(of Spiral Dynamics)
Updated: 18 December 2012
PURPLE (B-O) thinking works on emotion, security, rituals, tokens, sense of belonging
(my family, my friends, my workplace) and is very responsive to peer and family pressures
RED (C-P) thinking is assertive (aggressive!), energetic, powerful, indulgent, self-centred
and wants to dominate/be the best
BLUE (D-Q) thinking is concerned with procedures, routines, order, quality, the correct
way of doing things, is highly responsive to the 'correct' higher authority and punishes
'sinners'
ORANGE (E-R) thinking is strategic and future-focussed, wants to achieve and improve,
loves technology and innovation, and marks progress - eg: with status and wealth
GREEN (F-S) thinking values people - all are equal and to be treated correctly, with
decisions made by consensus
In which of these ways do you think - at what times and in what contexts/circumstances?
These vMEMES or modes of thinking form the second (PURPLE) through to the sixth (GREEN)
levels of existence in Spiral Dynamics, the most advanced map of the human psyche
developed to date. vMEMES can be thought of as 'core intelligences' - or even 'mini-selves'.
They each have their own way of thinking, sets of needs and motivations, and contextual
strengths and weaknesses.
Spiral Dynamics is derived from the work of Clare W Graves (1970, 1971/2002), himself
an admirer of the work of Abraham Maslow and influenced initially by Maslow's Hierarchy
of Needs (1943).
Beginning in the early 1950s, Graves collected data on human motivational systems
for nearly 30 years. His work is outlined in the Graves Model page. Eventually what
emerged was his model of 8 Levels of Existence - the 5 most prevalent levels (in
the Western world), with their Spiral Dynamics colour-coding, are described very
briefly and basically above.
Graves' first A-N (BEIGE) level is Maslow's Survival level while the seventh G-T
(YELLOW) - which he believed initiated a qualitatively-different 2nd Tier of thinking
systems - he equated to Maslow's Self-Actualisation. The eighth H-U (TURQUOISE) level
Maslow later (1971) considered 'Transcendence'.
Graves and Maslow weren't the only psychologists theorising about stages of development
in the second half of the 20th Century. See the Developmental Comparison Map of Graves/Spiral
Dynamics with other key models. Of those shown, Jane Loevinger’s Stages of Ego Development
(1976) most closely matches Graves' 8 levels. Loevinger’s model incorporates 7 nodal
stages and 3 transitional stages. However, Graves described 2 vMEME Transitional
Stages between each peak level - providing in total 22 identified thinking modes.
He also theorised that the human brain was capable of developing new modes of thinking
when new Life Conditons emerged which presented new problems of existence to be faced.The
8 peak levels - along with a theoretical ninth - are represented graphically below
(in what has become known as the Spiral Dynamics 'balloon'!). See also the Learning
feature, 'How the Brain develops the Mind'. (There is yet to be any known scientifically-reliable
evidence of anyone actually thinking at a 9th level or beyond.)
What made Graves' model different from any other was not only its accuracy and its
sheer comprehensiveness but the way it identifies how the brain develops new systems
of thinking and coping - signified by N-U in the Gravesian letter pairing of the
level of existence - in symbiotic interaction with changing circumstances (Life Conditions)
- signfied by A-H. This mind-environment interaction - in terms of the external environment,
at least - is described by Albert Bandura (1977) as Reciprocal Determinism. Loevinger
captures some considerable sense of this in talking of external ‘pacers’ stimulating
growth in cognitive complexity, to move from one stage of ego development to the
next.
Recent neurobiological research into the neural plasticity of the brain - ie: its
genetically-endowed ability to adapt to external stimuli and form new neuronal networks
- offers much support for Graves' theory.
However, errors in understanding how vMEMES work can occur if the concept of ‘Life
Conditions in the Environment’ is taken only as referring to external stimuli. There
is much evidence that our thinking is influenced by internal factors, not least fluctuations
in neurotransmitters and hormones. Certainly Sigmund Freud (1923), whose concept
of the Id can be mapped to RED while his Superego matches BLUE, believed from his
observations that the mind was driven largely by maturational forces.
Interior Environment is a recognised medical term for what is ‘inside the animal’
- so Life Conditions can be what is going on both inside and outside the body. This
would fit with the 'Push & Pull' approach of Lawrence Kohlberg (1963) whose Stages
of Moral Development can be seen as outputs of vMEME emergence. Kohlberg saw it as
a case of maturational factors working to push the development from the inside but
how fast and in what way emergence took place was influenced and shaped by external
factors. Don Beck has addressed this maturational element explicitly in his concept
of the 'Prime Directive' (2002). This is the code which facilitates the emergence
of vMEMES in hierarchical order and in many ways parallels the idea of the Actualising
Tendency put forward by Carl Rogers.(1959)
Two of Graves' most dedicated followers - Don Beck & Christopher Cowan (1996) - developed
his model into Spiral Dynamics by linking it with the new science of Memetics, developed
by the likes of Richard Dawkins (1976) and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (1993). They
coined the term 'vMEME' for the Gravesian system of thinking and saw them as attracting
'memes', thus extending Graves' concept of his systems (themas) having preferred
'schemas'.
Beck & Cowan also colour-coded the levels to make them easier to remember in training
sessions and presentations.
More recently Beck has allied himself with Ken Wilber, arguably America's most pre-eminent
philosopher. After years of cross-discipline/cross-culture studies, Wilber has endorsed
Spiral Dynamics as most accurately describing the emergence of motivation in human
thinking. Beck's Spiral Dynamics-integral meshes Spiral Dynamics with Wilber's Integral
philosophy. This led to 4Q/8L (2000) which is so comprehensive it is effectively
the framework on.which Integrated SocioPsychology is being built.
Through his association with Wilber, Beck has also queried whether every individual
ascends the Spiral in exactly the same hierarchical way. (This is an echo of Maslow
who also came to doubt whether everyone in every circumstance had to go through his
levels in exactly the same way!)
Though it’s not by any means conclusive, by and large the evidence seems to favour
an every-vMEME-must-be-experienced view. Beck has come to acknowledge that some people
do ascend the Spiral with a preference for one particular side - the self-expressive
('warm colours') or self-sacrificial/conformist ('cool colours'). For example, RED,
ORANGE and (hopefully!) YELLOW will still emerge in someone with a preference for
the cool colours but PURPLE, BLUE and/or GREEN are more likely to dominate
in their thinking in most circumstances. Similarly research by Michiel Westenberg
& Per Gjerde (1999) that progress in ego development may not always follow exactly
the rigid hierarchical sequence of Loevinger’s 1976 model.
While it is an area requiring much more investigation, my own research into the work
of William Moulton Marston (1928) - whose behavioural types were a mix of motivational
and temperamental factors - has found a degree of association between temperamental
types - see Dimensions of Temperament - and the lower vMEMES which would go some
way towards explaining 'warm' and 'cool' preferences.
However, it may be that these preferences are hard-wired, according to research by
Svenja Caspers et al (2011). This would chime with Julian B Rotter’s (1966) assertion
that whether an individual’s locus of control tends towards the internal or the external
is largely innately determined.
The most important field trial of Spiral Dynamics to date has been in South Africa
where Beck used the model to assist Nelson Mandela, F W DeKlerk and other key leaders
in designing the mid-90s transition from Apartheid to multi-cultural democracy. During
1999 John L Peterson at the Arlington Institute conducted around 10,000 Spiral Dynamics
assessments across several different cultures and found “no significant variations”.
The first major use of Spiral Dynamics in the UK was the 'HemsMESH' project, based
at Hemsworth High School in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.
The
Relevance of vMEMES
In whatever walk of life - personal relationships, family and
friends, work (public, private or voluntary sectors), politics, etc, etc - you deal
with people. So how people see their circumstances and how they cope in those circumstances
are critical factors affecting behaviour.
Spiral Dynamics enables us to understand the key driving forces underpinning people's
behaviour - the vMEMES - to identify why they do what they do when they do it.
Moreover, in looking for what vMEMES are driving attitudes and behaviour, we need
to be aware that vMEMES can be in conflict in the psyche - vMEME wars - often a significant
contributing factor in mental health problems. For example, someone's RED wanting
to express itself in a way BLUE deems unnacceptable. vMEMES can also work together
- vMEME harmonics - eg: GREEN libertarianism unleashing RED self-indulgence. How
different vMEMES ebb and flow in different areas of our life determines the vMEME
stack.
The predictive nature of the model and the insight it gives us into the needs
of each vMEME enables us to develop strategies to manage change in a way that really
does take into account all the needs of all the stakeholders.
Don Beck terms the macro-application of Spiral Dynamics 'MeshWORKS'. Working through
the lenses of 4Q/8L is usually the most effective way of constructing a MeshWORK.
Spiral
Dynamics can be used in commerce and industry to work internally on management development
and workforce culture issues and externally to understand customers better and to
improve customer relations.
Case studies of applying Spiral Dynamics in both a commercial company and a local
authority team are available in the Services pages.
Spiral Dynamics helps us to identify many of the factors which contribute to problem
behaviour in school classrooms. Click here to view materials I developed which were
used by Don Beck in his keynote address to the World Education Fellowship Conference
in Sun City, South Africa, in April 2001.
A number of practitioners working in counselling and therapy are using Spiral Dynamics
to ascertain which vMEMES have developed unhealthily so they can work out just what
the individuals concerned need to break through deep psychological blockages. The
Services pages include several case studies from my own work with clients.
Spiral Dynamics, especially when used to underpin Neurological Levels and applied
through the frame of 4Q/8L, is at the core of Integrated SocioPsychology, a key aim
of which is to reconcile and align the disciplines of the behavioural sciences and
their competing schools - in the process drawing upon complimentary disciplines in
the hard sciences (Biology, Neuroscience).
If you wish to really understand what is going on when people behave in a way you
don't understand or don't like, or don't like, then you need to be aware of which
vMEMES are leading them to do what.
For a bit of fun, take the interactive Domain vMEME Stacks test to stimulate thinking
about how vMEMES work in your selfplex!
Spiral Dynamics® and the Spiral 'balloon' graphic are registered trademarks of the
National Values Centre Inc, USA.
Click here to learn about Integrated SocioPsychology open workshop programmes which
have Spiral Dynamics at their core.
vMEME Links
