Theory & Science behind the Striving Styles Personality System

Foundations of the SSPS

Built on the Theories, Research and Experiences of Others

• The theories and authors that we have used to create the SSPS all shed light on the mechanics of the brain and what we can do to help us achieve our potential as human beings

“If we understand the brain, particularly our own brain, we can direct and influence how

it functions and how we feel.”

Anne Dranitsaris, Ph.D.

Theories and Authors

• Psychological Type - Jung

• Brain Lateralization, Dominance & Specialization – Sperry, Hermann, Benziger

• Brain Physiology – MacLean

• Needs - Maslow

• Neuroplasticity – Doidge, Swartz

• Cognitive Neuroscience – Panksepp

• Emotional and Social Brain Development – Goleman, Seigel

• Mindfulness – Kabat-Zinn

Four Quadrants of the Brain

Psychological Type, Brain Dominance & Specialization

Psychological Type

• Dr. Karl Jung's book on Psychological Type was first published in 1923

• Attempted to categorize people in terms of their primary modes of psychological functioning

• The theory states that we have four different mental functions

• There are two attitudes of consciousness and therefore each of the functions can be either inward or outward directed

Psychological Type

• Total of eight distinct Psychological Types each with a preferred function

• One function is most differentiated and plays the principal role in our orientation to life

• Function opposite to our most differentiated is most unconscious

• Hard-wired at birth to use the more differentiated function

• When we don’t use this function, leads to emotional and physiological distress

Psychometric and Personality Assessments

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Elizabeth Myers and Katherine Briggs developed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in 1942

• First instrument developed to sort people into Jung’s Typology

• Psychometric instrument developed to make Jung’s theory usable sort people into preferred functions

• Identified 16 types by adding an attitude scale

• Currently there are many other assessments that are used to determine Jung’s personality preferences

Other Jungian-Based Sorters

Brain Lateralization, Specialization &

Dominance Theories

Brain Specialization

• The corpus callosum is a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, enabling them to work together to process information and regulate autonomic function

• Area where the two hemispheres are “stitched” together—through nerve fibers

• Left Brain needs input from the right, to process non-verbal information & process negative emotional input

• Right Brain needs input from the left to analyze information, to assess danger, to communicate verbally, to achieve positive emotions

Brain Lateralization

Left Hemisphere

• Logical

• Sequential

• Rational

• Analytical

• Objective

• Mathmatical

• Optimism

• Higher dopamine

Right Hemisphere

• Random

• Intuitive

• Holistic

• Synthesizing

• Subjective

• Visualizing

• Creativity and music

• Higher norepinephrine

Brain Dominance

• Ned Herrmann drew on the work of Sperry and developed the theory brain dominance

• Believes that people develop a dominant mode of thinking preference.

• These preferences have their roots in our genetic makeup and how it affects our underlying cognitive capabilities.

• As we develop we tend to respond with our strongest abilities as these lead to quicker short-term rewards. This can create a positive feedback system that will strengthen those abilities.

• Eventually this can lead to a powerful preference for one style over the other and a dislike and discomfort for other modes of thinking.

Hermann Brain Dominance

Benziger's Thinking Styles

• Based on Jung’s Psychological Type theory

• Using brain quadrant model, identified areas of the brain that housed the Jungian functions

• Developed the Benziger Thinking Styles Assessment

• Focus is on falsification of type, brain effeciency


• Believed that Jung’s four Functions are rooted in four distinct areas of the cortex

– Thinking is housed in the Left Frontal Lobe

– Intuition is housed in the Right Frontal Lobe

– Sensation is housed in the Left Posterior Convexity

– Feeling is housed in the Right Posterior Convexity \

• Worked with brain imaging technology to prove her theories


• Feeling Function is a cortical capacity to recognize the presence or absence of harmony – between colors, tones, or human beings

• By contrast, emotions are a limbic capacity to experience delight, anger, fear, grief

• Falsification of Type is understood to be the natural result of anyone developing and using any of their three inefficient, non-preferred Functions more than their highly efficient Natural Lead Function

• Jung’s assertion that Falsification of Type can be a serious threat to a person’s physical and mental / emotional health has been validated by the work of Dr. Katherine Benziger and Dr. Arlene Taylor

Needs Theory

Hierarchy of Needs Theory

• Maslow and Humanistic psychology believe that the individual is quite powerful and everyone is born with specific needs – physiological and psychological

• Maslow believed that we are aware of our motivation and drives on the whole

• Without life's obstacles, we would become healthy psychologically through meeting our needs

Maslow’s Hierarchyof Needs Theory (Cont.)• Form a need hierarchy based on the “prepotency” of needs

• Prepotency: need emerges as a motivator after satisfying a lower-order (more prepotent) need

• Need hierarchy

– Unsatisfied need is a potential motivator of behavior

– Satisfied need is no longer a motivator

– Focus on more than one need: promotion leads to more money (esteem and physiological)

– Need satisfaction follows the order shown but is flexible

Murrays Theory ofHuman Personality • Believed that behavior is driven by an internal state of

disequilibrium

– we have a LACK of something and this drives us

– we are dissatisfied and we need something.

• The existence of a need can be inferred on the basis of:

– the effect or end result of the behavior,

– the particular pattern or mode of behavior involved

– the selective attention and response to a particular class of stimulus objects,

– the expression of a particular emotion or affect, and

– the expression of satisfaction when a particular effect is achieved or disappointment when the effect is not achieved

Murrays Theory ofHuman Personality (Cont.)• We have multiple needs and behavior

– One need is primary; other need serves the primary

• Needs in Murray's theory

– Order: organize and systematically arrange objects; be clean, neat, and tidy

– Achievement: attain difficult goals; perform as well as possible

– Recognition: receive credit for actions; to seek honors and recognition

– Dominance: influence others; affect the direction of a group

– Deference: respect authority; admire a person with authority

– Autonomy: be independent and not be influenced by others

– Affiliation: associate with others, have friends, and join groups

McClellands Achievement Motivation Theory• McClelland and colleagues studied the behavioral

effects of three needs

– Need for Achievement

– Need for Power

– Need for Affiliation

• Emphasized the Need for Achievement, although they investigated all three needs

HerzbergsMotivator-Hygiene Theory

• Dissatisfiers: items predominantly found in descriptions of negative events

– Could lead to high levels of employee dissatisfaction

– Improve the dissatisfiers and reduce dissatisfaction

– Not get higher satisfaction

• Satisfiers: items predominantly found in descriptions of positive events

– Could lead to high levels of employee satisfaction

– Their absence, or a person's failure to experience them, would not produce dissatisfaction

Our Evolutionary Brain

Triune Brain, Affective Neuroscience

Triune Brain Theory

• Describes the functionally distinct layers of the brain as a way of thinking about its overall functional organization

• Formulated in the 1960s and in shared in McLean’s 1990s book The Triune Brain in Evolution

• MacLean’s saw the brain as having evolved into a three-layered organ, where the layers retain of the separateness of their different evolutionary origins despite being highly interconnected.

• Triune brain consists of the reptilian, limbic, and neocortex or prefrontal lobes of the brain

Triune Brain Theory

Limbic SystemLimbic System

Cooperation, Cooperation, bonding bonding

Emotional Emotional memory, memory, valence valence

Empathy, Empathy, appetiteappetite

NeocortexNeocortex

Planning, Planning, objectivityobjectivity

Interpretation Interpretation and controland control

Problem solvingProblem solving

RationalRationalBrainBrainEmotional Emotional

BrainBrain Instinctual Instinctual

BrainBrain

Reptilian Brain

Survival Survival

““Kill or be Killed”Kill or be Killed”

ReproductionReproduction

Triune Brain Theory

• The oldest layer of the brain is called the reptilian or instinctual brain, composed of the brainstem

• The mammalian brain is layered over the reptilian brain, it consists primarily of a system of brain parts called the limbic system or emotional brain. The limbic system plays a major role in human emotion.

• The neocortex or rational brain is the most recent addition to our brain. It consists of a wrinkled covering of the cerebral hemisphere

Affective Neuroscience

• Jaak Panksepp hypothesisized that by studying and understanding emotions at the neural level we can understand emotions and emotional disorders in humans.

• Research encompasses areas such as:

– organization of emotions at the brain level,

– anticipatory/expectancy brain mechanisms,

– social-emotional mechanisms in the brain

– play/joy processes in the brain

– separation, anxiety, and fear organization in the brain

– psycho-behavioral operating systems in the brain,


• Panksepp helps us understand the triune brain from a functional perspective

• The FEAR or SELF-PROTECTIVE system and the SEEKING or SELF-ACTIVATING system have both conditioned and unconditioned responses to stimuli supported by separate neural networks:

– FEAR relies on the amygdala and its connections

– SEEKING relies heavily on the mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways of the VTA.


• Panksepp described the SEEKING or SELF-ACTIVATING system as the appetitive system

• It makes people curious about their world and promotes goal-directed behavior toward a variety of pleasurable outcomes or objects, such as food, shelter, sex and other needs (including psychological needs).

• It is a positively-valenced, energizing system that moves people out into their environment to forage and experience


• Panksepp suggested that the FEAR or SELF-PROTECTIVE system is a neural system for avoiding pain or injury.

• This system responds to both unconditional stimuli (loud sounds, sudden movements, painful stimuli, fearful faces) and conditioned stimuli (classically conditioned danger signals, memories).

• It gives rise to freezing, withdrawal, avoidance, or flight in service of self-protection when activated.

Development

Neuroplasticity

• Neuroplasticity research has established that our brain is a dynamic system of neural networks that has the capability of significant growth throughout our life.

• Brain has the capacity to modify its organization and make changes in its structure and function as a result of experience

• Neuroplasticity is not an occasional state, but the normal ongoing state throughout the lifespan.

• Dynamic system that has the capability of significant growth and development.

Mindfulness

• Mindfulness is the practice of intentionally paying attention to our thoughts and feelings in the present moment without judging or reacting to them.

• We do this without drifting into thoughts of the past or concerns about the future, or getting caught up in "thoughts" or opinions about what is going on.

• Mindfulness is a way of being more deeply present to your body, your thoughts, and your emotions.

• Rather than dwelling in the past or the future, it is learning to work in the present moment with what is already here, in a less reactive, less judgmental manner.

Mindfulness

• Rather than dwelling in the past or the future, it is learning to work in the present moment with what is already here, in a less reactive, less judgmental manner.

• Cultivates the “observing self” or the left prefrontal cortex allowing the rational and emotional brains to decide responses rather than reacting from the emotional brain

• Leads to building the foundational step in Emotional Intelligence – Self-Awareness

Neuroscience and Mindfulness

• Meditation changes your brain in numerous ways, including:

– It adds billions of synaptic connections – and thus, a measurable thickening of brain tissues – in the regions handling control of attention and sensory awareness

– It increases serotonin, the neurotransmitter that helps regulates mood and sleep

– It changes your brainwaves depending on whether you are doing a concentration or a mindfulness meditation

• We are able to view functional changes – fMRI

– Example: effects of meditation training on attention

Cross-sectional design

Brefczynski-Lewis et al., PNAS 2007

Response to distractor sounds

vs.

Areas associated with goal-directed attention more active in expertsAreas associated with self-related thought more active in novices

Mindfulness and Neuroplasticity

Meditation & the Brain

• Scientists have shown that your brain changes and becomes more focused with the practice of meditation

• Meditation can change the brain and alter our sense of well being

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

• University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Stress Reduction Clinic, 1979

• Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., founder

• 8 Week Program – 2.5 hours/week + 1 day

• Participants with a wide range of medical problems, including chronic pain, anxiety disorders, depression, hypertension, heart disease and cancer.

• Program outlined in the book Full Catastrophe Living

Emotional Intelligence

• Salovey and Mayer's conception of EI strives to define EI within the confines of the standard criteria for a new intelligence.

• Following their continuing research, their initial definition of EI was revised to "The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to promote personal growth."

• The ability-based model views emotions as useful sources of information that help one to make sense of and navigate the social environment.

• The model proposes that individuals vary in their ability to process information of an emotional nature and in their ability to relate emotional processing to a wider cognition. This ability is seen to manifest itself in certain adaptive behaviors.


• The model claims that EI includes four types of abilities:

– Perceiving emotions – the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts—including the ability to identify one's own emotions.

– Using emotions – the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving.

– Understanding emotions – the ability to comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions.

– Managing emotions – the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others.


• Daniel Goleman's model outlines four main EI constructs:

– Self-awareness – the ability to read one's emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions.

– Self-management – involves controlling one's emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.

– Social awareness – the ability to sense, understand, and react to others' emotions while comprehending social networks.

– Relationship management – the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict.


• Goleman includes a set of emotional competencies within each construct of EI.

• Emotional competencies are not innate talents, but rather learned capabilities that must be worked on and can be developed to achieve outstanding performance.

• Goleman posits that individuals are born with a general emotional intelligence that determines their potential for learning emotional competencies.

Whole Brain Learning

• Learning, Caring and Experiencing

• Need to look at development from the perspective of using the whole brain

– All thinking has feeling as emotions shape cognition.

• There is no learning without emotional engagement.

• Emotions act as ‘functional organizers.’

• They move us to action; to experience learning and reorganize our brain.

• If we don’t experience the information we have taken in, we will quickly forget it

Bring Us Into Your Organization• We offer a number of services based on the

Striving Styles Personality System

– Leadership Development

– Team Building

– Cultural Assessment

– Conflict Resolution

– Leadership Coaching

• All our programs can be customized to meet your needs or to take MBTI training to the next leel

SSPS Convert Your Practice Webinar, Copyright 2010 Striving Styles (SKE Inc.)

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• Access to specialized resources and support

• Discounts on all products – assessments, reports, webinars – of 50%

• Ability to administer assessments and products to clients through our SSPS Practitioner Portal


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Theory & Science behind the Striving Styles Personality System

Leadership & Management

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