What’s Your Brain Type?

 Understanding your brain dominance, and therefore what knowledge and skills come easily to you, can be a huge benefit in many areas of life, especially career. Below are a couple personality systems based on brain dominance, and three online tests to find out your brain type.

Katherine Benziger is a psychologist with over 25 years experience with personality assessing for business based on brain dominance theory. Her system focuses on wellness and places a strong emphasis on avoiding falsifying one’s type. She believes each person has one natural mode (brain area), but can develop competencies in other modes with practice.

Below is a table describing the four brain regions and how they compare to Myers-Briggs typology. In addition to these four types, there are also combinations: dual- and whole-brained competencies.

Mode	Brain Area	Focus	Description	Jungian Function	Jungian Superior and Auxiliary Functions	Myers Briggs Types
1	Basal Left	Order, Routine Process, Procedures	Realistic, down-to-earth, practical, sensible, past-focused, detailed, structured, ordered, efficient, dependable, reliable, obedient, deadline-oriented, disciplined	Sensing	ST and SF	ESTP ISTJ ESFP ISFJ
2	Basal Right	Intuition, Empathy, Spirituality, Rhythm, Harmony	Subjective, personal, values intimacy, sees extenuating circumstances, humane, sees harmony, empathic, compassionate, intuitive, sensitive, connects well and easily with people, caring, compassionate, good interpersonal skills	Feeling	FS and FN	ESFJ ISFP ENFJ INFP
3	Frontal Right	Vision, Creativity, Imagination, Expression	Speculative, fantasy-/idea-focused, imaginative, future-focused, sees the “big picture”, uses metaphors, visualizer, conceptualizer, expressive, enthusiastic, change-seeking, easily bored	Intuition	NT and NF	ENTP INTJ ENFP INFJ
4	Frontal Left	Logic, Results, Structure, Analysis	Analytical, objective, critical, principled, scientific, logical, mathematical, tactical, goal-/ task-/results-oriented, direct	Thinking	TS and TN	ESTJ ISTP ENTJ INTP

Brain typing is another personality assessment system, which was developed in the late 1970s by Jon Niednagel, a sports coach, who observed that children with similar personalities had similar motor skills. This emphasis on motor skills is how this system differs from other typologies. It recognizes 16 types, like the Myers-Briggs typology system.

The below table describes the eight functions that are matched together to create these 16 brain types:

Brain Type	Jungian-Myers Correspondence	Description
Front	Extraversion	External, expressive, broad
Back	Introversion	Internal, reflective, deep
Empirical	Sensing	Observer, literal, concrete, realist, pragmatic
Conceptual	Intuitive	Imaginative, abstract, theoretical, idealistic, visionary
Animate	Feeling	Emotional, compassionate, feelings-oriented, subjective
Inanimate	Thinking	Logical, justice-seeking, objective
Right	Perceiving	Holistic, adaptable, artistic, spatial, visual
Left	Judging	Analytical, ordered, detailed, numerical, verbal

And lastly, some keyword traits for left brain vs. right brain dominance:

Left Brain	Right Brain
Analytical, hard facts, discipline, rules,  math, science, categorizing, logic,  deductive reasoning, details, definitions, planning, goals, productivity, words, technology, literal, orderly, exact	Intuitive, feelings, sensitivity, emotions, daydreaming, visualizing, creativity, color, spatial awareness, first impressions, rhythm, spontaneity, impulsiveness, flexibility, humor, relationships, mysticism, abstract concepts

To find out your brain dominance, check out these three free online tests:

Similar Minds: http://similarminds.com/brain.html

The Art Institute of Vancouver: http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

Brain Types: http://braintypes.com/questionnaire.asp

Related articles

• Left Brain | Right Brain (saralarin.wordpress.com)
• Types and The Brain

Spiral Dynamics: Identity Through Values

Spiral Dynamics (SD) is a system of understanding societal values (or vMemes) based on Psychology professor Clare Graves’ work from the 1970′s and furthered by Don Beck. More recently, it has been combined with the work of Ken Wilber and Integral philosophy to further understand humanity. SD focuses on sets of hierarchical values and needs that must be met before progressing to the next level. Although there has been controversy around the hierarchical nature of these values definitions, SD gives a good outline of the various values, focus, and consequently identity of different people at different stages in their lives.

For more information:

SpiralDynamicsOverview

SpiralNurturing

Where do you see yourself in the spiral?

 

Type and Tarot

The tarot is more than just a deck of cards with interesting pictures. Most people think of it as a fortune-telling tool, but it is also a way to see your personality type depicted in images. Specifically, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Enneagram can been seen to correspond to two of the three sections of a tarot deck.

The tarot is a deck of 78 cards that emerged in the Middle Ages as a card game, then later became known as a fortune-telling device. Nowadays, it is also often seen as a personal development tool to use with visualizations and journaling.

There are three parts to a tarot deck: the Major Arcana, 22 “big-picture” themes representing archetypal energies; the Minor Arcana, 40 “everyday challenges” cards divided into four suits, which differ depending upon the deck (pentacles/diamonds/earth, swords/spades/air, cups/hearts/water, and wands/clubs/fire); and the Court Cards, 16 “people cards” (page, knight, queen, and king) also divided into the four suits. This allows for a broad range of images and situations to explore.

The Court Cards are ideal for depicting Myers-Briggs type: 16 cards and 16 types. And, the Enneagram types, along with the wings, correspond to the Major Arcana cards (archetypal energies = your motivations and values). The Court Cards Correspondences Table gives the relationship between Myers-Briggs type and the cards, along with examples, and the Major Arcana Cards Meanings and Correspondences Table gives detailed information on how Enneagram type relates to the cards.

So, who are you in the tarot?

Defining Your Identity With Your Mission Statement

With the new year comes new commitments, plans, and a new start for a new, better you. One way of figuring out who you want to be in the new year is defining your life purpose, or why you exist now and how you will know your life was successful.

 

Your Mission Statement is a primary way to figure this out. It is a declaration of what your life is about and the legacy you want to leave. It gives meaning to your life, and directs, guides, and motivates you even when times are tough. It includes your Passions: knowledge, values, and skills/strengths and Goals/Aspirations/Dreams for the future. Below are some exercises to help you craft your Mission Statement.

 

1. Who/What/When/Where/Why/How

• Who—Choose a simple phrase as a metaphor for who you want to be in life (e.g., “I’m the …”: fountain of wisdom, teacher of teachers, butterfly of hope”, etc.)
• What—What general theme/focus/goal that is important to you? (e.g., promoting safety, inspiring creativity, healing trauma from violence, giving love, etc.)
• When—Is there a periodic cycle involved? (e.g., every festival, in the mornings, etc.)
• Where—What sector/area of life/cause is important to you? (e.g., environment, development, education, health, your community, etc.)
• Why—What are your core values (the things you can’t live without)? (e.g., creativity, fitness, truth, order, freedom, play, etc.)
• How—What are your skills—the things you’re best at? (e.g., writing, persuading, building, connecting, etc.)

2. The 90-year-old Me

Imagine yourself at 90 years old or so, having lived a full, long life that you’re extremely satisfied with. Looking back, how would you answer these questions:

• What am I most proud of in my life?
• What matters most to me?
• How did I really make a difference?
• When people think about me, how do they talk about me and describe me?
• What were my greatest lessons? How did I use that knowledge in my life?

3. The Fun, Free Me

How would you answer these questions about how you find happiness in the present:

• What do you do when you loose track of time? (How are you “in the Flow”?)
• What things do you notice that others may not?
• What do you love doing?
• What sparks your creativity?
• What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
• What is your ideal day like? (What are you doing? Who are you with? Where are you?)
• What are your five strongest memories that immediately come to mind of happy times in your life? (What were you doing? Who were you with? Where were you?)

 

Now, once you’ve found some of these answers, it’s time to craft your Mission Statement. This is a sentence on who you want to be in life, how you ideally see yourself. Using a metaphor from the above “Who” question, begin to write your statement. Include the Who, What, and Why, and ideally How, if you know it, answers. Then, use this statement to periodically edit as necessary until you find a sentence that gives meaning and guidance to who you are and what you strive for in life this year and beyond.

Related articles

• A Girl On A Mission: How To Write A Personal Mission Statement! (galadarling.com)

Cyborg Identity

Another recent Smithsonian lecture I attended was on cyborgs—past, present, and future. A cyborg is a genetically enhanced human, a person with both biological and artificial parts—and they’re everywhere now, not just in science fiction movies!

Past

Perhaps the first representation of a cyborg in media was the monster Frankenstein, who was created from reanimated dead tissue. Later, Edgar Allen Poe dealt with that issue in The Man That Was Used Up about a man with extensive prostheses. In 1960, the term was coined to use in relation to space flight. It was decided that it would be best/most efficient to modify man to adapt to space versus adapting an environment in space to human needs. The question then became how to merge technology into the body. This possibility of reengineering the human body was investigated extensively in the 1960s with NASA’s “Engineering Man for Space”, the 1963 Cyborg Study.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s up until present day, cyborgs have been popping up in television shows and movies more and more: Star Wars’ Darth Vader, Star Trek’s Data and Borg, Battlestar Gallactica’s cylons, the Terminator, the Six Million Dollar Man, Gattaca, Iron Man, and many others.

Present/Future

Now, artificial limbs and hearts, implants, knee replacements, pacemakers, and cochlear implants, among other medical advances, are accepted as quite common. What will the future hold? Transhumanism? A larger role for artificial intelligence and augmented reality? Cryogenics? Natural evolution? Only time will tell.

Related articles

• Cyborgs in New Media (engl293introtodigitalmedia.wordpress.com)
• Canadian Cyborg Documents The Reality Behind Today’s Cyborg Tech (singularityhub.com)
• 90 Cyborg Prosthetic Innovations – Robert Spence TEDxTO Speaker Presents His Bionic Implants View (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)

Enneagram and Human Potential

In the Enneagram, the levels of integration for each type indicate your potential from a personality-based perspective. Although we all fluctuate at times between healthy, average, and unhealthy behaviors, where our base is can determine what we are able to achieve in life.

The chart of Enneagram Type Development details the three levels of development, the purpose, and the lesson for each type.

Related articles

• Enneagram: The Basics of Personality (aloftyexistence.wordpress.com)

Identity and Self-Actualization

“The greatest crime in the world is not developing your potential. When you do what you do best, you are helping not only yourself, but the world.” –Roger Williams

Humanistic Psychology is a branch of Psychology that focuses on human potential and the healthy, whole person. American Psychologist Abraham Maslow formulated his Hierarchy of Needs diagram to explain the various levels of needs we all have, culminating in Self-Actualization—the full realization of one’s potential (or Transcendence, a future level added later).

Characteristics of Self-Actualized People

• Accepting and Realistic—Respectful of others, objective, nondiscriminative, compassionate, embracing and enjoying all cultures
• Problem Solving—Concerned with helping others and solving problems in the world, responsible, ethical
• Spontaneous—Open, creative, original, unconventional, true to self, sense of humor
• Independent—Comfortable being alone, nonconformist, form own opinions and views, a few close friends rather than many surface relationships
• Appreciative—View world with wonder and awe, curious, interested in everything
• Have Peak Experiences—Experience moments of intense joy, awe, and ecstasy, which inspire and transform them

Related articles

• Abraham Maslow’s Unfinished Projects (psychologytoday.com)
• Social Networks: What Maslow Misses (mprcenter.org)
• The Notion of Self-Actualization (listentomethunder.wordpress.com)