On the topic of problem solving and the brain, I want to bring to your attention a fascinating book called Personality and the Brain written by a local computer scientist and entrepreneur, Peter Savich. Peter became interested in the Enneagram and realized that there must be a link between how the brain operates and the core modality described by the Enneagram. His book makes a very compelling case for this link.
Peter asserts that there are two parts of the brain that drive personality, an old brain component, the amygdala, and a new brain component, the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The amygdala is in essence the fear processor, and the PFC is the optimism/pessimism processor. He goes on to describe how each of these brain components has a right side and a left side, corresponding with the right side and left side of your brain. And, each half invokes dominant characteristics. For instance, one side of your amygdala is your fear-aware processor (the flight processor) and the other is your fear-unaware processor (the fight processor). Likewise, one side of the PFC is your optimism processor (glass half full) and one side is your pessimism processor (glass half empty).
Just like there are 3 states of handedness, right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous, Peter asserts that both the amygdala and the PFC have three dominant modal states, and it is the combination of these states that give us the 9 states of the Enneagram. How cool is that! He goes on to examine studies from the body of neuroscience literature to show how pathologies in these brain components accentuate or diminish the behaviors that map to the behaviors described by the Enneagram, thereby making a very compelling case for connecting the dots between the brain and the Enneagram. I cannot thank Peter enough for developing and publishing this fascinating thesis.
With the help of this understanding, we are able to connect the dots from 1) a problem-solving process described by the Enneagram, to 2) the behaviors and capabilities important for each phase of that problem-solving process, to 3) our own unique set of behaviors and capabilities and, finally, to 4) our brain which governs those behaviors and capabilities. Just like the brain determines whether we end up being right-handed or left-handed, it also plays an important role in how we contribute to the problem-solving process.
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According to Peter Savich’s framework, Matt Schlegel has an amygdala that is fear-aware dominant and a prefrontal cortex that is pessimistic processor dominant. This makes Matt uniquely suited for that part of the problem-solving process he characterizes as “finding the path of least danger.”
Saturday, January 9, 2010
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I just ran across this two-question enneagram test at: http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=6711512663497470889 (ignore the stupid dating stuff), and what do you know- it nailed me in 2 questions. Interestingly I struggled with the 2nd question but eventually decided one answer was a bit better than the others. Anyhow, my point is - two questions, three answers each - these questions map directly to the model you just described. Neat.
Can anyone provide some guidance or share experience?
I'm new to the group and have not had a chance to browse through all posts related to my topic--mind-mapping as a collaborative problem-solving tool?
I'm learning to use bubbl.us a basic web-based mindmapping and sharing tool. Has any group been successful in using mind-mapping as a group brain-storming tool?
bubbl.us looks very cool. I have not used it nor mind-mapping, per se, maybe others in the group have? Look forward to hearing about your experiences.
Cultures can have personalities, too. I suppose that to a certain degree this could be driven by natural-selection of traits, much like it is for hair color, eye color and other physical traits. In the Geography of Thought, author Richard Nisbett describes how Asians tend to view the world holistically while Westerners view the world atomistically. Peter Savich writes in his book, Personality and the Brain, the right pre-frontal cortex serves holistic thinking while the left pre-frontal (PFC) cortex serves atomistic thinking. Perhaps the forces of natural selection have made Asian populations more densely populated with right PFC dominant people and western populations with left PFC dominant people.
There is also a cultural force at play. At a recent workshop, Working Effectively with Japanese, conducted by Rochelle Kopp, Kopp described the following anecdote. A Japanese father looked at his child and said “Haizara” (Haizara = Ashtray). The child obediently went and fetched an ashtray and brought it to his father. The father berated the child. Why? Because the child did not also bring the cigarettes and lighter. From a very young age, Japanese children are taught to think of the big picture, think holistically. While there is this cultural training at play, the cultural demand for holistic thinkers would certain favor right PFC dominant people who think this way naturally.
Another anecdote that Kopp described was taken from a business meeting between westerners and Japanese. Presentations by Japanese companies tend to include detailed descriptions about the company, the company’s history, the scope and depth of operations and the management structure within the corporation. Japanese business people expect this in presentations. When presenting to a western audience, most westerners think that this background is irrelevant to the issue at hand and are impatient to get to the point of the meeting. When encountering this impatience at a meeting, a Japanese executive quipped that westerners want to go straight to dessert. This executive intuited the western desire to get right to the point. Furthermore, he associated this desire with dessert, a very pleasurable thing. Savich shows that the left PFC is not only responsible for distilling done information to its pithy essence, it is also highly responsible for our pursuit of pleasurable things. This Japanese executive identified the characteristics in his western partners that correlate to left PFC dominant, and showed how they are differentiated from Japanese holistic thinking.
While the debate between nature and nurture goes on, it is interesting to understand the brain functionality that supports the reasoning for the nature argument and how both could come into play in creating national identities and stereotypes.
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