Prior to the class, everyone had to take the test. As I proceeded through the questions I could see some similarities to MBTI question types, but there were distinct differences. This test forced you to choose priorities. It isn't possible to choose everything with HBDI, so each person has to think carefully about what attributes most fit them.
When I received my HBDI results in the class, I thought they were wrong. Interesting, but wrong.
Without going into too much detail, these results indicate a personality that is triple dominant, which is found in about 34% of participants. It reveals a strong preference for Creative/Intuitive as well as Analytical thinking. Those two were closely followed by Interpersonal preferences and Organizational was the lowest. How could this be? Anyone who knows me says I'm one of the most organized and analytical people they know. How could a brain that is supposedly hard-wired to lean toward "right-brain" tendencies display the opposite in day-to-day life? How could both theories be so widely accepted... and so vastly different?
HBDI goes to great lengths to repeat that preference is NOT equal to competence, but it still made very little sense to me. Wouldn't a person who relied heavily on one part of the brain behave in a manner that fit that tendency? The problem with mine was that they were so evenly distributed that it wasn't entirely clear where the real "winner" was. I was also baffled by the fact that the "D" quadrant (Creative) scored the highest, if only by a couple of points. There are many things that I consider myself to be... but creative wasn't usually at the top of the list. While I have had many, many, MANY different hobbies through the years, I never considered myself very good at them and eventually I would learn what I needed to know about them to be satisfied and I would move on. The few that stick felt more like "cerebral" or emotionally expressive activities to me, not creative activities.
As we proceeded through the class some things began to ring true about this type that was represented on a neat, colorful little graph. I am highly intuitive when problem solving or learning and intuition is tied most closely to the D quadrant. I bought my car because 1) I fell in love with the "space age" dashboard and 2) Because it received high ratings in all the important things. In that order. I bought my appliances because 1) The buttons and knobs had the right tactile feel to them 2) Because they had good reviews and great warranties. In that order. There are other examples, but it seems that when I make every day decisions there is a part of me that insists something be aesthetically pleasing first... and then functional and reliable. If I can't justify my desire for something "nice" with the analytical "will this work" part, the purchase isn't made. It has to be both in equal parts.
When I started looking into my work behavior, I saw it even more. I have always had a tendency to want to think outside the box and find solutions that aren't obvious. To me, the perfect solution to a problem is a thing of beauty. It's elegant. It's always my goal. Oftentimes I just know the answer to something without really understanding how I figured it out because my intuition has put pieces together for me without conscious effort. This is "Creativity" at work.
By the time the class was over I tended to agree with my results but I was still bothered by the seeming lack of consistency between MBTI and HBDI. The analyst mentality kicked in and I started writing. Using the information in the packet that was provided I was able to determine (what others apparently already knew if I had just Googled it) that the four quadrants have a basic correlation to Sensing, Thinking, Feeling and Intuition which are the four basic "functions" of the MBTI world. Introversion and Extroversion impact how those functions manifest themselves, and the order in which they are "preferred" also plays a huge role.
Before I go any deeper into this rabbit hole, I would like to mention that I've always been annoyed by the way MBTI grouped personality types. Using NT/NF/SJ/SP as their baseline always seemed vulgar to my patterned brain. Why not NT/NF/ST/SF? What possible difference could the J/P make when they aren't even tied to the base functions? That question is a key, so hang onto it.
Once I figured out the four quadrants could correlate to MBTI base functions, I started mapping, but I grouped them by the N/S/T/F primarily to accommodate the HBDI.
If we then place each MBTI type into the quadrant of "dominance", where primary Sensors were all in quadrant A, primary Thinkers were in quadrant B and so on, my issue with MBTI seemed to resolve itself. No more with the J/P nonsense, this was beautiful! Here was the initial outline:
But wait... the entire MBTI grouping system was now in jeopardy. What on Earth could an INTJ, INFJ, ENTP and ENFP possibly all have in common... aside from their dominant intuition? What indeed. If I knew more about how actual nerves in the brain were wired I believe it would correspond to what is visible here but that's for another day's research. Do you notice anything about the little arrows that are drawn next to each type? I'll give you a hint: The line starts in the primary function quadrant and the arrow indicates the very last quadrant to be reached, at least in the way that the MBTI functions exist. An INTJ's "thought preference pattern" looks something like this (moving D -> B -> C -> A)
Realistically this would look more like a figure 8 that starts in the D quadrant (there are 8 overall functions for each type but usually on the first 4 are used because the other four are easily plugged in thereafter. A completed INTJ function list would be Ni, Te, Fi, Se, Ne, Ti, Fe, Si). The thing is, not every type has this "figure 8" pattern. Some run clockwise or counter clockwise and they can start in any quadrant. Introversion/Extroversion doesn't come into play until you start applying the characteristics that belong to each type. In other words: How does it manifest?
The only other type that has the same "thought preference pattern" as an INTJ is the ENTP, but on the surface these two types have very little in common as far as behavior are concerned. Scratch just a little bit deeper though and there are some similarities in how they can generate possibilities and grasp big-picture ideas. Both also have a bit of an obnoxiousness to them in stereotypical descriptions.
What does all of this mean? Right now, I am hesitant to jump to conclusions but these are my thoughts as I continue to review:
1. The "Thought preference pattern" for every single "type" both starts and ends in either the Neocortex (quadrants A/D) or the Limbic system (quadrants B/C). It can't be a coincidence that no "patterns" were left/right aligned. This may be tied directly to how the brain is hard-wired.
2. Order matters, a LOT, when reviewing functions... but HBDI doesn't seem well equipped to handle this fact.
3. Dominance matters, a LOT, but MBTI doesn't seem well equipped to handle this fact. (I have not yet determined how reliable the HBDI "dominance" factor lines up with MBTI primary functions, except to note that my own dominant quadrant (D) does in fact line up with my primary MBTI function of Intuition)
4. Competence seems to be a product of environment, will power and practice... variables that are difficult to measure in a "test" environment. Is this "wild card" factor measurable in some way? What does it do to HBDI/MBTI measurements over time?
5. I want to explore the difference in personality manifestations that compare types that are 'cross functional' against those that run clockwise or counterclockwise.
6. Enneagram works at a very subconscious level. Could there be a correlation in these patterns to enneagram types?
7. I really do think the key is in the J/P dichotomy... but where is it found? It seems to be completely ignored in HBDI. Could this area be a manifestation of the "third brain" or "Reptilian" brain that equates to "fight" or "flight"? In a loose sense, maybe "fight" is the J preference and "flight" is the P preference. Maybe...
Very interesting!
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