OK, I have a few major issues with the Enneagram, and, I hope this isn't too harsh, I am largely inclined not to even take it seriously. Here is why:
1. The Forer Effect seems like a huge component of Enneagram descriptions, especially 6, which are apparently both what they are and their opposite at the same time? That's what I call doublethink, anyhow.
2. It's somehow even more stereotyped than MBTI, despite not being even as specific as MBTI. It's more a matter of value judgments while MBTI is more about fact judgments, and that, in a way, makes it worse, since you're largely just calling someone good/bad while you're pretending to say something value-neutral. People often say Enneagram has nothing to do with how a person presents themselves or their accomplishments, so judging someone else's Enneagram type (especially making them a 6, which is both a catch-all for people who don't seem to test as anything clear and several orders of magnitude more hated than even the Zodiac sign Virgo) is just a judgment of what you think someone's internal character is like. Plus, if you think they're not acting it on the outside, you're also potentially adding a lack of integrity to that.
3. I used to think it was some mystical thing about original sin, and while it is used in some mystical traditions, that doesn't appear to be the origin. The origin appears to be a list of ten neurotic behaviors. Based on what I've seen of that list, those don't necessarily stay fixed for your entire life like the Enneagram type is supposed to (and from my observations people discard and pick these up all the time), and also they explain my results on the Enneagram much better. On the Enneagram, I tend to get some weird mix of 3, 1, and 8, which aren't anywhere near each other. Someone is like "well, you're a 6 then, they tend to test as *insert basically all of the other types except 3 or 8*". However, if I were really a 6, why are 5, 6, and and I think 7 (7 is the one about physical needs, right? I am also very low on 9, who wants to be indifferent to everything) always astronomically low whenever I take an Enneagram test? The actual explanation of my results is well-described by the list of 10 neurotic behaviors: I score high on 3 on Enneagram because they collapsed the concept of wanting to be admired by people as a form of compliance with wanting to be admired (or feared) by people as a form of aggression. In that light, all of the things I tend to score higher on, although not next to each other in the Enneagram, come out of the aggression category on the original 10 neurotic needs list, and the more moderate ones, which are also not all next to each other, come out of the list of detachment behaviors, while the compliance ones are astronomically low.
4. Enneagram has nearly a 100% correlation with sociotype once you take "wings" into account (9 x 2 = 18, and there are 16 sociotypes). It's basically just redundant information at this point.
5. Are the questions you answer on the Enneagram really about how you act, or about fantasies you have? Some people fantasize about being rich and famous, a great scientist, a mystic, a military member, etc. while they just sit at home, ditching class/work and eating Doritos while watching crappy animes because they've already seen all the good ones. But if they would like to have x/y/z, they score that on the Enneagram, because most Enneagram tests really do seem to ask about what people say they would like rather than how they actually behave. And that doesn't really give you insights into yourself or others at all (especially considering point 1).
6. I'm not really sure you need to score moderate on all of the Enneagram to be healthy. It seems fine to score low on some of them and high on others. We don't all need to act like good little Star Wars stormtroopers. (Those are all about behaviors, after all, and not all of the Enneagram ones seem inherently neurotic. The point about the neurotic ones is that they control you rather than vice versa. Also, again, see 4.)
So, are there any good counterarguments for the Enneagram out there?
1. The Forer Effect seems like a huge component of Enneagram descriptions, especially 6, which are apparently both what they are and their opposite at the same time? That's what I call doublethink, anyhow.
2. It's somehow even more stereotyped than MBTI, despite not being even as specific as MBTI. It's more a matter of value judgments while MBTI is more about fact judgments, and that, in a way, makes it worse, since you're largely just calling someone good/bad while you're pretending to say something value-neutral. People often say Enneagram has nothing to do with how a person presents themselves or their accomplishments, so judging someone else's Enneagram type (especially making them a 6, which is both a catch-all for people who don't seem to test as anything clear and several orders of magnitude more hated than even the Zodiac sign Virgo) is just a judgment of what you think someone's internal character is like. Plus, if you think they're not acting it on the outside, you're also potentially adding a lack of integrity to that.
3. I used to think it was some mystical thing about original sin, and while it is used in some mystical traditions, that doesn't appear to be the origin. The origin appears to be a list of ten neurotic behaviors. Based on what I've seen of that list, those don't necessarily stay fixed for your entire life like the Enneagram type is supposed to (and from my observations people discard and pick these up all the time), and also they explain my results on the Enneagram much better. On the Enneagram, I tend to get some weird mix of 3, 1, and 8, which aren't anywhere near each other. Someone is like "well, you're a 6 then, they tend to test as *insert basically all of the other types except 3 or 8*". However, if I were really a 6, why are 5, 6, and and I think 7 (7 is the one about physical needs, right? I am also very low on 9, who wants to be indifferent to everything) always astronomically low whenever I take an Enneagram test? The actual explanation of my results is well-described by the list of 10 neurotic behaviors: I score high on 3 on Enneagram because they collapsed the concept of wanting to be admired by people as a form of compliance with wanting to be admired (or feared) by people as a form of aggression. In that light, all of the things I tend to score higher on, although not next to each other in the Enneagram, come out of the aggression category on the original 10 neurotic needs list, and the more moderate ones, which are also not all next to each other, come out of the list of detachment behaviors, while the compliance ones are astronomically low.
4. Enneagram has nearly a 100% correlation with sociotype once you take "wings" into account (9 x 2 = 18, and there are 16 sociotypes). It's basically just redundant information at this point.
5. Are the questions you answer on the Enneagram really about how you act, or about fantasies you have? Some people fantasize about being rich and famous, a great scientist, a mystic, a military member, etc. while they just sit at home, ditching class/work and eating Doritos while watching crappy animes because they've already seen all the good ones. But if they would like to have x/y/z, they score that on the Enneagram, because most Enneagram tests really do seem to ask about what people say they would like rather than how they actually behave. And that doesn't really give you insights into yourself or others at all (especially considering point 1).
6. I'm not really sure you need to score moderate on all of the Enneagram to be healthy. It seems fine to score low on some of them and high on others. We don't all need to act like good little Star Wars stormtroopers. (Those are all about behaviors, after all, and not all of the Enneagram ones seem inherently neurotic. The point about the neurotic ones is that they control you rather than vice versa. Also, again, see 4.)
So, are there any good counterarguments for the Enneagram out there?