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I'm wondering, what are the factors that creates your personality and enneagram type? Is it about how you grew up, your genetics? What is it that defines you? 
Why do we become what we are?
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Can't say with complete certainty, but I am aware of the environmental aspects which helped create me as I am today. I'm sure there's a degree to which your biology and heredity plays a part in the forming of a personality. I really don't like to ask why as it implies there is reason for being. I don't know what I've become, but I exist. That's the only thing I can measure at this point.
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Id say it's a mix between environment and how we process the information that environment provides....with perhaps a little bit of something inherent on top.
Definitely not genetic. If so, Than I must be the ee of the E gene. I have three sisters, and they are all equally socially likable. I say it is the hardships you go through. I was raised as an ideal stereotype, but chose to have a personality of my own. The question may have no answer. Maybe you naturally do or don't think certain ways. I still think that's a load of crap. I'm going to go with the psychological trauma involved that makes a personality.
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youre probably right about the enviromental things, every person is their own person i guess
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Do you realise that anecdotal evidence is not considered reliable? I have three siblings and our personalities are strikingly different, although we were raised in similar ways. I think both nature and nurture are important; in my (and my siblings') example, nature was stronger because my parents are really tolerant, open-minded and supportive people, so I was free to develop my personality as I wanted. I don't want to dismiss your point of view, man, but saying something is crap only because your personal experiences point otherwise...
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mmmm brains then im a zombie :kitteh:
then im a zombie :kitteh:Oh, I thought and took this thread as a debate over whether different methods of psych could be the reason. I have had no real experiences occur that could change my personality. You want me to admit that other reasons could be taken for being the way you are. I don't have to admit it because that's what I thought. I just choose the best answer in my mind and it was this one. No doubt the way your siblings and parents act could affect that. But perhaps it was the way they tried to condition you into a well raised person is how it is effected.
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I don't *want* you to admit anything. You're free to state your opinion, I'm free to state mine and they're equally viable.
Childhood scenarios for enneatypes
Well, the scenario works for me (if I'm a Seven, which I'm not sure about), since my parents were "active" and "responsive", and I was definitely an active kid (thus 7w8). But I don't know if the hypothesis has ever been proven.
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I tend to think it's a mix of nature/nuture as well. Obviously some of our characteristics are passed down genetically, but I think socialization plays a huge role in how we ultimately develop. I think by the time we're about 3-5 our core personalities are in place, but I also think what happens in those 3-5 years is very important for the final outcome. There's so many small things that make up big effects in how we develop (genetics, different genes turning on at different times, parenting, number and types of siblings, messages you receive, personal space, positive re-inforcement, negative re-inforcement, trauma, etc).
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I find those descriptions to be far too simplistic. Technically they applied to myself and one of my siblings, but the descriptions below didn't really match our experiences. I much prefer the ennea-type descriptions of childhoods written out inone of Riso and Hudsons books-can't remember which one but each description has 3-4 pages dedicated to childhood development. They also make fewer assumptions about a specific experience and give more of a general overview of how a type has interpreted things.
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Yeah, I relate to the four description on there, as far as feeling ignored goes, but I was in no way an active child. I've always been withdrawn (and secretly wished my parents would respond to my very subtle pleas for attention).
But I also think most four descriptions are written with 4w3 in mind.
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That's funny because in another thread I was saying the 4 description didn't describe my sibling either - I think he would describe his experience the same as the bold part. And he's also a 4w3.
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Well, okay then. It seems most four descriptions are portraying a more externally reactive four- a 468 tritype or some such thing.
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Some research supporting the above "childhood scenarios"
Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction During Early Childhood: Contributions of Parental and Child Personality Traits - Wilson - Journal of Personality - Wiley Online Library
Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction During Early Childhood: Contributions of Parental and Child Personality Traits - Wilson - Journal of Personality - Wiley Online Library
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According to my upbringing, there is absolutely no reason that I should be a 7. I assume it's something inborn, not necessarily genetic, but like fingerprints--you're just born with that pattern.
Based on what I went through as a child, I ought to be an 8 or 4 (both of which are in my tritype, by nature or by nurture)--I was the outcast, the social retard that everyone hated; I felt that my parents didn't love me and everyone was my "enemy". Yet I'm still a 7.
It may be, though, that my this resulted in which wing I chose--it became very important to me at a young age to "ignore" my adversity, to roll things off my back, etc. If I'd felt the need for group security and/or my peers had appreciated my zaniness, I feel like I would have developed a 6-wing instead.
Based on what I went through as a child, I ought to be an 8 or 4 (both of which are in my tritype, by nature or by nurture)--I was the outcast, the social retard that everyone hated; I felt that my parents didn't love me and everyone was my "enemy". Yet I'm still a 7.
It may be, though, that my this resulted in which wing I chose--it became very important to me at a young age to "ignore" my adversity, to roll things off my back, etc. If I'd felt the need for group security and/or my peers had appreciated my zaniness, I feel like I would have developed a 6-wing instead.
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