Key Concepts

A core aspect of Spiral Dynamics Integral is the ability to define and explain the deeper patterns, codes and change processes that underpin ‘ human value systems’. These ‘value systems’ describe types in rather than types of people.

From our research we recognize that whilst the Earth contains roughly 6 billion different types of people, we share only a few basic value systems. These are mixed in different proportions within each one of us. Their relative strength and complexion vary in us because our lives are unique. They are expressed in many, many different ways through our individual and collective actions. Spiral Dynamics Intergral bring to the surface a complete understanding of these value systems as ‘core intelligences’ that influence all of perceptions, thoughts and actions.

The eight current global ‘value systems’ are outlined in the table below:

None of the Value Systems is inherently better or worse than any other. Each System has developed in response to a specific set of problems in our life conditions. Each is calibrated to address those conditions. They differ in levels of complexity, capacity to deal with diverse situations, and degrees of personal commitment. They do not reflect intelligence, or character, or temperament, as those dimensions run across world views.

The Value Systems describe how a person thinks, not what is valued. People value different things because they think in different ways. Like seven different containers, each Value System holds a particular structure for thinking; each is a decision-making system for choosing what matters in life. The contents can be diverse, even seeming contradictory. For example, the what contents of the Blue (Right Way) Value System could be politically on the left or right wing. Religious content might be Islamic fundamentalist or committed Atheist. The economic belief might be devoted Marxist or Capitalist. The how of the Blue Value System is absolutistic, dyed-in-the-wool, and all-or-nothing; the what depends on the person.

The Value Systems are like living organisms that can ebb and flow as our existence conditions change.

These are not rigid, frozen, or locked-in mindsets programmed at birth or at any other time in our lives. The Value Systems mirror the conditions we confront as we deal with living. If things get tougher, we may shift back to a previous Value System to try to solve those problems. If things get more complex than our coping repertoires can handle, we may add a new Value System. People are capable of change, and there is scientific evidence the human brain can "rewire" itself to activate more Value Systems as new conditions of existence emerge.

Value System Profiles can consist of an infinite number of combinations and patterns. We are not single types of personalities, nor are we a little bit of everything. Individual Profiles may display strength in a particular Value System, be dominated by a couple, or be expressed in a mixture of several interweaving world views. They reflect both the uniqueness of individuals and the threads that bind us together. The seven themes reflected in this instrument are played out through beliefs, feelings, and actions in the melodies of human living. Some are harmonious, some are discordant, but all are special.

Everyone is motivated, but we are not motivated by the same things. The question is not "How do you motivate people?" Instead, it is "How do you relate what you are doing to their natural motivational flows?" Each Value System has a particular set of driving forces that stimulate it to action.