Updated: 18 January 2012
'Integrated SocioPsychology' is the term I have coined for developing a highly-practical
and integrated approach to the behavioural sciences...
- Integrated - the aim is to learn how all the elements of the behavioural sciences
and the complementary 'hard' sciences' of Biology and Neuroscience fit together to
explain...
- Psychology - how and why people think and behave as they do...
- Socio - taking into account group dynamics and the influence of culture and the societies
people live in
This page provides a basic overview of the integrated approach and how the key models
link together. More specific detail on the individual models is available on their
linked pages.
Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology are fractured fields of study,
with several different (and often competing!) schools of thought and even areas of
exploration. The history of the behavioural sciences is littered with disputes both
between those competing schools (which are accepted academically) and also between
academia and 'fringe' or 'alternative' approaches such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming
(NLP).
The structure of an integrated approach
Integration is made possible by building the structure of SocioPsychology around
the frame of the 4Q/8L schematic Don Beck (2000, 2002) developed from applying Spiral
Dynamics to the All Quadrants/All Levels approach of Ken Wilber (1996) . This looks
at motivational systems - what Spiral Dynamics terms 'vMEMES' - influencing individuals
(Upper Left), social institutions (Structural Functionalism in the Lower Right) and
cultural shifts (Symbolic Interactionism in the Lower Left) - with the Upper Right
being the biological mechanisms that enable the development of vMEMES in individuals.
4Q/8L enables different approaches to explain different modes of thinking at different
levels in different contexts.
Spiral Dynamics, when used to explain the relationships between the different neurological
levels, provides a powerful tool for understanding how our motivations shape our
understanding of ourselves and the world around us and drive our behaviour in it.
It gives us a 'scaffolding' onto which virtually every aspect of human motivation
can be mapped to some degree or other.
As such, the Spiral Dynamics-Neurological Levels structure provides a platform for
integrating all the other elements of the behavioural sciences to do with motivation
and forms a key element of 'Integrated SocioPsychology'.
This structure is represented by the graphic below....
Conditions in the (external) Environment. For example, if the partner in the domestic
Environment is loving and affectionate, this will most likely stimulate the PURPLE
vMEME to prize such Values as love, loyalty and belonging and will shore up the Identity
of 'Lover'. However, if the partner in the domestic Environment seeks to dominate,
then such Life Conditions will most likely rouse RED - at the level of Values & Beliefs,
either to resist/fight back or to fear, if the dominating partner has the greater
power. For many people, such a scenario would undermine their schemas of what loving
relationships should be about and could even lead to a shift in Identity. With RED
dominant, the ‘Lover’ might well morph into a ‘Competitor’.
As Albert Bandura (1977) pointed out, however, Behaviour can change the Life Conditions
in the Environment, with the changed Environment then consequently bringing about
changes in the person - perhaps even needing a different vMEME effect to keep the
neurological levels
‘
aligned. Bandura called this symbiotic relationship between change in people and
change in the Environment Reciprocal Determinism.
This also applies at a cultural or organisational level - eg: when the way people
behave (Left Quadrants) results in changes in the structural environment (Lower Right)
which inevitably has effects on how the group (Lower Left) and individuals (Upper
Left) feel about themselves. Since we know that the neural plasticity of the brain
(Upper Right) enables it to learn from experience and develop new neural networks
or adjust existing ones, environmental feedback from the Lower Quadrants can have
a major effect on the brain and bring about vMEMETIC shifts (Upper Left).
Motivation and Temperament
The Graves Model and its Spiral Dynamics build provide the most accurate and comprehensive
model of how motivational systems develop in people - individually (Upper Left) and
collectively (Lower Left); but is that development influenced by such factors as
intelligence and temperament (rooted in the Upper Right)? Clare W Graves (1971/2002)
certainly thought it likely but couldn't get sufficient evidence to present a comprehensive-enough
case to be completely convincing.
In truth, it is an area generally under-researched; but, in large part, by using
the DISC Model (1928) of William Moulton Marston (which maps both motivational and
temperamental factors into its behavioural traits), I have identified what appears
to be an association between the core 1st Tier vMEMES and the 4 temperamental types
produced by the intersection of 2 of the natural Dimensions of Temperament - Extraversion
and Neuroticism - mapped by Hans J Eysenck (1947). (In fact Eysenck (1967) did find
some evidence of association (based on the work of N N Trauel, 1961) between temperament
and motivation - principally that extraverts were significantly less conformist than
introverts.)
As depicted in the graphic below, a person with a Phlegmatic personality is more
likely to be comfortable with PURPLE driving their thinking than another vMEME, similarly
a Choleric personality lends itself to RED thinking while Melancholic facilitates
BLUE thinking. There does appear to be an association between a Sanguine type and
ORANGE driving the thinking; but the association seems much weaker than with the
other vMEME-temperamental type matches.
‘
The Intraversion-Extraversion axis appears to have some bearing on whether someone
ascends the Spiral with a preference for one side of the other. Introverts are more
likely to favour the conformist/sacrifice-self (cool colours) side of the Spiral
while an extravert is more likely to lean towards the express-self side (warm colours).
The intensity with which someone experiences a preference for one side or the other
also seems to be influenced by Eysenck's third Dimension, Psychoticism, which he
considered to be powered by the male sex hormone, testosterone (Hans Eysenck & Sybil
Eysenck, 1976). If the warm-coloured side of the Spiral can be considered 'masculine',
and the cool-coloured side 'feminine', then those high in Psychoticism will tend
to the masculine and those low in Psychoticism will favour the feminine side of the
Spiral. This would fit in with the famous query of Carl Gustav Jung (1912) as to
just how much an individual is able to access their animus (male side) and anima
(female side).
There is some hard, biologically-based evidence emerging - Svenja Caspers et al,
2011 - that a preference for the warm or cool side of the Spiral may, in fact, hard-wired.
This would help explain Julian B Rotter’s (1966) proposition that someone’s locus
of control is largely innately determined. (See A biological Basis for vMEMES...?
for more on this.)
While Marston's Dominant (Choleric/RED), Submission (Phlegmatic/ PURPLE), Compliance
(Melancholic/BLUE) and even Influence (Sanguine/ORANGE) behavioural types have held
up pretty well through some 80 years of assessment, there does seem some element
of predetermination that a certain personality type will more likely be dominated
by a certain vMEME. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of clearly-defined personality
types being led by different vMEMES in different circumstances. However, when temperametal
type and vMEME do lock together - often referred to as a centre of gravity - it produces
ways of thinking which are closed (in Spiral Dynamics 'speak') and are extremely
difficult to shift.
For all this, temperament and motivation do not always sit that well together. Consider
the teenage student whose RED craves esteem and respect but whose Psychoticist impulsiveness
leads to breaking of the classroom rules and, therefore, punishment. (See the Learning
feature, Good Boys gone Bad...?, to explore this notion further.)
This treatment of motivation and temperament as separate and distinct dimensions
(factors or elements) of that much confused term, ‘personality’, brings some degree
of closure to the so-called ‘person-situation controversy’, as typified by the arguments
of Gordon Allport (1961) - personality is shaped
internally - and Walter Mischel (1976) - personality characteristics are a response
to context. (The argument is related to Attribution Theory.) Temperament, according
to Eysenck, is biologically determined - though not inflexible. Motivation, according
to Graves, is symbiotic with context (internal and/or external).
Empirical evidence for the separation of temperament and motivation as aspects of
personality comes from longitudinal studies by Jerome Kagan & Howard Moss (1962)
and Jack Block (1971) who both found that personality (temperamental) factors such
as becoming angry at others and being anxious in social encounters tended to remain
constant over time while factors more related to motivation such a dominance, competitiveness
and recognition-seeking were not all consistent from one time period to the next.
The Selfplex
The selfplex is Susan Blackmore's (1999) term for the cognitive awareness of self
we call 'I'. It is our sense of who we are - and it is effectively a confluence of
schemas (or biologically-embedded concepts).
The selfplex can be considered to sit on top of the basic set of natural temperamental
dispositions Eysenck mapped.(Depending on one's philosophy or religion, there may
or may not be a 'spiritual self' at the core of this construct!)
From the work of Ralph Allison (1995) and others on Multiple Personality Disorder
(MPD) and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), it is clear that the strength and
well-being of the selfplex is critical in containing the forces of the vMEMES which
are all too often in conflict with each other. It would appear that, if they get
too out of hand, then vMEMES can contribute significantly to the development of DID
or even MPD.
Effectively the selfplex moderates the interaction of our vMEMES with the memes of
the outside world as those memes are perceived through our existing schemas (values,
beliefs, attitudes, memories, etc). This is depicted in the NLP+ Communication Model.
The NLP+ Communication Model also shows the importance of meta-programmes in processing
behaviour out and in, in light of these many elements.
While some of our meta-programme preferences are more reflective of temperamental
dispositions, most are shaped by the ebbing and flowing of vMEMES in our psyche -
as is the assimilation, accommodation or rejection of memes external to ourselves.
Assimilated and accommodated memes then influence the internal schemas upon which
we operate. Our schemas influence how we work through the elements of the Cognitive
Triad to develop meta-states. High-level meta-states provide governing frames of
reference - eg: "I'm not attractive to the opposite sex" - which influence all our
dealings in that context. Thus, the criticality of the embedded schemas of Values
& Beliefs we have about ourselves and our interactions with the world around us.
All of these processes are influenced by the dominant vMEMES in our psyche, and,
at least until we reach 2nd Tier thinking, the temperamental Dimensions of
A Call to Practitioners and Researchers
This page has outlined in very basic terms the core of Integrated SocioPsychology.
My book, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You: an Integrated SocioPsychology Guide to Personal
Fulfilment & Better Relationships’ (2006) fleshes out considerably the skeleton presented
on these pages. As yet, the integrated approach is very much in its infancy. To develop,
it needs the contributions of practitioners - especially mapping exercises and detailing
case studies - and it needs hard research. University Psychology and Sociology departments
and others involved in research need to test the linkages and suggestions made on
this site for reliability, variance and validity - and to extend the linkages!
One purpose of these pages is to call for such contributions and research. I am interested
not only in hearing from those who also favour the integrated approach but also in
soliciting 'guest features' - articles, case studies, etc - for this site. If you
think you can help develop the ideas on these pages, then please do get in contact....
Click here to learn about my Integrated SocioPsychology ‘open’ workshop programmes.
Integrated SocioPsychology Links
