Look Into Your Characters’ Brains

Here is a fun article about using Emergenetics in character writing titled, Look Into Your Characters’ Brains, by award winning romance and mystery author Colleen Collins —  

At a former job, my boss asked each of us to take a test, called Emergenetics, which, in simple terms, is a tool to help a person not only better understand his or her own thinking patterns and behaviors, but also how those patterns and behaviors mesh with others’ patterns and behaviors.

In short, it was a “team-building activity.”  Yes, the dreaded team activity where employees moan and groan and grudgingly agree to do it because the boss said so.  In my team of ten employees, we each took the Emergenetics test.  Basically, we answered a slew of questions and were told we’d all reconvene in a month to review the results together.

A month later, the results came in.  The meeting was mandatory, so we dutifully trudged into the meeting room, wondering what hocus-pocus we were going to have to endure.

We were each handed an individualized pie chart that represented our brains.  Each brain chart was divided into four areas: analytical, structural, conceptual, and social. And we were told how each chart, based on the test results, reflected how we currently think.

I looked at my chart, or uh, I mean brain.  I’m 34% analytical (I am? Wait, let me evaluate that for a moment…), 23% structural (Hmm, these test procedures are rather interesting.), 24% conceptual (Wow, look at the colors on this chart!) and 19% social (Hey, anybody want to grab a latte after this?).

We were asked to share our charts with our co-workers sitting at the table—after all, this was a way to get to know how each other thinks, a means to better understand “where we’re coming from” essentially.  My best buddy was almost 40% structural and we laughed out loud, recalling the times he insisted I needed to follow guidelines!  A theatre major in the group was an amazing 60% conceptual—well of course!  This guy loved the world of imagination.

And so we began to understand how each of us thinks, enabling us to better understand each other and to better work together.

As writers, we can also use these same thinking attributes to help develop and build our characters.  Remember, this is a tool only, not the sole means to character development.  But I’ve found it’s helped me further develop my characters by thinking about how they might think and behave, per the Emergenetics model.

The following provides more in-depth definitions of each of the Emergenetics four thinking attributes.  Emergenetics, by the way, identified these attributes by factor-analyzing data from thousands of individuals.

Thinking Attributes

Analytical: This attribute includes a preference for reasoning, analysis, financial calculation, higher mathematics, and problem solving.  People who have a strong analytical bent might enjoy technology, mental analysis, and theoretical concepts.  Words they might use to describe themselves include factual, rational, clear thinker, critical thinker, and objective.

Structural: This attribute tends to be cautious of new or untried ideas.  People with strong structural thought processes often like guidelines, methodical progress, organization, and planned agendas.  They describe themselves as orderly, dependable, implementers, practical, certain, and predictable.

Social: This attribute reflects a need to get along with people, reliance on others’ opinions, sensitivity to others, and visceral intuition.  Those ranking high in this social style describe themselves as empathic, sympathetic, and intuitive about people.  They like learning a new task by having someone show them and often use personal examples in conversation.

Conceptual: This attribute often searches for new ways to solve old problems, gets excited when something is new and different, and enjoys producing ideas more than drawing conclusions.  These people have a tendency to be intuitive about concepts and ideas.  They jump from one task to another, like metaphoric problem-solving, and take risks.  They describe themselves as global, imaginative, unconventional, and aesthetic.

But keep in mind, although we as writers know why our characters think the way they do, other characters don’t.  They can’t “see” how another character is thinking.  But they do see other characters’ behavior through expressiveness, assertiveness, and flexibility.

Descriptions of these behavioral attributes are below.

Expressiveness: This indicates the amount of social interest people show for others and the world around them.  At one end of the spectrum, a person can effusively express affection for others or easily start conversations with strangers while at the other end of the spectrum, a person can seem painfully shy or meticulously shun the limelight.

Assertiveness: This reflects the degree of energy invested in expressing thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.  People can range from a driving need to convince others of their point of view to shying away from competitive situations.

Flexibility: This measures a willingness to accommodate to the thoughts and actions of others.  Flexible people can often handle stressful situations while maintaining an even temper and may find it easy to be patient with difficult people.  At the other end of the spectrum, they may have trouble meeting another person halfway and may abhor change.

Currently, I’m writing a book with a hero who is a “computer guru” and a loner (he has other characteristics, but I’m simplifying for the sake of this article).  If I were to analyze his thinking percentages, I’d give him 40% analytical, 25% structural, 10% social, and 25% conceptual.  This higher conceptual tendency provides a fun twist in his personality. Typically, he appears rational and logical, but he surprises people, especially the heroine, with his imaginative streak and his intuitive insights.

Regarding his behavioral attributes, this character struggles with expressing his emotions, although he takes the leap from assertiveness to downright aggressiveness when provoked.  And he’s been on his own so long, the man is rarely flexible.

To return to my work situation, all of our thinking and behavioral attributes were compiled into one chart so, at a glance, we could get a sense of how we interacted as a group.  I’ve made the names up to protect people’s identities, but here’s a glimpse at what the group chart told us (and we all had them tacked on our walls as a gentle reminder that each of our thought processes and behaviors were different, not right or wrong, just different).

Doreen was the most expressive and social in the group, but also the least analytical.  She typically got very exuberant over other people’s ideas and we could count on her to get everyone “on the same plate.” She often asked people what they thought or how they felt…she was keenly interested in how others were feeling socially.

Brad abhorred structure, but was extremely conceptual and assertive. We could count on him to speak up with new, imaginative ideas. We could also count on him to be late to most meetings.

Cindy was first-third expressive with conceptual and structural preferences.  This woman was always unnervingly calm, kept everyone on track, and loved to brainstorm new ideas.

Get the picture?  You can use these guidelines to not only flesh out individual characters, but also how all the characters interact with each other in a given situation.

But, as I mentioned previously, as with any character-development tool, keep in mind that these are guidelines only. People are unique, flexible, and adjust and change according to whatever environments they’re in.  Also, people’s thinking and behavior adjusts and changes in response to dramatic episodes, such as significant life events, alcohol, etc.

Have fun playing with this tool as you create and fine-tune your characters using Emergenetics.

— I hope you enjoyed reading Colleen Collins story about how she uses Emergenetics in her character writing.   To learn more about Emergenetics for your work just click here www.YourBrainPro.com.  Collins also teaches a writing class called ”Writing PIs in Novels”.  To learn more about character writing I invite you to visit Colleen’s website at www.colleencollins.net

Brain Wrinkles

What’s the secret to our species’ smarts?  The answer may be wrinkles.  The surface of the human brain is convoluted by deep fissures, smaller grooves called sulci, and ridges called gyri.  This surface is called the cerebral cortex and is home to about 100 billion neurons, or nerve cells.  The folded, meandering surface allows the brain to pack in more surface area — and thus, more processing power — into the limited confines of the skull.

Interesting wrinkle news from a LiveScience Contributer Stephanie Pappas.

Most of Our Brain Cells Aren’t Neurons

Most of our brain cells aren’t neurons.  The old saw that we use just 10 percent of our brainpower isn’t true, but we now know that neurons make up just 10 percent of our brain cells. The other 90 percent, which account for about half the brain’s weight, are called glia, which means “glue” in Greek. Neuroscientists used to think glia were simply the sticky stuff that holds neurons together. But recent research has shown glia to be much more. A 2005 paper in the journal Current Opinions in Neurobiology laid out the roles of these unsung cells, which range from mopping up excess neurotransmitters to providing immune protection to actually promoting and modulating synapse growth and function. (Synapses are the connections between neurons.) It turns out the silent majority isn’t so silent after all.

—-I hope you enjoyed reading the above article from Stephanie Pappas a LiveScience Contributor.  I really enjoy reading and learning everything I can about the brain.  Plus, this information helps me in explaining the brain research to my clients as their personal Certified Emergenetics Associate.  I invite you to visit my website at www.YourBrainPro.com to learn more about my individual coaching opportunities.

How The Brain Chooses Sides

How The Brain Chooses Sides – Researchers probe the neural basis of deciding which hand to use.

By Tina Hesman Saey    Web edition: Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

The brain almost always has a plan B, even when deciding which hand to use to press a button, a new study finds.

A part of the brain called the left posterior parietal cortex plans button-pressing movements for both hands simultaneously, shows the study, published online September 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After a very brief neural tussle, one hand wins the competition and the other’s movement is suppressed, Flavio Oliveira, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues demonstrate.

Scientists actually know very little about how decisions such as which hand to use for a task are made in the brain, says Scott Frey, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Oregon in Eugene. While he may quibble with some of the details of the new study, “It helps to address a pretty blatant gap in the literature and it does it in an elegant way,” he says. “I think it’s one we’re going to be citing for a long time.”

Oliveira and his collaborators studied right-handed people, as most such studies do. The volunteers placed their hands on a table containing a motion-tracking system. When a target was illuminated, the participants were supposed to reach as quickly as possible to hit the target. At first the volunteers were instructed to use only the right hand or left hand for the task. Then the participants were given a choice of which hand to use. Having to decide slowed the volunteers’ reaction times by about 30 milliseconds, especially when the target was about equidistant from both hands. The participants reached for an equidistant target more often with their right hands.

In a separate experiment, participants performed the same task, but this time researchers used magnetic pulses to momentarily alter electrical activity in some parts of the brain.

When the researchers briefly disrupted activity in the posterior parietal cortex on the left side of the brain while participants were deciding which hand to use, the volunteers reached for the target with their left hands about 13.5 percent more often. Stimulating other parts of the brain, including the right posterior parietal cortex, did not produce a switch in hand preference. The result suggests that the left side of the brain is specialized for planning movements.

Researchers suspect that the left posterior parietal cortex will also decide hand choice in left-handers, but won’t know for certain until tests are repeated on a group of them.

 — I found this research study very interesting as I talk about how the left side of the brain enjoys the process of planning when working with my clients using their Emergenetics Profile results.   Karen Lang

Writing for the Soul

I have read a lot of books written by Max Lucado over the years.  I am a fan of Lucado’s writing because he writes information in a format that is easy to read and easy to remember.  This is why I am looking forward to reading his newest book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear, published by Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2009.

Max is known as “America’s Pastor”, but he prefers you just call him Max.  A humble statement from a man who is a New York Times Best Selling Author, written 50 books, and sold over 65 million copies of his work.  This guy definitely knows how to write.

Max shared some of his writing tips at the ‘Writing for the Soul’ conference in Denver, CO in February 2010.  Below is a blog link written by Audra Krell, guest columnist, for Chuck Sambuchino, Editor, Guide to Literary Agents, where she highlighted some of Max’s writing tips for your use and information: http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Writing+Tips+From+Max+Lucado+BestSelling+Author.aspx

I’m finding as a new business owner I’m constantly writing, therefore I enjoyed reading Lucado’s writing tips too!  Max said to write with passion, and people tell me I am passionate about helping people to understand how their brains prefer to think and behave.  I am enjoying writing my new blog about Emergenetics = Science of Success with passion.  It’s a good place to start writing.

Discover how to use Emergenetics for character writing by learning more the brains 4 thinking attributes and 3 behavioral attributes.  I invite you to visit my website at www.YourBrainPro.com to learn more.