Have you ever met someone you didn’t understand? With whom there was no chemistry? Personally, it’s happened to me, and it can be disconcerting to be confronted with another way of thinking. That’s why it’s interesting to know about the dynamic spiral. What is it? What are the levels of the spiral? What difference could it make to someone you don’t know? I’ll explain it all to you!
The dynamic spiral is a human development tool created by psychology researcher Clare Graves and popularized by researchers Don Beck and Christopher Cowan. This method uses a system of values with levels, based on the needs of Maslow’s pyramid.
Each system of values is represented by a color 🌈. They represent a way of thinking, behaving, and perceiving the world. Obviously, we don’t remain the same throughout our lives, so we can evolve through the levels. What’s more, the levels also respond to the issues we face, so it’s an extra opportunity to change levels/colors. You can go up as well as down through the levels.
🔃 When we go up a level, we make our thinking more complex, and we risk having more cognitive dissonance. If we go down a level, it doesn’t mean we’re going backwards. We’ve learned to change in order to adapt and back down. |
The dynamic spiral has different levels, each represented by a color: beige, purple, red, blue, orange, green, yellow and turquoise:
Let’s take a closer look at what each color means 👇
This is the first level, the primary one. It’s a way of thinking dominated by the survival instinct. In today’s society, we’ve all gone beyond this level. This is something that can be found in babies and young children who just need to satisfy their primary needs 👶: sleeping, eating, relieving themselves, etc. Some drug addicts can lose their bearings and awareness of their surroundings, so it may be that adults are at this level, due to an alteration in their perception. The only motivation for this color is survival.
🧠 Speaking of the primary brain… You may be interested in this article: What are the 6 primary emotions?
Like in Maslow’s Pyramid, this second level, purple, corresponds to the need for security 🏠. We can symbolize this by a place that makes us feel secure, like home, but it’s also embodied by family locations and those around us. Those around us form a shell, a security barrier.
We become aware of the purple level in times of crisis, whether on an individual or societal level. For example, during the pandemic, people focused on the essentials, on what made them and their loved ones feel safe.
This level is “dictatorial”, in the sense that it represents power. Indeed, we become aware of our individuality and want to impose our will on others. What’s most important? Defending our own interests and satisfying our own desires, regardless of others. This is generally the rule in gangs and unfortunately also in some countries ruled by dictators 😥.
We can sometimes be violently confronted with “red”. How can this happen? At work, when you’re in a company where the hierarchy is crushing you and in your personal life when you’re in a relationship with a narcissistic 🤕.
Blue represents the need for structure and organization. In society, this corresponds to laws, the legal system, property rights, etc. The blue level brings reassurance, calm and stability. Many very religious people find themselves at this level because religion is a system that structures. It lays down rules that are reassuring for those who believe in it.
However, the blue level can also bring too much rigidity and a fear of change. It’s a dogmatic mentality with a huge sense of guilt if the rules aren’t respected.
>>> Read; Can a narcissist change?
Once you’ve been reassured by the blue level, you can move towards innovation and success. As with red, this level is linked to personal success with a healthy structure. It’s more thought through and calmer, so you can move forward with care. Overall, capitalist society can be represented by the orange level: we need to move forward, produce, grow while achieving individual success.
However, by focusing on productivity and development, the orange level has its limits. Indeed, if it continues, it will be at the expense of natural, human, social and environmental resources.
This level represents the quest for meaning. Green repairs what has been broken in the other color levels because it puts our behavior into perspective. It’s not like the blue level because it’s not rules that count, but emotions. Empathy, tolerance and listening are at the heart of this level. When you get to this point, it’s because you have important human values and want to reduce injustice as much as possible.
Nevertheless, this is where we risk encountering the most cognitive dissonance. Indeed, we all go through different color levels and these give us habits, which are sometimes difficult to put to one side, even though they differ from our way of thinking.
For example: I ate meat for a long time, even though I knew it wasn’t in line with my values (animal cruelty, ecology). I managed to become a vegetarian and get rid of my old habits to be in harmony. |
When you reach the yellow level, it’s because you want to learn for yourself. You need to come up with new ideas, change the system, and innovate. You’ve got rid of our fears, such as the fear of failure, to move towards what makes us truly happy. External forces, such as social pressure, are out of the equation. What counts is the inner strength that allows you to be independent.
Like the green level, the yellow level finds solutions to problems. The aim is to move forward and cope with chaos and change while maintaining structure. For example, eco-anxiety is overcome at this level and fear is put aside in favor of concrete solutions.
However, the yellow level isn’t perfect. People at this level tend to see things as more complex than they really are. They often complicate their lives and think that others are incompetent because they don’t see things the same way 😅.
This final level is a mixture of the previous ones: there’s self-expression (beige, red, orange, and yellow), with an orientation towards “us” and others (purple, blue, green). People who reach this level are more in tune with their environment and find it easier to balance the different levels of their lives. There’s a perpetual synthesis between experience, testing, and the known, the lessons of feelings, which allows for greater understanding and adaptability. In fact, one of the strengths of this level is the ability to understand the points of view of the other levels. There’s a real holistic vision, everything is taken into account for personal reflection.
However, you need a great capacity for introspection to achieve this and a strong awareness of yourself and the world. It’s a level that can be exhausting because whoever’s reached turquoise will concentrate all their efforts on eradicating all inequalities, war, disease, etc. It comes close to green, but this level gives up everything for the common good. They therefore make great sacrifices that erase their individuality a little too much.
The dynamic spiral is a method used in many fields: psychology, sociology, personal development, etc., because it enables us to communicate better.
How? By identifying people who belong to the same level as you. A bit like the languages of love, if you meet someone who’s at the same stage as you, at the same color, you’ll have a better chance of understanding each other and communicating better.
However, this extends even beyond the intimate sphere. We can communicate better in the professional world by understanding the level of the company we work for. Marketing also makes enormous use of the dynamic spiral to sell a product more effectively. The brand will identify the level its target belongs to so that it can interact with it better.
In short, it’s an interesting tool that allows us to better understand how we function, both individually and collectively!
Editor’s note - A method, not a miracleThe dynamic spiral is an interesting tool for better understanding human behavior. For example, you can avoid someone who’s red or question someone who’s orange. However, like all tools, it’s not a miracle method for understanding ourselves and others. When we have difficulties, the best thing is to be accompanied so that we can say what’s blocking our relationships. Therapy can really help us to move forward, much more than a tool like this that we try to master on our own... 🤗 Understanding yourself, accepting yourself, being happy... It’s here and now! #BornToBeMe |
Be sure to read these articles too;
Article presented by Lauren Hart
Writing is a beautiful means of expression that I cannot do without. It has allowed me to channel my hypersensitivity, plus I love writing about psychology and personal development. For me, self-understanding is the best way to move forward!
A little belittling remark here, minimizing our emotions there... So many little things that show us that we’re being psychologically abused. It may seem trivial, but that’s the problem. We downplay it too much, which makes it the most common type of abuse. So, how do you identify psychological abuse? What should you do if you’re a victim? Let’s explain.
I suffer from an eating disorder, and several people around me have a mood disorder. I’m not completely unfamiliar with behavioral disorders, or at least not these. However, there are several types of disorders and they can even affect sexual behavior. So how do you define them? Here’s a list and some definitions related to behavioral disorders.
If the title of this article hasn’t totally scared you away, then you are no doubt wondering what this beast of a person is really like. Well, a malignant narcissist is a step up from a typical narcissist and adds an antisocial personality disorder to the already intimidating mixture. Combined, these two personality disorders represent the relentless need for control, admiration, and power for selfish reasons, making folks with this diagnosis that bit scarier than classic manipulators. Here’s why these people are so terrifying, and how you can get your own back on them.
Each one of us has our own weaknesses that hold us back in life; be it at work or in relationships. However, on a more positive note, most of us have the will to work on them and transform them. That being said, once narcissists are brought into the picture, the idea that they want to work on their weaknesses doesn’t exactly seem feasible. For a deeper understanding of these narcissists and more insights into the workings of their minds, discover their weak spots and which pointers they struggle with on a daily basis, yet aren't willing to admit or work on.
Whenever I have trouble sleeping, whenever I’m bored or whenever my thoughts wander, it’s not uncommon for me to find myself reliving my childhood vacations, or a delightful weekend in bed or even my wedding day. Sometimes I even shed a tear thinking about these moments in my past… Yes, I’m nostalgic, and I love revisiting memories, but that has to stop! Discover the steps to put in place if you want to live in the present!
Work has always been a synonym of repression for me because it takes up so much of our precious time. Let’s be honest, a 9-5 job with a horrendous daily commute often means that work is sadly our sole occupation. So, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck over a year ago, and we were all ordered to stay home, I found it hard to hide my joy in front of my distraught coworkers; although thankfully my acting talents saved me. You can probably already tell, but going into the office every day was nothing less than torture for me. Yet, all these months later, I’ve realized that I despise working from home and would do anything to sit in my uncomfortable office chair once again!
Today, I’m focussing on a habit that drives me crazy: wanting to have the last word. It’s probably because I’m not very good at comebacks or self-confident enough that I’m both fascinated and annoyed by people who always want to be right. But why do they always want to have the last word? What’s behind it?
In general, thumb sucking ends around the age of 6. I say “in general” and not “normally”, because as an adult I don’t feel weird or particularly bothered by it. When I get stressed, I allow myself to let go and return to my childhood self by sucking my thumb. Those who know about it or catch me by surprise make me realize I should be ashamed… But is this habit a big deal? What if it makes me feel better? It’s certainly no worse than lighting up a cigarette or biting your nails…
There are people who don’t like to be touched at all, and who are almost disgusted by physical contact. There are people who like to caress and be caressed for anything and everything, and there are people like me who always recoil when someone tries to touch them. Why do I shy away from physical contact? What if it’s all linked to the past?
Narcissists definitely move with the times, which is why many of them constantly troll dating sites for new victims. Chatting with a manipulator of this magnitude can be a rollercoaster experience, with dizzying heights that might lead you to believe you are in love, to gut-wrenching lows which will make you question your worth. For any raving narcissist, text message exchanges are a great way to reel in victims and follow through with their master plans for ultimate control over them. Are you texting someone you suspect to be a narcissist? The examples below could confirm your suspicions.
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
- Oscar Wilde
