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Could MBTI® be coupled with Spiral Dynamics?

We received this question after the publication of articles Simple SDTEST^® Gives Great Possibilities and Mathematical Psychology. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI^®) and Spiral Dynamics are two systems that categorize personality traits and motivational values, respectively. This article is dedicated to answering this question. It will show with a real example how to use the SDTEST^® V.U.C.A. poll designer.

Brief Overviews of the Systems

MBTI^® categorizes personality into 16 types based on preferences across four dichotomies: Extraversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. It has been extensively validated and applied in career development, leadership, and team-building.

Spiral Dynamics maps the evolution of motivational value systems in a spectrum of colors or levels, from basic survivalist Beige to holistic-minded Turquoise. It builds on Clare Graves' theory of levels of human existence and has been used extensively in organizational development and coaching. SDTEST^®has 90393 results from 172 countries, results clustered into 8048 unique motivational patterns.

While both systems group people into "types", MBTI^® reflects non-hierarchical preferences while Spiral Dynamics depicts hierarchical development.

Possible Connections Between the Systems

Some relationships could potentially be theorized between MBTI^® types and Spiral levels based on apparent similarities in focus:

Intuitive types (N) may gravitate toward the holistic Yellow and Turquoise levels.
Sensing types (S) match the practical Red and Blue levels.
Thinking types (T) resonate with the objective, logical Orange level.
Feeling types (F) align with the harmonic Green level.

So Intuitive, Feeling types like INFJ could speculatively be associated with later Green and Yellow Spiral levels, while Sensing, Thinking types such as ISTJ fit earlier Blue and Orange levels.

Studying the correlation between Spiral Dynamics developmental stages and MBTI^® personality types could potentially yield some useful insights, but it also has limitations:

Potential benefits:

Seeing relationships between motivational values and personality preferences - e.g., Achiever Orange correlated with Thinking preference
Understanding interactions between developmental level and type - e.g., how INFJs may express differently at different Spiral levels
Explaining tensions within types via value differences - e.g., INTJs driven by power versus achievement
Mapping types/functions to transitional stages - e.g., Intuition in late Orange, Feeling in early Green

Limitations:

Differences in goals and validation of the two systems
Individuals express both multiple values and multifaceted personalities
Correlations may reinforce stereotypes about both frameworks

Intriguing connections may emerge, directly linking MBTI^® types to Spiral Dynamics levels.

The SDTEST^® V.U.C.A. poll designer

The SDTEST^® V.U.C.A. poll designer is as simple as Google Forms. Watch this two-minute video to get acquainted and compare. The main difference of the SDTEST® V.U.C.A. poll designer is the presence of an independent multilingual UI for changing the site language and poll form. If, for example, your primary site language is English, and you do the poll in 6 international UN languages, then you only need to use the language change window for the poll form. If you are doing this work together with colleagues whose primary language is Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, German, French, or other languages, then for their convenience, they can change the language of the site.

Create and share your Poll (MBTI^®)

Now you know the functionality of the Designer, and you can create your own, for example, MBTI^®.

We invite you to look “under the hood” of the poll Psychological Wellbeing (by Carol D. Ryff) we have already created. Developed by psychologist Carol D. Ryff, the 42-item Psychological Wellbeing (PWB) Scale. Source: Ryff, Carol D., Psychological Well-Being Revisited: Advances in Science and Practice, NIH Public Access, Psychother Psychosom, Vol.83, No.1, Pp.31, (2014). Watch the next two-minute video.

Now you need to share the link to your survey, and survey participants choose the language in which they are comfortable answering the questions. Watch the next one-minute video.

Poll results and their analysis

We do not have the results of the MBTI^® poll, so for example, we will use the poll “Psychological Wellbeing (by Carol D. Ryff)“ we used above.

Below you can read an abridged version of the results of our VUCA poll “Psychological Wellbeing (by Carol D. Ryff)“. The full version of the results is available for free in the FAQ section after login or registration.

心理健康

圖表相关性

VUCA

所有问题

1) 自治（您同意或不同意多少？）

2) 环境掌握（您同意或不同意多少？）

3) 个人成长（您同意或不同意多少？）

4) 与他人的积极关系（您同意或不同意多少？）

5) 生活中的目的（您同意或不同意多少？）

6) 自我接受（您同意或不同意多少？）

1) 自治（您同意或不同意多少？）

Answer 1

34%

✔

Answer 2

34%

✔

Answer 2

15%

✔

Answer 3

✔

Answer 4

✔

Answer 5

✔

Answer 6

✔

Answer 7

24%

✔

Answer 8

34%

✔

Answer 8

17%

✔

Answer 9

✔

Answer 10

✔

Answer 11

✔

Answer 12

✔

Answer 13

✔

Answer 14

20%

✔

Answer 14

23%

✔

Answer 15

13%

✔

Answer 16

✔

Answer 17

14%

✔

Answer 18

14%

✔

Answer 19

30%

✔

Answer 20

34%

✔

Answer 20

17%

✔

Answer 21

✔

Answer 22

✔

Answer 23

✔

Answer 24

✔

Answer 25

✔

Answer 26

17%

✔

Answer 26

16%

✔

Answer 27

10%

✔

Answer 28

11%

✔

Answer 29

17%

✔

Answer 30

22%

✔

Answer 31

11%

✔

Answer 32

19%

✔

Answer 32

21%

✔

Answer 33

11%

✔

Answer 34

✔

Answer 35

14%

✔

Answer 36

14%

✔

Answer 37

42%

✔

Answer 38

28%

✔