MINDSONAR: A CONTEXTUALIZED TOOL FOR MEASURING MINDSETS

Drs. J. J. Hollander
Internal Report – Institute for Eclectic Psychology, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Abstract

MindSonar is an online instrument that measures mindset, defined as a dynamic

interaction between values (content elements) and thinking styles (process

elements), for a context usually chosen by the respondent. It combines

respondents’ own criteria, categorised into seven value types derived from

Graves (1970), with thirteen thinking style scales derived from the meta

programs described by Bandler and Grinder. This article does two things. First, it

relates each thinking style to established constructs in mainstream psychology,

including proactive behaviour, extraversion, impulsivity–reflectivity, approach–

avoidance motivation, locus of control, perfectionism, adaption–innovation,

dispositional optimism, resistance to change, vocational interests, individualism–

collectivism and time perspective. A recurring finding is that mainstream

constructs can be described as configurations of several thinking styles, and that

they are usually bound to a single domain (social interaction, work or learning),

whereas thinking styles are content-free. Second, it reports a partial

confirmatory factor analysis (Gignac, 2009) of 68 items in a Dutch (N = 2,551) and

a Polish (N = 1,185) sample. In the Dutch sample twelve factors were recovered,

with two scales sharing one factor; in the Polish sample all thirteen scales

emerged as separate factors. Approximate fit was acceptable (RMSEA = .027 and

.030; CFI = .945 and .940). Cronbach’s alphas ranged from .46 to .88: nine scales

reached .70 or higher in both samples, three ranged between .63 and .75, and

one scale (Concept vs. Structure vs. Use) requires revision. Hypotheses for future

convergent validity studies are proposed.

Keywords: mindset, meta programs, cognitive style, thinking styles, values,

contextualised assessment, factor analysis.

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What are Thinking Styles?

Definition
Thinking Styles are thinking patterns. For instance: Are they focussed on the details or on the big picture? Or: Do they want to achieve things, or do they want to avoid problems? You can recognise people’s meta programs in what they talk about and how they talk about it.

Thinking Styles combined with values make up someone’s mindset. Their mindset determines their  behaviour and their emotions. And those, in turn, determine their results.

Synonyms for ‘Thinking Style’

  • Thinking Styles
  • Thinking patterns
  • Thinking Style Qualities
  • Ways of thinking
  • Mindset elements
  • Cognitive-perceptual preferences

List of Thinking Styles measured by MindSonar

Set 1: Proactive versus Reactive
Proactive = a preference for acting quickly and taking the initiative.
Reactive = a preference for waiting, considering, and reflecting.

Set 2: Towards versus Away from
Towards = a focus on achieving goals
Away From = a focus on avoiding problems.

Set 3: Internal Reference versus External Reference
Internal Reference = using one’s own standards in evaluations.
External Reference = using other people’s standards in evaluations.

Set 4: Options versus Procedure
Options = a preference for many different possibilities.
Procedure = a preference for step-by-step planning.

Set 5: General versus Specific
General  = a focus on the broad overview
Specific = a focus on the small details.

Set 6: Matching versus Mismatching
Matching = a focus on what is good and correct.
Mismatching =  a focus on what is bad and incorrect).

Set 7: Internal locus of control versus External locus of control
Internal locus of control = a focus on how someone influences their circumstances)
External locus of control (focus on how someone’s circumstances influence them).

Set 8: Maintenance versus Development versus Change
Maintenance = a preference for things staying the same.
Development = a preference for gradual change.
Change = a preference for fast and radical change.

Set 9: People versus Activity versus Information
People = a focus on people and what moves them
Activities = a focus on activities being done
Information = focus on information; facts and figures.

Set 10: Concept versus Structure versus Use
Concept = a focus on essentials and principles.
Structure = a focus on relationships between elements.
Use = a focus on practical applications.

Set 11: Together versus Proximity versus Solo
Together = a preference for working closely together with shared responsibility.
Proximity = a preference for mutual support with individual responsibility.
Solo = a preference for working alone).

Set 12: Past versus Present versus Future
Past = a focus on past events.
Present = a focus on the “here and now”.
Future = a focus on future events.

Set 13: Visual versus Auditory versus Kinesthetic 
Visual = a focus on images and movies.
Auditory = focus on sounds and words.
Kinesthetic = focus on feelings and movement.

If you want to see examples of these patterns in famous quotes, click here.

How do thinking style, filters, feelings and actions work together?
There is a dynamic relationship between thinking (meta programs and Graves drives), perception, emotion and behaviour.

  • How your mindset influences your perception and vice versa
    Mindset, consisting of thinking styles (Meta programs) plus motivational types (Graves drives), determines perceptual filters; what someone does or does not notice. And it works the other way around too: once in place, these filters tend to strengthen the thinking style and the motivational type they are based on. For example: someone uses the meta program ‘Procedure’. They think in terms of sequences that need to be run in a certain order. So when they look at a desk they will notice a stack of manuals. Manuals are full of the kind of procedural information that they like. If they would have had the meta program ‘Options’ active, they would probably not even have noticed these manuals.

  • How mindset and perception determine your how you feel
    Mindset plus the resulting perceptual filters affect somebody’s mood and emotions and vice versa. For example: Someone is working with a particular household appliance and they are focused on ‘Procedure’. They encounter a problem. They feel frustrated. Then they find the appliance’s manual on the kitchen drawer. They start to feel better: “Ah, there must be a solution somewhere in there!”

  • How your mindset, perception and mood determine your behavior 
    In the same example: The person sees the manual. Because they are focusing on ‘Procedure’, a manual with step-by-step how-to information makes them feel better. So with a sigh of relief they take it off the shelf and start reading (behaviour). They figure out how to solve the problem. Now they feel satisfied. At the same time this emotion reinforces their meta program (Procedure) and their Graves Drives (Blue for ‘doing things as they ought to be done’  and orange for ‘Being successful and winning’).

Meta programs and NLP
Thinking Styles originated from NLP (‘Neuro-Linguistic Programming’), a model for studying and transforming subjective experience. NLP was developed from the late seventies of the last century in the USA, by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. For the development of NLP they borrowed concepts from: 

  • Fritz Perls (Gestalt Therapy)
  • Milton H. Erickson (Hypnotherapy)
  • Virginia Satir (Family therapy)
  • Alfred H. Korzybski (Linguistic Philosophy)
  • Vaihinger (Philosophy of ‘As-if’)
  • Miller, Galanter and Pribram (Cybernetics)
  • Gregory Bateson (Human evolution)

Supporting a Bank developing an Entrepreneurial Attitude

A large Belgian insurance bank defined a new corporate strategy, in which it was important for their insurance brokers to develop a more entrepreneurial attitude.

A central factor in this development was the relationship between the insurance brokers and the local insurance agents in the community. The company defined a list of key competencies for their brokers related to dealing with these agents.

All brokers were profiled with MindSonar. Surprisingly, after a statistical analysis, it turned out that there was no significant relationship between thinking style, criteria, and key competencies on the one hand and sales volume on the other hand. Further analysis revealed that this had to do with the targets that were being set. Because targets were set at a relatively low level, their MindSonar profile did not make a lot of difference. It did not matter much how brokers thought or what they found important. The volume of sales was determined mostly by demand from the local insurance agents and the efforts of the brokers seemed to have little to do with it.

This finding led the company to change the system of setting targets. After targets were adjusted, thinking style did make a difference. A training program was developed in which brokers were trained in those competencies that their MindSonar profile showed them to be lacking in.

For this project the company won a prestigious training award.

The MindSonar professional running the project was Chris Minne (Belgium). Look him up in the Registry.

How a Mining Company Solved an Internal Conflict

A mining company had serious communication problems in their community relations team. This problem persisted, even after several group trainings and coaching sessions. The majority of the team members had great difficulty with one person. This person had even been nicknamed “Don Pesimo” (“Mister Horrible”) because every time they proposed a solution, he would disagree and point out everything that could go wrong with that proposal.MindSonar was filled out by all team members and a workshop was organised explaining Thinking Styles and Graves Drives. At the end of the workshop the team scores were discussed. The team and the leader of the company, who was also present, could clearly see that their predominant Thinking Style was ‘matching’ (focusing at what is good and correct), except for “Don Pésimo”, who scored very high on mismatching (focusing at what is not good and incorrect).Simply explaining to them that their teammate was not a negative person, but rather using a different thinking style, was very helpful. He was relabelled as an internal consultant, being the one person with the ability to show them the dangers and pitfalls they could not see.

Today this person sits at the head of the board of directors when they meet. He has an important role in evaluating both team decisions and team processes.  The MindSonar professional running this project was Mónica Castañeda (Peru). Look her up in the Registry.

Debt Collectors getting Results in a Socially Responsible Way

Flanderijn is a major debt collection agency in the Netherlands. In recent years debt collection has changed. Creditors used to only be interested in getting their money as quickly as possible. Today most creditors feel a social responsibility too. So there has been a change from “When do I get paid?” to “What’s happening with my customer?”

Debt collection is done most successfully by phone. At Flanderijn, on a daily basis, almost 400 employees have telephone contact with the customers of their clients. It is not an easy job. Most people and companies pay their bills. If they don’t, there is some kind of problem. So most of the time the employees work under stress and sometimes they face aggression. That’s why debt collectors are trained frequently. 

Mindsonar is used to get an alignment with the wishes of the client. Every two years Flanderijn management selects their best debt collectors. The ones that not only have a good collection results, but also have a high score on customer satisfaction and debtor satisfaction. These experts are modeled and the Mindsonar results are used to sharpen the content of the trainings.

For example in recent years we have noticed a shift in meta programs from highly internally referenced, very proactive, and procedural to more externally referenced, more reactive and more options oriented. In general criteria changed have from ‘results’ to ‘contact’.

The MindSonar professional running this project was Kees Over de Vest (Netherlands). Look him up in the Registry.

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