Excerpts from new enneagram type descriptions for 5s,6s,7s
Type 5
Fives indulge in what interests them intellectually. They put a premium on whatever they communicate being well-thought out which makes them seem less emotional and sensitive than they really are. They remove themselves from external action enough to be able to have better mastery of the situation at hand. From a distance they are more able to exercise the power of their minds and intensify their efforts in their mental activities. Being a "theorizing about the way things are" armchair QB leads them to exhibit a certain idiosyncratic quirky cleverness in how they perceive reality and others to perceive them as eccentric.
5w4s believe what's counterintuitive and paradoxical takes precedence over accepted truth since it's both more aesthetic/elegant and harder to be accepted. They believe fate and rare unexplainable phenomena are tied to something that both underlies and supercedes current reality and makes it richer. They think much of the world pales in comparison to their internal experience so they are less awed and apalled by worldly phenomena. They are less argumentative but snobbier.
5w6s are more naturally curious and never cease to find worldly phenomena that awes and interests them. They have a more uneasy truce with their emotions and are more focused on what's cutting edge in the intellectual and scientific realms. They feel powerful imagining what it's like to have a bird's eye view of what interests them. Many 5w6s incorrectly see themselves as 5w4s due to poor type descriptions that simplistically use "art or science" to distinguish between 5w4s and 5w6s.
Type 6
6s feel they came into the world without blueprints to account for the vagaries of life and have been playing catchup ever since. They think the world is unpredictably difficult and construct a way of navigating and living life to serve as foundation against being "uprooted". In such a world trustworthy people are hard to come by so the last thing they'd do is betray anyone who has managed to earn their trust. What's fair is very important and they have an eye of when things are uneven between people. They hold themselves to their standards of decency despite difficult circumstances so they expect that to count for something.
6w5s want answers to life's uncertainties more than support and guidance from others. They are more insular and are the do-it-their-selfers with respect to putting together their own security. They are never quite sold on messages they hear. They don't like it when people sugarcoat things. Smooth-talkers make their ears perk up.
6w7s look for support and guidance as they have a hard time trusting themselves. They are frequently taken aback by themselves. They suffer from ambivalance and anxiety and look to find others to relieve those things in themselves. Nearly all type six descriptions are heavily slanted towards 6w7 which happens to be why many 6w5s don't think they are sixes.
Type 7
7s feel gnawed by their wants enough to see them as needs..."I need that vacation!". They take care of their stuff themselves so they have a hard time seeing why they shouldn't have the good things in life that "surely" await them just around the corner. By fast-forwarding to the future and experiencing the fullness of life in the present they distract themselves from coming to grips with sobering realities and unflattering things about themselves.
7w6s care about being seen as shallow and other stereotypically negative sevenish traits. Their fun is more good-natured and easier to tolerate. They relate to others more through solidarity than a position of strength. They fantasize more and are always on the lookout for the holy grail. They fear being trapped in a rut.
7w8s are the badboy/badgirl side of seven. They don't care much how others see them as due to their eight wing they are predisposed to think others don't like them until they do. They are more realists. They are more wheeler-dealers. They don't suffer the same defeatism when they are down as they feel more temporarily stuck in a rut than trapped in it.
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Originally Posted by Coolanzon
