Illustration of Enneagram Type 3

Enneagram 3w2 & Enneagram 3w4

Discover the Wings of Type 3

What you will learn
Your wing adds an additional flavor to your personality. Every personality type of the Enneagram can have either one of the two types next to them as their wing.

For Threes this means that they can have a wing Two (also known as Enneagram 3w2) or a wing Four (Enneagram 3w4).

Below you find descriptions for each wing. We will explore how either wing can positively influence your main personality type as well as the specific challenges this combination brings with it. If you are new to wings and want to learn more about how they work, you can read our introduction to wings here.

Enneagram 3w2 in brief

Type Two makes Threes more people-oriented and generous. Read the full description here.

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Enneagram 3w4 in brief

Type Fours makes Threes more genuine and focused on their craft. Read the full description here.

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Enneagram 3w2 in Depth

What it's Like to Be an Enneagram Type 3 Wing 2

The Three personality type is highly image-conscious, ambitious and goal-driven. So, what happens when you add the people-oriented Two personality as a wing to it? This: All the good (and bad) qualities of Threes are pushed into the realm of relationships.

This means a couple of things. For one, Threes are used to employ a lot of character traits to get people to like them, even if they have to fake them. With a Two wing, the most social one of these – coming across as loving, generous and altruistic – often actually becomes true. Yes, they still want to be admired for their achievements, but it becomes more likely that some of those achievements are helping others to succeed as well. Their efforts of making sure they are seen as accomplished can veer away from purely public recognition to a more private kind of success: having a stable family, a satisfying private life and an enviable home.

“For Threes with a Two wing, relationships is where they truly shine.”

Since Threes with a Two wing pour their energy into their success in relationships rather than more materialistic forms of success, relationships is where they truly shine: You get these dazzling, incredibly attractive people who use their shape-shifting abilities to turn on their charm whenever they need to in order to wow people into liking them. This often becomes their field of competition – and Threes are very competitive.

Healthy and Unhealthy Enneagram 3w2s

Driven to unhealthy levels, this can turn into outright deception – of others as well as of themselves. Being loved by everyone can act like super-fertilizer on the seed of narcissism that’s inherent in every Three. Take it away, and they can become aggressive, to everyone’s and their own surprise. Something like the O. J. Simpson case is a prime example of a Three with a Two wing having gone down the way of destruction.

On the other side of the spectrum however, healthy Threes with a Two wing turn into beautifully friendly, charming and captivating personalities that have all the potential to become stars – be it of their own backyard or the global stage.

How to Know if you Are an Enneagram 3w2

If you notice that your basic personality matches with the Three type but that it gravitates much more towards people than anything else, this is most likely your wing.

Famous Enneagram 3w2s

Enneagram 3w4 in Depth

What it's Like to Be an Enneagram Type 3 Wing 4

Welcome to one of the most complex type-wing combinations! Threes with a Four wing find aspects in their personality that seem to almost contradict their basic personality type. See, Fours are all about authenticity, while Threes are chameleons that can change colors deliberately to blend in. How does this work?

Well, actually, the main effect a Four wing has on Threes is to steer their focus away from purely personal qualities and more towards their work and career. Where Threes with a Two wing go all-in on shining in their relationships, the Four wing often leads to a bigger emphasis on their profession, their craft and materialistic pleasures. These Threes still want and need to make the right impression, and more importantly: to have their projects succeed. But the self-reflective, introspective nature of the Four can clash with this goal. It’s hard to project an image that hopes to please while you have a voice in your head calling you a phony.

Healthy and Unhealthy Enneagram 3w4s

If you take this to the most unhealthy levels, you get a constant swing between inflating your ego and getting crushed by self-doubt. These Threes struggle with depression much more than their counterparts with a Two wing. They are more in touch with their emotions, yet need to suppress them to be able to keep up appearances.

“Threes with this wing benefit from much more self-awareness than the Three type usually suggests.”

Take it in a different direction though, healthy Threes with this wing benefit from much more self-awareness than the Three type usually suggests. Intelligence often becomes more important to them than personal attractiveness, and they tend to put all that hard work Threes are famous for into more serious projects than simply being the star everyone adores. Thanks to the Four wing, they often have finer senses for the aesthetic, the artistic and the creative, while maintaining their goal-driven, ambitious and confident basic personality. Not a bad combination if you ask me.

How to Know if you Are an Enneagram 3w4

So when you sense your basic type matching up with the Three personality, but you are aware of – and have some contradicting feelings about – that show you’re putting on, well, sounds like there’s a Four wing shaping your personality, too.

Famous Enneagram 3w4s

Your Full Report

How to become your healthiest and most thriving self

Learn more
Your Full Report will answer questions you have asked yourself all your life, like...
Why do I feel the need to always be better than everyone else?
Why am I always chasing the next goal, but am never satisfied for long when I reach it?
How can I stop basing my identity on how successful other people think I am?
How can I learn to decide for myself what I truly want from life?
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Linda
Linda
1 year ago

I thought I was a 3W2 for many years because I work in nonprofit and really care about helping people. But, I always struggled when everyone said 3s like to be showy, especially in a crowd. Oh, that’s so not me! I was always happy to let someone else speak at the large fundraising events we did and I am also much more emotional than what 3s are supposed to be. Therefore, I decided I must be a 3w4 – it fits me much better. And yes, I do struggle with insecurity and there is always a fight going inside me. I must have my personal reflective time early in the morning to prepare for my day… it goes much better when I do.

Nicole
Nicole
2 years ago

3w4s this sounds like a walking paradox of a person. Someone who is interested in coming across as impressive and genuine but is also concerned with the aspect of not being a “phony” as you stated. This has to cause quite a bit of internal conflict I can imagine and cause some potential issues? I would think that these kinds of people tend to have a lot of existential moments not only in their careers but also within their personal and professional relationships as well. Such a complex layered personality type. I’d really like to look into more examples of people who possess these traits.

Crystal
Crystal
2 years ago

I feel like the Type 3 Wing 2 people are very “peacock” like. Where they are mentally or physically attractive and tend to have people flock to them. They can be social chameleons it seems in order to seem well-rounded and very likeable since it’s one of the goals. I can see that getting complicated especially if they tend to “fake” some of the interest and friendships. Things like that tend to catch up with people over time and probably can make for some pretty stressful situations. Getting the negatives under control with this personality is probably really important for mental health.

Amanda
Amanda
2 years ago

This hit hard with the description for the Enneagram Type 3 Wing 4. I feel like this personality type is so incredibly complex yet something I feel that many have experienced even if for a short period of time. It’s not surprising to me at all that Taylor Swift has this personality wing. You can definitely see the confidence she possesses as an artist. The resounding self-doubt though is very apparent in my opinion in some of her music and her lyrics. For someone so confident she definitely seems like she has experience some very real insecurities like many of us have in life.

  1. Case, Sarajane (2020). Honest Enneagram.
  2. Chestnut, Beatrice (2013). The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge.
  3. Cron, Ian Morgan; Stabile, Suzanne (2016). The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery.
  4. Riso, Don Richard; Hudson, Russ (2000). Understanding the Enneagram; the practical guide to personality types.
  5. Rohr, RichardEbert, Andreas (2001). The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective.

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