Four-quadrant model of the brain

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The four-quadrant model of the brain ( whole-brain model ) is a model for analyzing thinking style developed by the American Ned Herrmann (1922–1999). The associated analysis instrument is called HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument). The model states that a person's thinking style can be mapped into four quadrants.

Basics and historical background

The HBDI based on the triune brain known ( "triune brain") findings of Paul D. MacLean and the hemisphere theory by Roger Sperry . Roger Sperry discovered the dual specialization of the brain in his research and received the Nobel Prize in 1981 for his research on the different ways in which the two cerebral hemispheres work. Different ways of thinking and therefore perceiving, articulating and communicating have their starting point in different parts of the human brain. For the majority of people, the left half (hemisphere) of the cerebrum is responsible for language, logical thinking and critical reason. Here the brain works step by step, analyzes and can deal with numbers and terms. The right hemisphere takes the lead when it comes to dealing with patterns, images, visions and non-verbal ideas.

Emotions that come from the limbic system reach the cerebrum are more likely to be processed in the right hemisphere, where people can perceive music, and the subconscious also seems to use the right hemisphere. Two to three hundred million nerve fibers connect the two hemispheres via the so-called bar ( corpus callosum ) and ensure that all information is linked very quickly. This means that people do not perceive the interplay of different thinking and behavioral preferences as separate processes. One could imagine two partners who pass on the respective tasks for which they are better suited.

Another essential theory about the functioning of the human brain was put forward by Paul D. MacLean with his "triune brain":

form a »trinity« that has evolved over time. The neocortex is responsible for sensory perception and cognitive processes; it is the youngest part in evolutionary terms and is only found in mammals. The limbic system sits in the center of the brain. It is essentially responsible for human feelings, behavior, and memory. It determines affective and interpersonal behavior. The brain stem is the oldest part of the brain. It has evolved over the course of evolution and contains vital areas such as the regulation of breathing, heartbeat and food intake.

On the basis of scientific findings and his practical work, Ned Herrmann developed his metaphorical model of brain dominance. He goes one step further with the differentiation by dividing the hemispheres again into an upper (cerebral) and lower (limbic) level. The perception in the upper mode means an intellectual processing of the information, that in the lower mode an emotional processing.

Herrmann has shown these relationships metaphorically in his diagram with four quadrants.

Four-quadrant model of the brain by Ned Herrmann

The whole-brain model is not based on localization theory, it only uses the brain architecture as a metaphor. In this sense, metaphorical means that a direct connection between thinking preferences on the one hand and biological brain functions on the other hand is not intended and will not be established.

The HBDI model

In the whole-brain model, the different thinking styles are represented in four quadrants:

  • Quadrant A: The rational self with a rational, logical, analytical thinking preference.
  • Quadrant B: The organizational self with the structured and organized approach, detailed thinking style.
  • Quadrant C: The feeling self, whose style of thinking is emotional, compassionate, communicative.
  • Quadrant D: The experimental self, shaped by conceptual, imaginative, holistic thinking.
The HBDI model, 4Is

Everyone has a different combination of these four different selves.

Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument

The HBDI profile

Ned Herrmann has designed a questionnaire based on his theory with which one can analyze the dominance of the quadrants. The analysis instrument is called the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). Up until 2001, the term HDI (for Herrmann Dominance Instrument) was also used in German-speaking countries. The HBDI shows the thinking style preferences in a circular graphic that is divided into four differently colored quadrants.

After leaving General Electric, Herrmann founded Applied Creative Services Ltd. in Lake Lure, NC, USA, specializing in concept sales and consulting.

Scientific validation studies by various institutes have been carried out on the HBDI and confirm its validity.

criticism

Self-statements as the basis of the measurement

Methods which, like the HBDI, are based on the self-statements of the test persons, are regarded by Hodkinson and Sadler-Smith as unreliable, since the self-statements are not verified independently.

In the peer-reviewed journal Journal of Management Studies , Allinson and Hayes note that "there appears to be little or no published reviews of various self-assertion-based metrics used as management training tools, as is the case with the HDBI."

Criticism of the hemisphere model

The claim that there is a left and a right brain hemisphere and that both only deal with different tasks has drawn criticism from the neurosciences. Terence Hines called this way of looking at the brain "pop psychology," which is based on unpublished EEGs. He countered that current research assumes that both halves are involved in all tasks. Therefore, strengthening a hemisphere cannot lead to, for example, increasing creativity. He is therefore critical of the fact that "there is no evidence to show that these 'brain dominance models' measure anything that has to do with the brain hemispheres". In other words, there is no valid evidence that hemispheric dominance even exists.

creativity

Herrmann himself offered creativity workshops in which certain quadrants should be strengthened in order to promote the creativity of the participants. It was countered that creativity can neither be assigned to a single particular style of thinking without exception nor can it be assigned to a specific brain region without exception.

literature

  • Herrmann, Ned: Creative Brain , Brain Books 1989, ISBN 978-0944850015
  • Herrmann, Ned: The Whole Brain Business Book: Harnessing the Power of the Whole Brain Organization and the Whole Brain Individual , Mcgraw-Hill Professional 1996, ISBN 978-0070284623
  • Herrmann, Ned: Creativity and Competence. The unique brain. With the original questionnaire , Paidia Verlag 1991, ISBN 978-3894590086
  • Herrmann, Ned, The Whole-Brain Concept for Managers , Berlin, Ueberreuter, 1997
  • MacLean, Paul D., Triune Conception of the Brain and Behavior , Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1974
  • MacLean, Paul D., The Triune Brain in Evolution: Role in Paleocerebral Functions , New York, Springer, 1990
  • Sperry, Roger W., Cerebral Organization and Behavior: The split brain behaves in many respects like two separate brains, providing new research possibilities , Science 133 (3466): 1749–1757, 1961
  • Spinola, Roland: The Herrmann Dominance Instrument (HDI) , in Personality Models, (with CD-ROM) by Martina Schimmel-Schloo, Lothar J. Seiwert and Hardy Wagner (eds.), Gabal Verlag, Offenbach, 2002

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Victor Bunderson, The Validity of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, WICAT Education Institute
  2. ↑ Hodgkinson, Gerard P., and Sadler-Smith, Eugene (2003) Complex or unitary? A critique and empirical re-assessment of the Allinson-Hayes Cognitive Style Index. , Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 09631798, 20030601, Vol. 76, Issue 2 pp.1-2
  3. ↑ Allinson, CW, & Hayes, J .: 'Cognitive Style Index: A measure of intuition-analysis for organizational research', Journal of Management Studies , 33: 1 January 1996, pp. 119-135.
  4. ↑ Hines, Terence (1985) 'Left brain, right brain: Who's on first?' Training & Development Journal , Vol 39 (11), Nov 1985. pp. 32-34.
  5. ↑ Hines, Terence (1987) 'Left Brain / Right Brain Mythology and Implications for Management and Training', The Academy of Management Review , Vol. 12, No. 4, October 1987, p. 600
  6. ↑ See Hines (1985), p. 1.
  7. ↑ Hines, Terence (1991) 'The myth of right hemisphere creativity.' Journal of Creative Behavior , Vol 25 (3), 1991, pp. 223-227.
  8. ↑ See Hines (1987), p. 604
  9. ↑ See Hines (1987), p.603
  10. ↑ See McKean, K. (1985) 'Of two minds: Selling the right brain.', Discover , 6 (4), pp. 30-41. pp.30-41.