The Creative Brain

Ned Hermann

Publisher:

The Hermann Brain Dominance Profile (HBDP), described in Ned Hermann's The Creative Brain, is similar in many ways to the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. However, the HBDP is based on right/left brain research and the MBTI is not. The Hermann Brain Dominance Profile divides the brain into four quadrants: two left brain and two right. The upper two are the cerebral regions and the lower two consitiute the limbic. Unlike the Myers-Briggs where one has either one trait or the other on each continuim, the HBDP measures how much of a preference one has in each of the four quadrants.

The HBDI "circle" contains four concentric rings. The two outermost indicate a preference for the quadrant. The third indicates use of the quadrant and the fourth (innermost), avoidance.

Hermann labels the upper left quadrant "A." He describes people with preferences in this quadrant as "logical, analytical, mathmatical, technical, and scientific." The lower left, "B" quadrant describes people who are "controlled, conservative, organizational, and administrative." The upper right, "D" quadrant is where creativity comes into the picture. People with preferences in this quadrant are "imaginative, synthesizers, artistic, and think non-linearly." The lower right quadrant, "C" desbribes those who are "social, emotional, spiritual, and talkative."

Hermann contends that the goal is to become "whole-brained" and able to use the characteristics of each of the four quadrants.

His book is in a landscape format and is chock full of interesting and entertaining illustrations. Personally, I find his "type" theory to be more descriptive and useful than the more widely-used and touted Myers-Briggs. I recommend this book without reservation.


Review supplied by

Fontaine Moore
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22031
fmoore@osf1.gmu.edu


Updated: Thursday, 19 April 2001
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