heart (2,3,4), Head (5, 6, 7), and Gut (8, 9, 1) centers.

What began as an inquiry into how individuals subjectively experienced their Enneagram type quickly evolved into her recognition of significant and far-reaching patterns. Again and again, people described internal experiences that pointed to three dominant types shaping their worldview, each from a different Center of Intelligence.

This breakthrough showed that individuals do not operate from a single type alone, but from threetypes—each representing the dominant influence from one of the three Centers: the Heart Center ( 2, 3, 4), the Head Center ( 5, 6, 7), and the Gut Center ( 8, 9, 1). 

As she conducted 3-hour in-depth interviews and meticulously tracked patterns across hundreds and then thousands of participants, Katherine found that these three types worked together in a repeating, Hierarchical, Stacking Sequence, shaping how individuals feel, think, and act. This discovery forever altered the landscape of the Enneagram of Personality, expanding the understanding of both Enneagram types and Instinctual Subtypes and adding key nuances that allowed for a more refined and transformational application.

Tritype® identifies the dominant Enneagram type you use in each center of intelligence: Heart (234), Head (567), and Gut (891). The three Enneagram types in each Tritype® combine to create a “new type” unto itself with a “more specific focus of attention.”

Tritype® provides a snapshot of what matters most to your types and Tritype® at the ego level. Each Enneagram Type has some traits or values in common with each of the nine types and some that are exactly the opposite, producing distinct Tritype® Archetypes that are more than just three types with which one identifies. Instead, the theme of the Tritype® is based on what the types share in common, amplifying some traits while minimizing others. This is key to understanding the influence of the types in the Tritype® and revealing the hidden motivations of the Tritypes®.

Influence of Tritype® using Nine Patterns:

1. Types: The 9 Tritype® in each Type -125,126,127,135,136,137,145,146,147 - (Nature)
2. Canonical Order: 27 Archetypes -125: 125, 152, 215, 251, 512, 521- (Nature)
3. Centers: 1st Type, Core Type, 2nd Type: Resistant Type, 3rd Type: Blindspot. 
3. Stacking Patterns: Visual Bar Graph Distribution (Nature)
4. Stacking Order: Hierarchical order ranks the types in order of dominance. (Nature)
5. Stacking Proportions: Percentages of each type in the Tritype® (Nature)
6. Stacking Identifications: Positive (+), Negative (-), Neutral (+/-) (Nature) 
7. Tritype® Stackings: Combination of the Instinctual Subtypes and the Tritype® Stacks
8. Instinctual Stackings, Tritype®: Combined with TrueType and MBTI (Nature)
9. Holy Virtue, Holy Idea, and Holy Action (Free Flowing Essence)

Tritype® Spiritual Perspectives

How do I use Tritype® to create change?

How do your three sets of Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions combine in your Tritype® and then neutralize the compulsive aspects of your three sets of passions, fixations, and convictions?

The Tritype® comprises the dominant type in each center of intelligence: three types you use on an ego level. Your idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies reveal what your Tritype® needs to feel safe in the world. Your defense strategies identify how to

To determine your Tritype®, focus on identifying the idealized images, convictions, core fears, and defense strategies associated with the Tritype®. Each type has a set of idealized images. These images represent how we need to be seen by others to feel valued, needed, and safe in the world.

Our ego identifies with a positive self-image and denies any negative expression of that self-image, even though they always coexist. We are motivated by our positive “idealized” self-images and become upset and reactive if we are seen as less than our idealized selves.

A perceived threat to our idealized self-images, whether real or imagined, triggers our defense system, which immediately goes on red alert. Any threat however minor to our idealized image is experienced as a threat to our security and feels life-threatening. The loss of our positive self-image destabilizes the ego’s sense of security, which feels unbearable. Our core fears and their corresponding terrors, doubts, and uncertainties give rise to projected irrational thoughts and the energy needed to mobilize, take immediate action, and aggressively defend our reality. Our defense strategies govern how we manage distress and our attempts to restore a sense of balance and equanimity.  

What are the Idealized Images, Core Fears, and Defense Strategies?

Just as the Passions are the negative emotions and reactions that generate the suffering of each Type, and the Fixations are the mental justifications and rationalizations that support the Passions, the Convictions are the ego-bound dogmas that synthesize both, anchoring the defense strategy in a fixed interpretation of self, others, and reality.

Convictions operate like an internalized script, driving behavior, perception, and reaction. They determine what information is filtered in or out, shaping a personal mythology of what is true, right, or necessary. These core beliefs do not simply color experience—they construct it.

Unlike Holy Ideas, which arise from Essence and reflect universal truth, Convictions arise from the ego’s attempt to create certainty and structure in a world that feels threatening or disorienting. They are the battleground where the personality fights to maintain its idealized self-image and deny its core fear. Each Type clings to a set of Convictions that feel like moral imperatives but are actually adaptive illusions.

They are hidden beneath language and behavior, detectable only through repeated themes in narrative, tone, motivation, and blind spots. Convictions must be recognized, deconstructed, and ultimately surrendered in order to experience the liberating insight of the Holy Idea and the transformative embodiment of the Holy Action. Understanding the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies of the Tritypes® is essential for accurately typing and Trityping®.

They are based on three sets of idealized images, three sets of core fears, three sets of convictions, and all three sets of defense strategies from each type in the Tritype®. These types merge to create an internal hierarchical stacking order of these important categories that drive the identity of each Tritype®, forming the specific viewpoint of the Tritype® and shedding light on the coping mechanisms they utilize. These three types represent a 3x3x3 pattern, resulting in a 27-point personality system.

The Tritype® Archetypes can be observed by identifying our idealized images (who we think we need to be to have value), our core fears (the irrational fears and anger we project outward when others criticize us for not being ideal), our dogmatic views (our unbending values and attitudes), and our defense strategies (the habitual reactive behaviors we display when defending our reality to maintain our idealized images). Together, these types, when wounded, either act out. This is because the three types in our Tritype® incorporate a more specific focus of attention.

What are the Passions, Fixations, and Convictions?

Your Tritype® includes the passions, fixations and convictions of the three types in your Tritype®: one from each Center. These types merge to create your specific focus of attention. Whatever views the types have in common will be amplified.

What are the Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions?

How can we use the Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions of the Tritype® while we are in the process of being and becoming on the path of transformation? The Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions of the three types in your Tritype® combine to reveal your innate sense of purpose and what gives your life meaning. 

They also reveal your blind spot to self-awareness, which can keep you mired in suffering and unaware of your true self. Understanding the passions, fixations, and convictions of the three types in your Tritype® and what they share in common will help you discover more about your blind spot and how to bring your shadow material into awareness. 

When we are lost in the delusions of our idealized images, suffering the psychic pain of our core fears, and alienating others with our dogmatic defenses, it is extremely difficult to break these patterns of entrenchment. However, we can use the higher states of the Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions of the types in our Tritype® to neutralize the intense overreactions we express.

Whenever we are triggered by situations that bring up our negative emotions, fixed beliefs, and habitual behaviors, we can examine the distortions of our passions, fixations, and convictions by reviewing the Higher Opposites of our Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions of the types in our Tritype®. This will initiate the process of calming all three centers of intelligence, which is why it is so important to identify our Tritype® accurately.

Research suggests that working with the most accurate Tritype® and the corresponding Essential Qualities of the Tritype® feels most congruent and soothing to the ego types. While all of the Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions are Essential Qualities and are, as such, soothing, participants shared that when they tried using the Essential Qualities of the types in their Tritype®, the process seemed more holistic.

How to find your Tritype®

How do I find my Enneagram Tritype® using my Idealized Images, Core Fears, and Defense Strategies?

Blog Question:
How do I find my Idealized images, Core Fears, and Defense Strategies? What is the difference between Behaviors and Motivations?

Do I have to like helping people to be a Type 2?
What would I focus on if I had the 279 Tritype®?
I think I focus on cheering the people up who are down and keeping events interesting so we can all have a good time together.

Katherine's Response:
Good questions and insights.To a degree, yes. More importantly, Type 2s are deeply relational and seek roles that make them the “go-to person.” They want to be seen as a special friend and an indispensable advisor in the lives of others.

But first, let's look at what’s needed to type accurately.

Excerpt: Enneagram Tritype® Advantage 2.0 © 1984-2025 Katherine Chernick Fauvre

————————————————————————————————————
How do I accurately Type and Tritype®?

Tritype® Traits and Descriptions

Accurately Trityping® occurs when you focus on the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies of the three Enneagram types within your Tritype®. These three types combine to create a new, more specific focus of attention. Certain characteristics are amplified, while others are diminished by the influence of the other two types within the Tritype®. This interplay creates a unique and nuanced personality profile.

In the initial stages of the typing process, we learn about the traits and descriptions of the nine Enneagram Types. Naturally, we focus on what the types do and don’t do, comparing these traits to our own behaviors. While this is a helpful starting point, it should only serve as the first step—not as a way to confirm our type.

Special Note: If we rely solely on behaviors to determine our type, we will likely mistype ourselves, which is why so many people are mistyped.

It’s also important to note that primary types (3, 6, and 9) are naturally adaptable shapeshifters. They track behaviors and adjust to situations, which makes it challenging for them to recognize their deeper, more hidden motivations and why they do what they do. For types 6 and 9, this is particularly difficult due to their tendency toward indecision. They are wired to carefully weigh the pros and cons before making decisions.

Type 6 faces the most significant challenge in accurately identifying their type or Tritype®. As the core type in the thinking triad, they are most prone to questioning and doubt. They are also unique in their worry about how their test results will be perceived, sometimes trying to manipulate testing instruments. Interestingly, if the results suggest they are type 6, they may become angry and blame the test.

Behaviors and Identifications may vary. Whereas motivations reveal the consistent underlying desires and fears of types in the Tritype®.
Distinguishing our Behaviors vs our Motivations

Why? The Enneagram is the only personality typology that is not based on observable behaviors. Instead, it focuses on motivations—the reasons behind what we do.

The idealized images, core fears, defense strategies, behaviors, identifications, and motivations are foundational concepts for accurately understanding Tritype®.

Defining these keywords helps with the typing process:

Idealized Images: Reflect the self-perception or role a type believes it must embody to be valued, feel worthy, and be secure.

Core Fears: The primary anxieties or threats a type works to avoid.

Defense Strategies: The psychological mechanisms each type employs to cope with challenges and protect its core fears.

Behaviors:  Refer to observable actions or patterns.

Identifications: The surface-level attributes with which people align themselves.

Motivations: The deeper driving forces behind these behaviors—are the most critical factor in identifying a Tritype®.

Behaviors and Identifications may vary.

Motivations: Reveal the consistent underlying desires and fears of types in the Tritype®.

In her first Enneagram Research Study, conducted in 1994–95, Katherine Chernick Fauvre discovered that participants and clients consistently identified with the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies of three distinct Enneagram types rather than just one. To uncover these deeper motivations, she used the “In-depth Inquiry Process (IIP),” a method designed to bypass participants’ super-egos and move beyond surface-level identifications and behaviors.

This process enabled them to access the deeper psychological drivers shaping their experiences. However, identifying these types independently is challenging without guidance from an experienced Enneagram teacher, as individuals tend to focus on the types they relate to rather than the types they actively use. To correctly identify your Tritype®, you must embody the images, fears, and motivations of the three types and demonstrate their language, talk styles, and defense strategies.

A key finding from Katherine’s study was that study participants and types did not necessarily have a line or wing connecting the three types to the core type. Instead, these three types always included one type from each of the three Centers of Intelligence: Head (5, 6, 7), Heart (2, 3, 4), and Gut (8, 9, 1). Katherine initially referred to this concept as TriCenter: an individual’s 3Types within the Trigram symbol.

The presence of all three types is evident in an individual’s word choices, needs, concerns, and values. These three strategies are not only active but also highly influential in shaping a person’s worldview and decision-making. Among the three, one type emerges as the primary or core type, yet all three types are used continuously in an oscillating and descending stacking order.

It is essential to understand that simply combining the three types you relate to is insufficient for determining your Tritype®. The attentional patterns of each Tritype® Archetype emerge from the interaction of the three types’ characteristics. These interactions amplify certain qualities while minimizing others, creating the distinct focus of attention that defines each Tritype®. This unique dynamic sets Tritype® apart from traditional Enneagram typing. The merging of the types in the Tritype® brings out qualities unique to the Tritype®, qualities that may not apply to each type separately.

To confirm that you have accurately identified your Tritype®, you must ensure that it includes the core fears, idealized images, and defense strategies of the three types. These must be observable in your behavior, language, and thought processes. If you find yourself listing behaviors and parts of Tritype® descriptions, it is a sign that you are still attempting to Tritype® based on external identifications rather than internal motivations. This misstep is common, particularly for Types 3, 6, and 9, as these types are naturally attuned to tracking behaviors and inconsistencies and then adapting their behaviors to the circumstances. This makes it harder for them to recognize their deeper, more hidden motivations.

From a statistical perspective, Types 9, 6, and 3 are the most prevalent in the population by a large margin. Consequently, a significant portion of people have one or more of these types in their Tritype®. By contrast, pure hexad Tritypes®—those without Types 3, 6, or 9—are much less common. There are only eight Tritypes® that are pure hexad: 125, 127, 145, 147, 258, 278, 458, and 478. All the rest of the Tritypes® contain at least one primary type: 3, 6, 9.

In conclusion, accurately Trityping® requires a disciplined focus on the motivations and defense strategies of the three types in your Tritype®. This approach can uncover a profound and nuanced understanding of yourself, revealing a unique path to personal growth and self-awareness. Enneagram Tritype® Test.

How do I Identify my Idealized Images, Core Fears, and Defense Strategies for my Tritype®?

Comparing our idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies provides a more accurate and insightful way to identify our Enneagram type and Tritype®. This approach is based on decades of research and goes deeper than relying on external behaviors or searching for a "perfect match" description of a type, which is often misleading and can feel frustrating and limiting.

Focusing on our idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies reveals our motivations and ...cuts through the noise of surface-level behaviors. It aligns with the original teachings of the Enneagram and is all about understanding the "why" behind what we do, not just the "what." Comparing idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies provides a more accurate and insightful way to identify our Enneagram type. This approach goes deeper than relying on external behaviors or searching for a "perfect match" description of a type, which can often feel frustrating and limiting.

Idealized Images:
Idealized images are the positive self-concepts we strive to embody and present to the world. They identify the image we need to portray to have value and how we wish others to see us and be safe. These images reflect how we want to be perceived and help us to feel valuable and accepted.

Core Fears:
Core fears are the underlying fears and anxieties we strive to avoid at all costs. They identify how we gather the know-how needed to feel safe and survive. These fears shape our behaviors, motivations, and defensive strategies.

Defense Strategies:
Defense strategies are the automatic, instinctive ways we react when feeling triggered or mistreated. They identify the unconscious defense strategies we use to manage emotional pain and psychic panic. These defense strategies protect our idealized images, manage our core fears, reinforce our convictions, and defend our view of reality.

Identifying these deeper aspects simplifies, clarifies, and enhances the typing process. This strategy is excellent for anyone feeling stuck or overwhelmed by descriptions that don't fully resonate.

Tritypes: Idealized Images, Core Fears, and the Defense Strategies

The nine sets of idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies reveal the attentional patterns of the nine types.

To be a type or Tritype®, you need to have idealized images, core fears, and convictions of the types you are considering. You must also be able to recognize that you are defending your reality with the defense strategies identified by Claudio Naranjo.

If you do not identify with the idealized images and core fears or do not use the defense strategies of the type, it means you have not yet found your primary type and Tritype®.

When Trityping®, if you identify with four types, make sure you go beyond your behaviors and what you identify with.  Remember that Enneagram types are based on the more hidden motivations beneath your behaviors. It is not what you do but rather why you do what you do.

Explore the crazy fears you have if an idealized image is threatened and you are told you are not seen as the person you think you need to be or are proud to be. What would happen if you had to experience your core fear? What does you ego do to protect you when you feel threatened?

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9 Types: Idealized Self-Images, Core Fears, and Defense Strategies

Type 1
I am good, I am right, I am in control, I am diligent, and I am appropriate.
Resentment with the fear of being wrong, bad, evil, or corruptible.
Reaction Formation: Expressing the opposite of true feelings or behaviors to avoid appearing unacceptable or lacking in self-control.

Type 2
I am caring, I am nurturing, I am helpful, I am altruistic, and I am appealing.
Pride with the fear of being worthless, needy, inconsequential, or dispensable.
Repression: Suppressing their own needs and desires to focus on the needs of others, often at the expense of their own well-being.

Type 3
I am successful, efficient, competent, focused, and productive.
Vanity with the fear of failing, being incompetent, inefficient, exposed, or unable to do something.
Identification: Identifying with external images and success to project an image of competence and achievement.

Type 4
I am unique, I am special, I am deep, I am accomplished, and I am tasteful.
Envy with the fear of being inadequate, emotionally cut off, defective, or flawed.
Introjection: Taking on the feelings and experiences of others to define themselves, often feeling a sense of inadequacy or difference.

Type 5
I am perceptive, I am knowledgeable, I am observant, I am wise, and I am different.
Avarice with the fear of ignorance, invasion, not existing, annihilation, or obligation. Isolation: Withdrawing from emotional and social connections to protect themselves from being overwhelmed or hurt.

Type 6
I am dedicated, I am reliable, I am provocative, I am loyal, I am compliant or rebellious.
Fear of Fear, submitting, being blamed, targeted, alone, physically abandoned.
Projection: Attributing own unwanted feelings or traits to others to create a sense of external threat or fear with a need to prepare for rhe worst.

Type 7
I am happy, I am optimistic, I am fun, I am enthusiastic, and I am playful.
Gluttony with the fear of being incomplete, inferior, limited, bored, or missing out.
Rationalization: Justifying behaviors or actions with logical explanations to avoid confronting own insecurities or fears.

Type 8
I am invincible, I am powerful, I am protective, I am straightforward, and I am authentic.
Excess with the fear of being weak, powerless, harmed, controlled, or manipulated.
Denial: Refusing to acknowledge vulnerability or pain to maintain a facade of strength and control.

Type 9
I am agreeable, I am easygoing, I am peaceful, I am humble, and I am unassuming.
Indolence with the fear of being in conflict, loveless, shut out, discordant, or inharmonious.
Narcotization: Numbing or deadening emotional awareness to avoid conflict and maintain harmony.

Naranjo on Defense Strategies

Claudio Naranjo's defense strategies, as described within the Enneagram system, are the core personality traits that individuals of each type use to manage their emotions and avoid having their idealized images threatened.

A threat to an idealized image triggers the core fears that reinforce the convictions and are defended by the defense strategies. While helpful in the short term, these strategies can also lead to rigid beliefs and stagnation.

Becoming aware of your idealized images, what you fear and avoid at all costs, your dogmatic beliefs, and how you defend your reality offers deeper insights, enhances problem-solving skills, and provides the flexibility and resilience needed to manage anxiety and distress, restoring a sense of calm.————————————————————————————————————

Inquiry Process for the identifaction of your
Idealized Images, Core Fears, and Defense Strategies

Type 2: Inquiry Process Questions Using Type 2

Idealized Images – Type 2:
Reflect on the version of yourself you strive to present to the world—the qualities you most value and want others to see in you.
Ask yourself:
What do I want to be known or admired for?
What qualities do I believe make me valuable or lovable?
Example: Type 2 wants to be seen as warm, generous, and indispensable—someone others count on for support and care.
• I am loving and unselfish.
• I am always there for others.
• I am someone who makes people feel cared for.

Core Fears – Type 2:
Consider what you avoid at all costs—those deep fears that drive your actions and reactions.
Ask yourself:
What do I fear when I don’t know what to do or how to do it?
What triggers anxiety or discomfort for me?
Example: Type 2 fears being unwanted, unloved, or seen as unworthy of connection.
• I fear being unneeded and unimportant.
• I fear being invisible or rejected.
• I fear being seen as selfish or unlovable.

Defense Strategies – Type 2:
Observe your automatic reactions when you feel triggered, anxious, or misjudged—the instinctive patterns you use to stay safe.
Ask yourself:
How do I protect myself when I feel exposed, overwhelmed, or criticized?
What habitual strategies do I use to avoid pain or regain control?
Example: Type 2 avoids focusing on their own needs and becomes overly helpful to secure a connection.
• I deny or minimize my own needs.
• I try to earn love by giving more.
• I become indispensable to avoid rejection.

Examples of Type 2: (Supportive Advisor)

Type 2 Idealized Images:
The idealized image revolves around being a good, heartfelt person who is kind, caring, attentive, generous, and altruistic. They strive to be appreciated and valued as indispensable individuals who are emotionally attuned and always available for others. By pursuing this idealized image, Type 2s aim to secure their place in the lives of those around them, often acting as the hub of their family or social groups.

Type 2 Core Fears:
Being worthless or without value.
Feeling unwanted, discarded, or disposable.
Being perceived as replaceable or irrelevant in relationships.
These fears drive Type 2s to constantly seek validation and reassurance through acts of service and emotional connection, hoping to affirm their worth and importance in the lives of others.

However, this repression can create internal conflict. Over time, their unacknowledged neediness may manifest as resentment or feelings of being unappreciated, especially if their efforts to help others are not reciprocated or acknowledged.

Type 2 Behavior vs Motivation
Definitions:
Behavior: Behavior refers to the outward actions an individual takes, which can be observed and described.

Motivation: Motivation refers to the internal drivers behind those behaviors, shaped by an individual's core fears, desires, and values.

While the behaviors of Type 2s may appear outwardly altruistic (helping others, offering support, or creating rapport), their deeper motivation lies in earning validation, securing emotional connection, and protecting themselves from feelings of worthlessness or rejection.

This distinction is critical when understanding Type 2. Their behaviors reflect a desire to maintain their idealized image and protect against their core fears, not just a simple enjoyment of helping others.

—————————————————————————————

279 Tritype® Example

Tritype®: 279:
Supportive Advisor, Entertaining Optimist, Peaceful Mediator

Type 2 (Supportive Advisor)
shares overlapping qualities with Type 9 (Peaceful Mediator) and Type 7 (Entertaining Optimist), but their motivations and expressions differ:

Type 9 Influence:
Type 2 and Type 9 share a focus on kindness, but Type 9 expresses kindness through passive, enduring acts of goodwill, whereas Type 2 demonstrates kindness in a more proactive, emotionally involved, and relational way.

Type 7 Influence:
Type 2 can exhibit playful, adventurous, and freedom-seeking qualities commonly associated with Type 7. However, for Type 2, these traits are employed as a means of creating joy and connection through acts of service and emotional attunement.

By understanding these nuances, we can clearly distinguish the unique motivations and strategies that define Type 2.

Idealized Images, Core Fears, and Defense Strategies across Types 2, 7, and 9 Tritype®.

Type 2 (Supportive Advisor)
Idealized Images: Being kind, caring, emotionally attuned, indispensable, and altruistic.
Core Fears: Being worthless, unwanted, disposable, or easily replaced.
Convictions: I must show goodness.
Defense Strategies:
Repression: Suppressing their own needs to focus on others’ needs, maintaining their image as selfless and caring.
Identifications: Over-identifying with others’ emotions and problems as a way to stay connected and indispensable.

Type 7 (Entertaining Optimist)
Idealized Images: Being optimistic, adventurous, exciting, and free-spirited.
Core Fears: Being trapped, missing out, feeling limited, or stuck in emotional pain.
Convictions: I must be excited and exciting
Defense Strategies:
Reframing: Recasting painful or negative situations into positive ones to avoid discomfort.
Intellectual Sublimation: Using mental activity or rationalization to detach from emotional pain and focus on possibilities.

Type 9 (Peaceful Mediator)
Idealized Images: Being peaceful, harmonious, easygoing, and agreeable.
Core Fears: Being overlooked, disconnected, uncomfortable, or in conflict.
Convictions: I must be kind
Defense Strategies:
Narcotization:
Avoiding conflict or discomfort by “numbing out” through routine or distractions.
Going to Sleep to Oneself: Suppressing their own desires and opinions to maintain external harmony and avoid internal discomfort.

Merging all three types in the Tritype®

Types, 2,7,9:The Peacemaker or Peace Seeker
Types merge to create a more specific focus of attention. This amplifies some characteristics and minimizes others. It also details qualities unique to each Tritype®.

279 Idealized Images:
2-Being kind, caring, emotionally attuned, and altruistic.
7-Being optimistic, adventurous, exciting, and free-spirited.
9- Being peaceful, harmonious, easygoing, and agreeable.

279 Core Fears:
2-Being worthless, unwanted, disposable, or easily replaced.
7- Being trapped, missing out, feeling limited, or stuck in emotional pain.
9- Being overlooked, disconnected, uncomfortable, or in conflict.

279 Defense Strategies:
2-Repression: Suppressing needs to focus on others’ needs, maintaining a selfless image
7-Reframing: Recasting painful or negative situations into positives to avoid discomfort.
9-Narcotization: Avoiding conflicts or discomfort by “numbing out” through routine or distractions.

The 279 Tritype® :The Peacemaker
The 279 Tritype® is often referred to as The Peacemaker and Peace Seeker. This Tritype® is characterized by a strong desire to create and maintain comfortable, easy, and harmonious relationships. Combining the qualities of the Supportive Advisor, the Entertaining Optimist, and the Peaceful Mediator, The Peacemaker is warm, optimistic, and relational. They excel at building connections, offering emotional support, and fostering an atmosphere of positivity and cooperation. Their main focus is on being kind, uplifting, and indispensable, often prioritizing others’ comfort and happiness above their own.

Watch all 27 Free Tritype® Mini Videos here 

©1985-2025 Katherine Chernick Fauvre©1985-2025 Katherine Chernick Fauvre

Enneagram Tritype® Test v8

Identifying and confirming your dominant Enneagram Type and your Tritype® is an essential part of the transformation process.

Do not be discouraged if it takes time, as the process will give you many valuable insights.

If you are unsure of your Tritype®, take Katherine’s Enneagram Tritype ®Test and pay close attention to any special notices you receive.

This Enneagram Tritype® Test is the only test programmed to detect the rare patterns that only 6s use. These special notices will tell you if you have the test-taking pattern of the 6 even if you do not have a single 6 card.

Some 9s, about 20%, have a somewhat similar pattern. If the 9 has 6 in the Tritype®, they will have many of the same patterns.

With this knowledge, we can better define our blind spots and areas for personal growth. Knowledge of your Tritype® will also shed light on your Higher Self and sense of purpose. Working with the Higher Qualities of the three types in your Tritype®, along with the three sets of Holy Ideas, Holy Virtues, and Holy Actions, reveals how you can access your Essential Self.

More on Tritype® here: https://enneagramtritypetest.com

Book Launch!

Enneagram Instinctual Subtypes 2.0!

Watch Katherine talk about her research studies on the Enneagram Types, Tritypes®, Instinctual Types, and Subtypes, and what was lost in the dissemination of the Enneagram, all of which can be found in her new book.

This new 392 page mega book also includes Introduction to the Enneagram Types, Tritypes®, Wings, Lines of Connection, and Centers as well as Enneagram History and Research. Enneagram Instinctual Subtypes 2.0: Advanced Instincts, Subtypes, Countertypes, and Stackings—Now on sale on Amazon!

Tritype® Stacking + Instinctual Stacking = Focus of Attention

Katherine Fauvre suggests that Tritype®, combined with your Instinctual Stacking, is like your own Enneagram thumbprint, showing the unique way you manage your life using the strategies available. It defines the strategies you employ to negotiate life.

It also identifies what motivates you, what drives you towards excellence, and your sense of purpose.  It also gives you the ability to recognize when you are in defense and how to move toward a healthy perspective. Further, it reveals why you are different from others of the same Enneagram Type.

If you struggle with determining your dominant Type and/or Tritype®, please consider that you may have type 6 and/or type 9 in your Tritype®. Both of these types struggle with doubt and tend to identify with the other types. You can take Katherine’s test here. https://enneagramtritypetest.com

Endorsments

“Katherine’s work on the Tritype is fresh, innovative and illuminating. Even those well acquainted with the Enneagram will be surprised at the precision of this approach in identifying key features of the personality. Highly recommended!”
-Russ Hudson, 548, coauthor, ‘The Wisdom of the Enneagram’

“Katherine is an experienced, knowledgeable, and superb teacher of the Enneagram material. She works with care and compassion, sharing her extensive experience in both coaching and teaching the Enneagram. I hold her in high regard, and I support her work fully. Her interest in the internal style of type, tritype, and the connected instinctual subtype behaviors make her a leader in the field. Virtually everyone can benefit substantially from her research, classes, and workshops.”
- David Daniels, MD 621, author of Enneagram Essentials

“Katherine's Enneagram expertise and instruction on the Enneagram and Tritype increased our team's ability to relate with one another on a business level. Moreover, her teachings at the Federal Reserve Bank over the years helped me understand more about myself as a person, and I've taken her instruction with me well after I took her classes. Working with Katherine was a profound and important milestone in my life.” 
April 14, 2011, hired  Katherine more than once as a Business Consultant
Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert
-Keane Li

For more endorsements

Tritype® 4.0 Advanced Video Series on Sale

Tritype® 4.0 Series - Sold as a set and sold separately by each Tritype®!

Tritype® 4.0 Individual Tritypes®: Save $10
• One Tritype® Archetype of your Choice
• Bonus Video: Introduction to Tritype® 4.0 Video 1.5-hours

Each Tritype® Archetype begins with an Introduction to Tritype® Video that covers the basics of using the Tritype® and Tristar System.

$65.00 on sale for $45.00-$55.00.  (for a limited time only).
Save $10 on individual videos with a special introductory price!
Learn more and purchase individual Tritype® videos here

Advanced Intro to Tritype® 4.0 + Evolution of Tritype®
125 - The Mentor
126 - The Supporter
127 - The Teacher
135 - The Technical Expert
136 - The Taskmaster
137 - The Systems Builder
145 - The Researcher
146 - The Philosopher
147 - The Visionary
258 - The Strategist
259 - The Problem Solver
268 - The Rescuer
269 - The Good Samaritan
278 - The Free Spirit
279 - The Peacemaker
358 - The Solution Master
359 - The Thinker
368 - The Justice Fighter
369 - The Mediator
378 - The Mover Shaker
379 - The Ambassador
458 - The Scholar
459 - The Contemplative
468 - The Truth Teller
469 - The Seeker
478 - The Messenger
479 - The Gentle Spirit
Full set of 29 Videos Includes Intro + Evolution of Tritype®

Learn more and purchase individual Tritype® videos here
©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre Working with Tritype®

Tritype® 5.0: Tristar Masterclass

Tritype® 5.0

Now available here: katherinefauvre.com/products.

This three-week masterclass explores advanced applications of the Enneagram, offering a greater level of specificity as to the focus of attention and core concerns of the “core” type. Combined, the three Enneagram types in the Tritype® reveal the shared focus of attention, expanding the structure of an individual’s personality and identifying the common gifts and struggles of the personality. 

Deepen your wisdom and experiential understanding of the Enneagram Tritype® and Tristar with Tritype® 5.0: Tristar.

Within the Enneagram system, individuals are classified into one of nine primary types, each characterized by specific traits, motivations, and fears. However, Tritype® expands upon this framework by revealing that each person not only has a core Enneagram Type but also utilizes three Enneagram Types in total. These three types are associated with the three centers of intelligence: heart (comprising types 2, 3, and 4), head (encompassing types 5, 6, and 7), and gut (encompassing types 8, 9, and 1). Your lead Type in your Tritype® is your Core Type. Tristar reveals the location of your Tritype®, adding significant details about your focus of attention and character traits. With this information, you can work with your “core” type at a much deeper level.

In which Center does your Tritype® reside?

Overview:
What is your Tritype® meant to do in the Tristar Path of Unfoldment? What does the placement of your Tritype® reveal about your focus of attention? Are you more inclined to initiate and begin actions (3), oppose and see the other side of every equation (6), or integrate and reconcile all points of view (9)?

In this three-week masterclass, Katherine introduces the practical application of the Tritype® Tristar symbol, delves into advanced Enneagram concepts, and offers practical insights into understanding your Tritype® at a deeper and more fundamental level.

Course Content:

1. Understanding Tritype®: Explore the concept of Tritype®, which involves the unique combination of three Enneagram types forming an individual's personality. Learn how this combination reveals the shared focuses, gifts, and struggles among the three types in your Tritype® identifying a more specific focus of attention.

2. Mathematical Unfolding: Dive into how the 27 Tritypes® mathematically unfold by merging three Enneagram types to create a "new type." Understand how this process expands your comprehension of your “core” type and Tritype® personality structures.

3. Triad Placement: Discover the significance of your Tritype®'s placement within a specific Triad. Uncover the common concerns and needs shared by the types involved in your Tritype®.

4. Path of Transformation: Explore the symbolism of the Tristar and its representation of the path of transformation. Using insights from the Tristar, learn how to work with the fundamental nuances of your Tritype®.

5. Practical Applications: Gain practical insights into applying Tritype® concepts in your life. Understand how to navigate your focus of attention and concerns based on your core type and Tritype®.

6. Significance of Reduction: Learn about the significance of reducing your Tritype® to a single number. Understand why certain Tritype® combinations seem to align with specific Enneagram types and the implications of this reduction.

Benefits:

• Gain an advanced understanding of Enneagram concepts.

• Learn how to identify your focus of attention.

• Learn how to manage your concerns more effectively.

• Discover new perspectives on your Tritype® personality structure.

The format of this course was interactive online sessions with instructor-led discussions, practical exercises, and Q&A sessions.

By the end of the masterclass, participants gained a deeper understanding of the inner workings of their Tritype®, practical tools for personal growth, and insights into navigating their personality needs and struggles.

Look for this Masterclass Recording in products!

History and Evolution of Tritype®

Katherine’s Tritype® vs. Ichazo’s Trifix

Tritype® and Trifix share a fundamental similarity: both acknowledge that individuals use all three triads—emotional, mental, and visceral. However, Katherine Chernick Fauvre's Tritype® theory and Oscar Ichazo's Trifix theory differ significantly in their name, focus, and methodologies.

Tritype®

Katherine Fauvre discovered Tritype® in 1994 through her research, which revealed that people use the full dynamics of their dominant types from each center of intelligence, including the heart (emotional passions), head (mental fixations), and gut (visceral convictions). A key feature is that the merging of the three types creates a new, more specific, singular focus and view of reality unique to each Tritype®.

Trifix

In contrast, Ichazo introduced Trifix in 1997, focusing solely on the mental “fixation” of each leading type of each triad without incorporating the heart (emotional passions) or gut (visceral convictions) aspects. Fixations refer to the fixed mental beliefs and preoccupations associated with each type.

Tritype®-Tritfix Hybrids

Enneagram enthusiasts have innocently combined aspects of both systems without being true to either system and calling it Trifix. This is problematic and often interferes with accurate Trityping® and Trifixing.

Therefore, it is important to note that we only have a “mental-fix,” because “fix” is short for “fixation.” So it only represents mental fixations from each triad (2,3,4), (5,6,7), and (8,9,1).

When someone is talking about a “head-fix,” “gut-fix,” or “heart-fix,” they are not talking about Tritype® or Trifix.

Tritype® vs Trifix Comparisons 

Katherine Fauvre discovered Tritype® (3Types and Trigram) in 1994 during her in-depth inquiry process with thousands of research participants. With Tritype®, people use the "full Enneagram type" of the dominant type from each center of intelligence.

In contrast, Ichazo added the Trifix to his Arica School in 1997 and taught that people use (only) the three fixations from the types in the Trifix. Enneagram Monthly included two paragraphs on Ichazo’s Trifix in 1997.

Katherine's research, conducted in 1994, introduced the idea that people use three complete types: based on their heart type, head type, and gut type, not just one.

Ichazo did not introduce the idea that people use only the three mental fixations of the three types in the Trifix until 1997. Not understanding the important distinctions that would emerge in 2007, the terms were combined.

From 1994 to 2007, Katherine was the only person to publicly teach and publish on all of the terms: 3Types, Tritype, TriCenter, Trigram, and Trifix. In 2007, Katherine separated her extensive research from Ichazo’s term “Trifix” to clarify important distinctions.

In 2019, Ichazo published five paragraphs on Trifix in his book The Nine Constituents. However, they lacked any detail on correlations or references to head, heart, or gut types, and he never taught more on the subject.

In "The History of Integral Teaching," Arica, Ichazo’s School confirms that Trifix was first mentioned in the Enneagram Monthly article published in January 1997 and taught to Aricans in 1997.

What is Tritype® Backstory

When Katherine first began exploring personality typologies and systems in the 1970s, she created her Interview Questionnaire to quickly and effectively recognize the personality traits of those interviewed for a job position.

She immediately noticed predictable patterns among individuals applying for the same or similar positions and noticed that they themselves in the same manner. These individuals consistently used the dame the same or similar adjectives, even when speaking to total strangers. This observation suggested that innate tendencies, nurture, or a combination of both might influence personality traits and preferences.

Katherine developed an interview questionnaire during the 1970s and 1980s to identify these patterns. As she encountered various personality systems, she recognized that her findings could be used to create more effective tools for understanding what matters most to individuals.

In 1985, Katherine adapted her Interview Questionnaire into an Enneagram Typing Questionnaire, which she later renamed the Enneastyle Questionnaire (EQ). She used the EQ with her clients and study participants, observing that they repeatedly that people with similar personalities consistently used the same sets of adjectives and characteristics to describe themselves to others.

By 1994, Katherine identified that these descriptors aligned with their top three to four Enneagram types. For example, Type 6 individuals often identified with four types but retained the defense strategies of one type per center, reducing their viable number to three types instead of four. Similarly, Type 9 individuals often identified with five or six types but still exhibited only one defense strategy percenter—one from each center of intelligence: heart (2, 3, 4), head (5, 6, 7), and gut (8, 9, 1). They identified with four to six types but only chose three defense strategies, indicating that it was essential to use the defense strategies of the types in your Tritype®.

This discovery revealed that individuals need to “literally” display the use of the defense strategies that match their three preferred types in their Tritype®: the defense strategies of all three types in their Tritype®. If they do not, it is unlikely that they have that Tritype®.

Confusion arises because individuals tend to "identify" with behaviors and identifications with types or aspects of the types they aspire to be, want to be, should be, or feel they have become. However, our actual Enneagram types and Tritypes® are based “not on what we do” but rather on “why we do what we do.”

For example, a Type 9 might identify with five or six types but ultimately employs only the defense strategies of the three types in their Tritype®. Identifying the defense strategies used is critically important in the typing process. Research suggests that if someone does not use the defense strategies of the types they identify with, they are likely not those types.

Katherine’s Tritype® theory incorporates these insights, including the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies the types use, along with their passions, fixations, and convictions, and defense strategies of the three types in the Tritype®, the Higher Essential Qualities of the Holy Virtues, Holy Ideas, and Holy Actions of the three types, along with the dynamic aspects generated by the primary type’s interactions with its wings, lines of connection, and defense strategies.

Katherine introduced her In-Depth Inquiry Process during her typing interviews. She discovered that participants consistently aligned with the idealized images, core fears, and dogmatic convictions of three distinct types, even when presented with these elements individually. While participants might display behaviors of more than three types, they ultimately employed the defense strategies of only three types. This groundbreaking discovery demonstrated that individuals employ a full defense strategy for their three types, including emotional passions, mental fixations, and visceral convictions, which together create a “new type unto itself.”

Each Tritype® Archetype has a unique focus of attention. It combines the idealized images, core fears, and defense strategies of the three types in the Tritype® with specific triggers, concerns, and preoccupations. These elements shape an individual’s worldview, innate gifts, life purpose, and patterns of defense, as well as the struggles and growth opportunities inherent to the Tritype®.

Katherine reached these conclusions through extensive research on the internal experiences of Enneagram types and subtypes, beginning with 500 participants and eventually expanding to tens of thousands. In early 1997, Katherine attended a presentation by one of Oscar Ichazo’s authorized teachers, where she first encountered the term “Trifix.” After the class, she sought more information but was told that no detailed material on Trifix was yet available.

Trifix Back Story

Ichazo’s Trifix focuses solely on the three mental “fixations” from the triads, without incorporating heart or gut aspects. Fixations refer to the fixed mental beliefs and preoccupations associated with each type.

Trifix was not part of Ichazo’s 1970 dissemination of the Enneagram or Dr. Claudio Naranjo’s teachings in his Seekers After Truth (SAT) groups. The concept was introduced in 1997 within Ichazo’s Arica School, with Enneagram Monthly briefly mentioning it in the same year. Ichazo later expanded on Trifix in his 2019 book The Nine Constituents, though this account lacked details on correlations with the centers of intelligence.

Coining of the term Tritype®

Tritype® was based on extensive research with tens of thousands of participants and correlations with Katherine’s Enneastyle Questionnaire (EQ) and Enneacards Testing Instrument, which continued to reveal many distinct and meaningful patterns. Additional studies that Katherine conducted further confirmed these findings.

As Katherine continued to write about and teach the 3Types (Tritype®), Tritcenter, Trigram, and Trifix, it became clear that she was the only one to do so.

She always gave attribution to Ichazo for his term and added it to her work to honor him as the creator of the Enneagram of Personality. So Enneagram Enthusiasts confused her extensive body of research on the types, archetypes, and their meaningful interactions with “Ichazo’s single term Trifix, which was three fixations used in a clockwise order from the primary type.”

In 1997, Katherine met a teacher from Arican. She had also attended Ichazo’s Reunion Intensive in 2005, where she met other Aricans. Later, in 1997, the Arica Institute added Autodiagnosis and Advanced Fixations to the Arica training. This was the first time he had offered the concept of the Trifix to individuals.

In 2007, Katherine taught Trifix and Tritype® in Palo Alto, California. The Arican teacher whom Katherine met ten years earlier, attended her Trifix training. After the training, they enjoyed discussing many aspects of the Enneagram and their experiences with many different topics; history of Ichazo’s Enneagons and the Enneagram of Personality, 3Types, Trifix.

Their discussion about the systems' similarities and differences led to a conversation about the future and how enthusiasts would come to understand Katherine’s body of work based on years of research and Oscar’s singular concept of Trifix.

Katherine wanted to separate the term from her years of research, so they discussed ways to do so without confusing others more than necessary.

The Arican teacher mentioned that Katherine popularized the term Trifix by teaching public courses, conducting research studies, posting her findings on the Internet, and presenting her findings at IEA conferences.

The internet was rapidly growing exponentially, and so was the term Trifix. Her work was well received because most people strongly identified with using all three centers of intelligence.

Together, they looked for ways to distinguish her extensive body of work from Ichazo’s concept. They finally found an important distinction.

They discovered that Katherine’s research was on the whole type in the Tritype®, the use of the three types, and that Ichazo’s concept was only focused on the three fixations of the types in the Trifix.

This meant Tritype and Trifix only shared the use of three triads

They were happy to find a distinction, and as it turned out, an essential distinction with details that further defined both systems. Both systems were alike in that both recognized the use of three types: one from each triad. After that, the systems were two different approaches.

Katherine and the Arican were pleased to find a way to easily explain the differences between the concepts. They concluded that separating Katherine’s body of work from Ichazo’s term made sense and seemed as though it was possible to clarify the differences.

This led to the Arican teacher asking Katherine if she would consider Ichazo using the term Trifix. Katherine readily agreed as she had always given him attribution for the term out of respect for his work as the creator of the Enneagram of Personality.

Katherine wanted to return to her earlier terms, which she still used: 3Types, (Tritype), TriCenter, and the Trigram symbol, which were already her copyrighted terms.

The Arican teacher suggested Katherine use the word “Tritype” because Katherine’s findings were based on the discovery that individuals use three “types” rather than three “fixations” like Ichazo. That way, both terms would validate the same general principles of the Enneagram and use all three centers, but the definition would vary after that.

Katherine liked the term Tritype® so much better than Trifix as it better described her research finding of individuals having a dynamic set of three “types.” So, in April of 2007, after 13 years as 3Types, Trigram, and TriCenter and over 10 years as Trifix, the term Tritype® was coined as the overarching term for all of her work with the Tritypes® and Tritype® Archetypes.

She encouraged Katherine to consider trademarking the term Tritype®, and they hoped to trademark Trifix. In both cases, distinguishing between the two systems would make it easier in the future. The public and consumers could recognize the critical similarities and differences.

She explained that trademarking the term would protect the consumer from confusion and misinformation and protect the owner’s intellectual property from being misstated, used, or misrepresented. Thus, enthusiasts would be able to quickly see what came from whom.

So Katherine did. But the internet has made it difficult to maintain. With so many enthusiasts posting on both topics incorrectly, the differences still need to be clarified. So Katherine created the ETTv8 Testing Instrument to help people type more accurately.

The concept first came from Katherine’s research in 1994. Ichazo, independently of Katherine, found a similar pattern in 1997, further confirming the significance of the Enneagram of Personality uwint all three triads. ©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre

History of Tritype® and the Tritype® System

Katherine Fauvre’s major body of work on the Enneagram and Tritype® began in 1994-1995. At that time, she also began her research study on Enneastyle: The 9 Languages of Enneagram Type, which examined the internal experience and self-image of the nine Enneagram types. This research began with the words the 9 types used on the Enneastyle Questionnaire (EQ) to describe their internal and external experience of the 9 Types and immediately expanded to include the Instinctual Types. Tritype® theory emerged as a result of this first study.

Qualitative Research

Tritype® theory was born of the research gathered from Katherine Fauvre's initial explorations of the “internal experiences” of the Enneagram types, instinctual subtypes, core fears, self-image, language, spirituality, intimacy, and pair bonding from 1994 to 1998. It was so informative to hear about the types' “internal experiences” that the study has remained ongoing since 1994!

Initially, this questionnaire (EQ) was sent to 400 participants who were already familiar with the Enneagram so that Katherine could examine whether or not individuals with the same Enneagram types described themselves using similar language and symbology. Although Katherine suspected some questionnaire similarities among those with the same type, what she discovered was the likelihood that the Enneagram type was possibly determinable by simply examining word choice in self-description categories.

After her analysis of the Enneastyle Questionnaire (EQ) responses from her first research study on the Instinctual Subtypes and Enneastyle-the 9 Languages of Enneagram Type, and Enneastyle, then later in conjunction with the Enneacards Enneagram test – and the Enneagram Tritype® Test, Katherine consistently noticed that individuals with the same Enneagram types described themselves similarly.

Blind Study

In order to test this hypothesis, Katherine Fauvre then gave the questionnaire (EQ) to 100 participants who were unfamiliar with the Enneagram.

She subsequently and successfully determined their Enneagram Types based on typing interviews and the language similarities that she had observed in the first set of questionnaires.

Participants were followed for one year to verify the validity of Katherine’s original typings. 

These individuals also used the same or similar lexicon to communicate their internal states, self-image, and motivation strategies. Tens of thousands of research subjects have since verified her initial findings.

468 Tritype® Example

Each Tritype® combination creates a different expression of Enneagram Type. If one is an Enneagram Type 4, he or she might have a Tritype® of the 468. This would mean he or she predominantly uses Type 4 as the lead type; however, Type 4 would also employ the strategies of Type 6 and Type 8 in all decision-making processes.

Your Enneagram Type 4 strategies merge with the Type 6 and Type 8 strategies to produce results. All permutations (wings and lines of connections) of Type 4 and those of the other two types, 6 and 8, combine to manage problems and create solutions.

There are books and videos on the Enneagram Tritype® here.
Learn more about Tritype® 1.0 - 4.0 in the Tritype® Masterclass Recordings here.
More on Tritype® here: https://enneagramtritypetest.com
©1995-2024 Katherine Chernick Fauvre • All rights reserved

This advanced application of the Enneagram introduces a higher degree of precision when it comes to pinpointing the specific areas of focus and core concerns associated with the "core" type.

By combining three Enneagram types within the Tritype®, it becomes possible to identify a shared focus of attention, thus expanding the structural understanding of an individual's personality. In doing so, it also becomes feasible to recognize the common talents and challenges inherent in that personality configuration.

This, in turn, makes it possible to recognize the core triggers and patterns of distress for each Tritype®, thereby disrupting the pattern sooner rather than later.

Furthermore, the placement of the Tritype® on the Tristar adds an additional layer of clarity to the life theme associated with the Tritype®. This, in turn, enhances one's capacity to delve deeper into one's personal journey of self-discovery and fosters a greater sense of empathy and understanding not only for oneself but also for individuals who possess different Tritypes®. It offers a profound opportunity for personal growth and enriches our interactions with others who navigate the complexities of their own Tritype® configurations.

Watch all 27 Free Tritype® Mini Videos here 

468 Example

Example: The 468 (486, 684, 648, 864, 846) has been deemed “The Truth Teller” by Katherine Fauvre.

Most research participants who identified this as their Tritype® combination reported similar archetypal patterns that, according to Katherine, warranted this title, such as the desire to track inconsistencies and call off hidden agendas and ulterior motives.

According to Katherine, each of the 27 Tritypes® has a corresponding archetype that gives a "snapshot" into the archetypal life path of that particular Tritype® combination.

Tritype® Coaching Testimonial

9-pointed Enneagram: Law of One, Law of three, Law of seven and Law of nine and their Intercnnections with one another.

“I decided to work with Katherine without a specific issue or concern in mind, except to advance my self-awareness and understanding my enneagram tritype

In our first meeting, Katherine helped me identify and clarify a self-limiting belief and a constellation of defense strategies organized around this belief. I have gained a deeper insight into how this belief system plays out, how to identify it and most importantly actionable steps to notice this previously unconscious mode of operating.

I also gained a deeper understanding of how the tritype functions as a part of this pattern. If you are looking to up your game in terms of self-awareness or wondering just how much further you take your knowledge of the enneagram, fasten your seat belt and sign up for session with with Katherine.”
 -Paul, Canada

Tritype® Research

478 Tritype® Example

Another way of looking at these combinations is to consider what each type brings to each Tritype®. If your primary type is 8, you might have a Tritype® configuration of 874. The primary Enneagram Type would be Type 8; however, this Tritype® combination indicates that this Tritype® would most likely be a strong, positive person who seeks solutions (8), options (7), and meaning (4).

What is fascinating is that the strategy of Type 8 merges with the other two types together, creating a new type unto itself.

With the other two types in the Tritype®, the 8 desire is to overcome obstacles; then they also employ the strategy of Type 7 and Type 4.

The types in the Tritype® expand, contract, and flow in a continuously oscillating manner. This reveals the particular pattern of each Tritype® and how to intervene in an effective manner.

Instinctual Stacking vs Tritype® Stacking

478 Tritype®: Instinctual Stacking vs Tritype® Stacking

The 4, 7, and 8 are the three types that share a drive for authenticity and creativity. All three types are non-conformists. In addition, the 4 and 7 like what is unusual. The 7 and 8 are assertive types, and the 4 and 8 share the line of intensity.

These qualities are amplified in the Tritype®, making the 4 more assertive, the 7 more concrete and creative, and the 8 softer and more introspective. What these three types do not share are minimized. So this Tritype® is sensitive and sees the world from a more extroverted lens of perception even if one is an introvert.

478 Core Fears

As mentioned, Katherine Fauvre's research interviewed subjects that consistently identified with the core fears and idealized self-images of three, not just one Enneagram type.

When correlated with other personality typology systems, the Instinctual Types Stacking of three and the Tritype® pattern of three appeared to be the two most powerful governing typologies.

 This was due in part to the fact that these two systems identify the underlying, often unconscious, motivations and defense strategies of the Enneagram Personality Types.

Click here for all 27 Free Tritype® Archetype Videos