Benziger’s Personality Types
Sunday, November 24, 2013
What are employers interested in when they ask
you to do a personality test as part of an interview process? Do
they want to know if existing team members will get along with
you? Are they interested in finding out what motivates you? Or do
they hope to uncover how you think and perceive the world?
All of these things, and more, can be looked at using personality
tests. That's what makes personality so fascinating. It's also
what makes it such a loaded topic: With so much riding on your
personality type, it's easy to try and fit yourself to an "ideal"
type.
One of the most common business uses for personality typing is
matching people with job types. But when someone has an idea of
the kind of profession he wants to pursue, or the type of person
he wants to be, how likely is it that he or she will answer a
personality test question without some form of distortion, whether
conscious or subconscious?
If you've taken a personality test like the Myers-Briggs or DISC,
how objective were your answers really? If you're like most of us,
your answers were probably tainted, just a bit, with how you want
to act, think, behave, or react, instead of purely how you do
respond. It's nothing to be ashamed of; it's just human nature to
want to project a desirable image. Unfortunately, this can lead to
a poor match between person and job.
The Benziger Thinking Styles Assessment (BTSA)
seeks to address this disjoint by looking at different patterns
of brain function, and the personality types associated with
these.
Benziger's Brain Types
Dr Katherine Benziger's approach to personality is based on the idea
that we all have a dominant and preferred way of thinking. This
dominance is determined by the quadrant of our brains that are
naturally the most efficient. In Benziger's model, people's brains are
separated into four zones. Each of these zones, or "modes", has
specialized functions. Depending on our pattern of dominance, the
behaviors and thinking styles represented in each zone are what
determine our strengths.
Benziger's Model
Below is an aerial view of the brain and the four corresponding
modes as defined by Benziger.
Mode
Specialized Functions/Preferences
Strengths/Characteristics
Basal Left
Seeks order, processes, procedures, systems
Sensing is dominant – realistic, grounded, practical, sensible
Basal Right
Seeks feelings, harmony, spirituality, emotional connections
Feeling is dominant – subjective, takes things personally, values closeness with people,
Frontal Right
Seeks meaning, expresses through images and metaphors, strong imagination
Intuition is dominant – uses hunches and speculations, imagines what the future might bring
Frontal Left
Seeks clarity, criteria, standards, objective measures, benchmarks
Thinking is dominant – analytical, logical, objective, critical
According to Benziger, we all have one mode
where we are naturally the strongest. When you are using your most
natural thinking style, you are most effective and least stressed.
However, you can, and many people do, develop skill in other less
innately efficient modes.
When someone has a second mode which
is almost as strong as their dominant mode, for example, their Basal Left mode is
almost as strong as their dominant Frontal Left mode, they would
be described as having a "Double Left" brain type. Just 5% of
people are almost equally strong in all four modes: This is called
being "Whole-Brained".
Some examples of brain types are as follows:
Brain Type
Strengths
Weaknesses
Professions
Basal Left
(Mode 1)
Deadline oriented, attends to detail, follows instructions
Rigid, averse to changes, lacks creativity
Clerks, supervisors, safety officers
Basal Right
(Mode 2)
Listening, creating harmony, interpersonal skills
Hard to say no, tries to please everyone
Nurses, teachers, trainers
Frontal Right
(Mode 3)
Spatial skills, conceptualizing, creating models, enjoys change
Becomes bored, doesn't finish projects, idiosyncratic
Entrepreneurs, artists, architects
Frontal Left
(Mode 4)
Analytical skills, objective decision making, sound judgment, goal setting
Underdeveloped people skills, willing to break rules to get results
Managers, CEOs, Business analysts
Double Lefts
Modes 1 and 4 combined
Modes 1 and 4 combined
Doctors and lawyers
Double Rights
Modes 2 and 3 combined
Modes 2 and 3 combined
Teachers, writers, dancers
Whole-brained
Modes 1,2, 3 and 4 combined
Modes 1,2, 3 and 4 combined
Heads of large, global, multifaceted organizations (UN, political leaders, Red Cross)
Using Benziger's Brain Types
According to Benziger's model, your brain type determines the
areas where you are strong, and those in which you are weak. The
more modes you have working for you, the more well-rounded you
are. However, you can never escape the fact that only one mode is
more or less effortless. You may have developed competence in
other areas due to education, experience, and training but these
skills are never quite as efficient or comfortable as those driven
by your natural tendencies. Benziger calls this working in a mode
that's not your naturally dominant one "falsifying type". She
suggests that as many as 80% of people work using highly
developed competencies which they may even have mastered, but
which are not their natural gifts.
To apply Benziger's theory to your own circumstances, think about the following:
When you look at the brain type descriptions above, do any of
them seem particularly like you, or not like you?
Does your job demand that you use skills that seem foreign to
your natural approach?
Do parts of your job bore you?
Are there parts of your job that you just dread doing?
Do you have idealized image of yourself or what you should be
doing, and does this image match or conflict with the brain type
you think you have?
Having answered these questions, do you think you're using your
natural strengths?
If not, take some time for self-reflection and look for ways in
which you can start to use your natural talents more. If changing
jobs is not an option, perhaps there are other ways you can
fulfil your talents through hobbies and interests.
The electronic BTSA is usually offered through licensees.
Visit www.benziger.org for more information.
Key Points
Benziger's personality types provide an
interesting view of your innate strengths and weaknesses, based on
the relative dominance of different parts of your brain. Given
that the different parts of our brains have different functions,
Benziger argues that dominance of one part of the brain shows
through in a particular personality type, and a particular set of
strengths.
By choosing a job that allows you to use your natural strengths,
this approach argues that you can minimize the stress that comes
with a poor fit for your job, and make your best contribution.
Tags:
Career Skills, Skills
you to do a personality test as part of an interview process? Do
they want to know if existing team members will get along with
you? Are they interested in finding out what motivates you? Or do
they hope to uncover how you think and perceive the world?
All of these things, and more, can be looked at using personality
tests. That's what makes personality so fascinating. It's also
what makes it such a loaded topic: With so much riding on your
personality type, it's easy to try and fit yourself to an "ideal"
type.
One of the most common business uses for personality typing is
matching people with job types. But when someone has an idea of
the kind of profession he wants to pursue, or the type of person
he wants to be, how likely is it that he or she will answer a
personality test question without some form of distortion, whether
conscious or subconscious?
If you've taken a personality test like the Myers-Briggs or DISC,
how objective were your answers really? If you're like most of us,
your answers were probably tainted, just a bit, with how you want
to act, think, behave, or react, instead of purely how you do
respond. It's nothing to be ashamed of; it's just human nature to
want to project a desirable image. Unfortunately, this can lead to
a poor match between person and job.
The Benziger Thinking Styles Assessment (BTSA)
seeks to address this disjoint by looking at different patterns
of brain function, and the personality types associated with
these.
Benziger's Brain Types
Dr Katherine Benziger's approach to personality is based on the idea
that we all have a dominant and preferred way of thinking. This
dominance is determined by the quadrant of our brains that are
naturally the most efficient. In Benziger's model, people's brains are
separated into four zones. Each of these zones, or "modes", has
specialized functions. Depending on our pattern of dominance, the
behaviors and thinking styles represented in each zone are what
determine our strengths.
Benziger's Model
Below is an aerial view of the brain and the four corresponding
modes as defined by Benziger.
Mode
Specialized Functions/Preferences
Strengths/Characteristics
Basal Left
Seeks order, processes, procedures, systems
Sensing is dominant – realistic, grounded, practical, sensible
Basal Right
Seeks feelings, harmony, spirituality, emotional connections
Feeling is dominant – subjective, takes things personally, values closeness with people,
Frontal Right
Seeks meaning, expresses through images and metaphors, strong imagination
Intuition is dominant – uses hunches and speculations, imagines what the future might bring
Frontal Left
Seeks clarity, criteria, standards, objective measures, benchmarks
Thinking is dominant – analytical, logical, objective, critical
According to Benziger, we all have one mode
where we are naturally the strongest. When you are using your most
natural thinking style, you are most effective and least stressed.
However, you can, and many people do, develop skill in other less
innately efficient modes.
When someone has a second mode which
is almost as strong as their dominant mode, for example, their Basal Left mode is
almost as strong as their dominant Frontal Left mode, they would
be described as having a "Double Left" brain type. Just 5% of
people are almost equally strong in all four modes: This is called
being "Whole-Brained".
Some examples of brain types are as follows:
Brain Type
Strengths
Weaknesses
Professions
Basal Left
(Mode 1)
Deadline oriented, attends to detail, follows instructions
Rigid, averse to changes, lacks creativity
Clerks, supervisors, safety officers
Basal Right
(Mode 2)
Listening, creating harmony, interpersonal skills
Hard to say no, tries to please everyone
Nurses, teachers, trainers
Frontal Right
(Mode 3)
Spatial skills, conceptualizing, creating models, enjoys change
Becomes bored, doesn't finish projects, idiosyncratic
Entrepreneurs, artists, architects
Frontal Left
(Mode 4)
Analytical skills, objective decision making, sound judgment, goal setting
Underdeveloped people skills, willing to break rules to get results
Managers, CEOs, Business analysts
Double Lefts
Modes 1 and 4 combined
Modes 1 and 4 combined
Doctors and lawyers
Double Rights
Modes 2 and 3 combined
Modes 2 and 3 combined
Teachers, writers, dancers
Whole-brained
Modes 1,2, 3 and 4 combined
Modes 1,2, 3 and 4 combined
Heads of large, global, multifaceted organizations (UN, political leaders, Red Cross)
Using Benziger's Brain Types
According to Benziger's model, your brain type determines the
areas where you are strong, and those in which you are weak. The
more modes you have working for you, the more well-rounded you
are. However, you can never escape the fact that only one mode is
more or less effortless. You may have developed competence in
other areas due to education, experience, and training but these
skills are never quite as efficient or comfortable as those driven
by your natural tendencies. Benziger calls this working in a mode
that's not your naturally dominant one "falsifying type". She
suggests that as many as 80% of people work using highly
developed competencies which they may even have mastered, but
which are not their natural gifts.
To apply Benziger's theory to your own circumstances, think about the following:
When you look at the brain type descriptions above, do any of
them seem particularly like you, or not like you?
Does your job demand that you use skills that seem foreign to
your natural approach?
Do parts of your job bore you?
Are there parts of your job that you just dread doing?
Do you have idealized image of yourself or what you should be
doing, and does this image match or conflict with the brain type
you think you have?
Having answered these questions, do you think you're using your
natural strengths?
If not, take some time for self-reflection and look for ways in
which you can start to use your natural talents more. If changing
jobs is not an option, perhaps there are other ways you can
fulfil your talents through hobbies and interests.
The electronic BTSA is usually offered through licensees.
Visit www.benziger.org for more information.
Key Points
Benziger's personality types provide an
interesting view of your innate strengths and weaknesses, based on
the relative dominance of different parts of your brain. Given
that the different parts of our brains have different functions,
Benziger argues that dominance of one part of the brain shows
through in a particular personality type, and a particular set of
strengths.
By choosing a job that allows you to use your natural strengths,
this approach argues that you can minimize the stress that comes
with a poor fit for your job, and make your best contribution.
