A Primer
Learn more about BrainStyles and the science behind the revolutionary system.
The BrainStyles SystemR studies confirm areas originally identified as the left and right sides of the brain are accessed at different speeds, and in varying sequences, with the dialogue pattern genetically defined for each person. The BrainStyles System is the result of extensive research and testing in business and personal environments on how specific patterns of brain hardwiring determine an individual’s speed and approach to decision-making, risk-taking, conflict resolution, and relationships. Working and collaborating with an awareness of this “wiring” enable major contributions to projects with less stress. As the applications of the principles were applied at work, evidence of success with families quickly emerged, fostering the book BrainStyles for Lovers: Create Partnerships That Change Your Life Without Changing Who You Are (Brown Books Group, 2004)
Terms to Know
The LEFT side (hemisphere of the brain) structures what you see, uses logic to sort out the information and therefore is aware of consequences, understands “real” or tangible things, and most importantly, can speak. When you access the left brain most easily, you feel “in control of your thoughts” and thus you tend to take control of a situation.
The RIGHT side imagines, processes emotions, intuits, daydreams, and learns through experience to prefer images or stories, yet cannot use language. Fast and easy access of the right side of the brain can mean trouble putting things into words or in sequence at first. Those with this access, we have found, don’t like to take in information as much by reading the words as seeing the picture or hearing the example.
In order for you to think about something, the two sides of your brain must have a conversation, each specific part adding its particular expertise. This all happens across miles and miles of neural pathways (carried by the corpus callosum). You draw most naturally from the areas of the brain you can access most easily and effortlessly. A brainstyle, then, is shorthand for you at your best, most natural, and most able. Your natural abilities are observed most clearly when you must think about a new decision. Your timing –or brainspeed– is unique to you. You will learn why smart does not equal fast, as well as how to make the most of those who have a different thinking speed. The two books on BrainStyles® describe how to define your own brainstyle and put it to use without trying to change yourself or your partner.
The Cerebrum: The cerebrum or cortex is the largest part of the human brain, associated with higher brain function such as thought and action. Also referred to as the cerebral cortex, the cerebrum is divided into four sections, called “lobes”: the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe. Here is a visual representation of the cortex:
What do each of these lobes do?
- Frontal Lobe- associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving
- Parietal Lobe- associated with movement, orientation, recognition, perception of stimuli
- Occipital Lobe- associated with visual processing
- Temporal Lobe- associated with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and speech
- Note that the cerebral cortex is highly wrinkled. Essentially this makes the brain more efficient, because it can increase the surface area of the brain and the amount of neurons within it.
A deep furrow divides the cerebrum into two halves, known as the left and right hemispheres. The two hemispheres look mostly symmetrical yet it has been shown that each side functions slightly different than the other. The right hemisphere is associated with intuition and imagination and the left hemisphere is associated with logic. The corpus callosum is a bundle of axons which connects these two hemispheres.
Limbic System:
The limbic system, often referred to as the “emotional brain”, is found buried within the cerebrum. Like the cerebellum, evolutionarily the structure is rather old. This system contains the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus. This system is included in what we now call the “right brain”.
Brain research has now been able to identify and name many parts of the brain that comprise each hemisphere, specifying functions that contribute to motivation, drive, process and memory storage, among others. The original research that identified the broad differences between the left and right sides of the brain are now metaphors for areas that refer to the frontal lobes of the brain, and include the temporal, parietal, and even the limbic system. In BrainStyles, the object is to allow for the immediate application of basic processing abilities called “strengths” without the in-depth descriptions of all the contributing factors.
For more information on the research and testing that led to these conclusions, go to www.brainstyles.com/research.
History
BrainStyles was developed in a recessionary business environment by an entrepreneur who rapidly turned a failing business into a $40 million enterprise. By leveraging employees’ brain-based strengths, he created and maintained outstanding quality, profitability, and market dominance. Since then, The BrainStyles SystemR was researched and developed into a business book, BrainStyles: Change Your Life Without Changing Who You Are (Simon & Schuster, 1997, 2013) and a variety of seminars that have been successfully applied with high-performing teams at Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Monsanto, Sears, Allstate, Turner Broadcasting, the Cox Business School at SMU, Dallas, and a wide variety of industries, non-profit organizations, and families. It is taught through an instructor/coaching network on four continents in nine languages. Distinct from all other personality-typing systems, BrainStyles defines the basis of personality that needs no changing, rather than behaviors and observations of others which focus on “self-improvement”.
In a comparison with 25 other psychological tests, the BrainStyles theory has been validated at a level of support that was rare in measurement literature, as well as rare in support of any theory in psychology (18 of 23 hypotheses were substantiated). The BrainStyles Inventory 2.0 has been proven to have a +/- 90% face validity in predicting brainstyle — transcending age, race, gender, ethnicity, culture, and education.
If you are interested in learning more about BrainStyles, read more on our website, take the self-test BrainStyles Inventory or contact a coach to get started. If you would like to join our online community, like us on Facebook.
