What is Your Brain Dominance?

The words in the left hand column are typically associated with the "left brain thinking," and the words in the right hand column are typically associated with "right brain thinking." These are simple generalizations, designed to get you thinking about the habitual thinking patterns you use to approach your work. The more integrated we are - the more we access and use the elements associated with both sides of this list in any given situation - the more effective we can be at generating elegant solutions and creating new systems. Most individuals and most organizations lean more toward one side or the other. In our culture most organizational systems use more "left brain" approaches and would benefit greatly by balancing out their methods.

Quickly scan the list for the words that apply to you in your work. Don’t think about it or try to figure it out—go by initial gut instinct. Keep track of how many words in each column describe your own. You don't have to choose between the 2 columns - just check off each word that resonates with you as part of your own process, even if they seem opposite. For example, you may find you already use both detailed and big picture thinking in your work. If so, check both.

Left Brain                      Right Brain
   
__ Rational                  __ Intuitive
__ Logical                    __ Metaphorical
__ Fact based              __ Aesthetic
__ Quantitative            __ Holistic
__ Sequential              __ Synthesizing
__ Detailed                  __ Big Picture
__ Plan                        __ Improvise
__ Mathematical          __ Musical
__ Administrative        __ Correlative
__ Language & words   __ Imagery
__ Technical                __ Visual
__ Analytical                __ Emotional
__ Scientific                __ Spiritual
__ Abstract                  __ Conceptual
__ Order                      __ Movement
__ Singular                   __ Complex
__ Preparation             __ Incubation
__ Verification             __ Illumination
__ Objective                __ Subjective
__ Parts                       __ Wholes
__ Evaluation               __ Elaboration
__ Deduce                   __ Expand
__ Accuracy                 __ Randomness
__ Pattern perception  __ Spatial perception
__ Strategies              __ Possibilities
__ Safety & security     __ Risk taking
__ Practical                __ Impetuous
__ Remember              __ Fantasize & envision
__ Adds                       __ Integrates
__ Successive              __ Simultaneous
__ Directed                __ Flowing
__ Convergent             __ Divergent
__ Splits                     __ Connects
__ Sensing                  __ Perceiving
__ Cause and effect     __ Correspondence
__ Straight lines          __ Meandering
__ Verbal                    __ Kinesthetic
__ Isolates                   __ Interdependent
__ Deducts                  __ Expands
__ Distinctions            __ Relations
__ Observes                __ Imagines
__ Discerns                 __ Generates
__ Categories             __ Interconnections
__ Catalogs & labels    __ Incorporates & assimilates
__ Sorts & separates   __ Infuses & blends
__ Figures out            __ "Gets"
__ Concludes             __ "A-ha!"
__ Segmented            __ Contextual
__ Methodical             __ Spontaneous
__ Levels & stages       __ Dimensions
__ List                       __ Story
__ Itemizes                __ Unites
__ Steps                    __ Leaps
   
____Total                ____Total

Add up the totals on each side to determine your dominant thinking patterns.

A variation is to do the same thing with your organizational culture. What does it tell you about the organization's culture? Is there a discrepancy between your dominant thinking approach and that of your organization's culture?

Comments

[Ellen McCormick Martens]

I find these dichotomies difficult -- I am both rational and intuitive, for example.

[Michelle James]

Exactly. Most people are all of these in varying degrees. In your case, you may find you are able to be both fully in your work. The distinctions (1) are not set in stone - but rather a loose continuum to understand your leanings and (2) are an invitation to look at your work culture and see where the current values - and valued contributions - are. What if our society's work cultures began to embrace and encourage all of the ways of processing on the right hand side of the list as as viable and valuable as those ways on the left hand column? The current working paradigm would change significantly.

[KMTUW]

While some folks find this model interesting or helpful, it's been disproven, scientifically. Even though it's been debunked it persists: http://www.livescience.com/39373-left-brain-right-brain-myth.html. When it's called a "brain" model, the person using it can lose credibility. If it's talked about differently, it can still be useful. I haven't yet seen an alternative name for it, aside from polarities.

The polarity model is a great way to open this kind of conversation. It doesn't assert that it's based in science (i.e., is brain-based, which it is not). It talks about dynamics and tensions, balances, and options. http://www.gisc.org/gestaltreview/documents/ManagingPolarities-AnInterviewwithBarryJohnsonPh.D.pdf

[Michelle]

Thanks for your comment, KM. I am very familiar with Barry Johnson's Polarities model and am a big fan of it...it fits in perfectly with my won works about seeming opposites int eh creative process. If you read other posts on my blog, you will see how connected it is, and how I view opposites as polarities waiting to be integrated. You might want to check out this post: http://creativeemergence.typepad.com/the_fertile_unknown/2012/01/creativity-rocks-opposites.html

To clarify, the point of this post was to invite people to not be limited by a particular style of thinking, and expand to include others. I did not say this was a model of the brain (and would not make that claim). That is why I said, "The words in the left hand column are TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED with the "left brain thinking," and the words in the right hand column are typically associated with "right brain thinking." These are SIMPLE GENERALIZATIONS, designed to get you thinking about the habitual thinking patterns you use to approach your work."

I chose the entry point of what is typically associated with whole brain thinking, and said they were just generalizations. The point of the article was not that this was an accurate model of brain functioning, but that it was to use the polarities to go BEYOND habitual thinking patterns. I've been reading articles on the brain for 20 years, and do not subscribe to any of the models out there because they are always changing, and one is proving another incomplete, each one bringing new and different understandings.

I care more about consciously embracing opposites in order to be more creative and agile, and sometimes work off different models to illustrate that - but it is never about being limited to the model. Hope that clarifies.