# Are type 6 descriptions especially bad?



## Brains (Jul 22, 2015)

@Asd456

Not what I said. I said that the cp/p dichotomy _sounds like_ it is pulled out of a hat before further investigation.

What academic psychologists have found to be the case, independently of enneagram: 
There is a general trait that measures overall emotional reactivity and the intensity of negative emotional experiences.
This trait measures all manner of negative emotionality, incl. anxiety, fear, disgust, anger etc.
This trait can be split into two smaller but still broad aspects that could be called _anxious/fearful withdrawal_ and _volatility/irritability_.
People high on one aspect are likely to be higher than average on the other.
People can still have rather lopsided scores on the two aspects.
Agreeableness can similarily be divided into two aspects. _volatility_ correlates very negatively with one of them (called _politeness_).

These things are reality as we understand it atm.

Now:
Sixes are often divided into a phobic, anxious subtype and an irritable subtype.
The research report confirms that Sixes are very high on Neuroticism.

Conclusion:
The phobic/counterphobic split, if understood as a tendecy and not a strict 100% approach, reflects something real and is not bullshit at all.


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## Asd456 (Jul 25, 2017)

Brains said:


> Not what I said. I said that *the cp/p dichotomy sounds like* it is pulled out of a hat before further investigation.


Go back and reread your own post. You said _the CP/P "exception" does seem like_, not _the CP/P dichotomy sounds like._



Brains said:


> What academic psychologists have found to be the case, independently of enneagram:
> There is a general trait that measures overall emotional reactivity and the intensity of negative emotional experiences.
> This trait measures all manner of negative emotionality, incl. anxiety, fear, disgust, anger etc.
> This trait can be split into two smaller but still broad aspects that could be called anxious/fearful withdrawal and volatility/irritability.
> ...


The only conclusion is your confirmation bias.

1._ Sixes are often divided into a phobic, anxious subtype and an irritable subtype_. 

"Irritable" does not describe the CP subtype. That's your bias to match the Big 5. The CP/P dichotomy is used to explain how Sixes respond to _fear_. Responding to fear by being fearful or responding to fear by turning against fear. Neuroticism is the tendency to experience _unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, and vulnerability._

2. _Agreeableness can similarily be divided into two aspects. volatility correlates very negatively with one of them (called politeness)._

You need to be more specific. There is no research correlating this and again, this is your assumption.

Sixes are known to be the most common type and the most diverse type. You have people saying that they need to rely on wings and subtypes to differentiate Sixes because they are so different. The Enneagram Institute had the chance to differentiate further but they didn't (even though they go on about the levels of development, directions of integration and disintegration, instinctual variants and wings).

The Enneagram is about ego-fixation. The Big 5 is a model based on common language descriptors of personality.


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