Michael Roller

Beyond MBTI: Two more preference tests

Right on the heels of my experiment tracking designers’ Myers-Briggs results, I stumbled onto this creativity test from the Art Institute of Vancouver through a discussion on LinkedIn. The test is based on Dr. Roger Sperry’s Nobel Prize-winning brain research from 1981. Not surprisingly, many of the industrial designers in the group are reporting a near 50/50 split between left and right brain thinking.

What I find more interesting are the subcategories that make up each side. On the right side are holistic, random, concrete, intuitive, nonverbal, and fantasy-oriented. The left side is made up of linear, sequential, symbolic, logical, verbal, and reality-based. Take the test and look for interesting highs and lows. For instance, I scored high on sequential but low on linear processing. It’s important for me to understand how this seemingly narrow difference in processing could affect my ability to learn a new skill or digest an important piece of information.

Finally, Brian Westbrook offered up another test called the HBDI. It tests the whole brain: left, right, front, and back. Ned Hermann, a manager at General Electric, developed the test in the 1970s. For more information, download this PDF profile.

Take the quiz, join the Industrial Design group on LinkedIn, and add your comment!

Tags: brain, linkedin, mbti, personality, preference test