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Harrison and Bramson Thinking Styles Test - Part 2

Jaguar

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I did a thread on Harrison and Bramson Thinking Styles in 2009. I have some additional information that is more in-depth, so I decided to start a new thread for it.

Test is here:
http://web.mit.edu/10.27/www/Team-Building/Forms/thinksty.html

You do not need to fill in your name, email address, or team number.
Take the test and then click 'calculate,' for your scores.

Note: Preference for a thinking style is a score of 60 or more. If you have two styles with a score of 60 or more, check for your combination style.


Categorizing Thinking Styles

Harrison and Bramson (1984) categorize thinking styles as follows:

  • Synthesist. Are integrators; they like to discover two or more things that no other people may appear to have little of or no relationship at all and find ways to fit them into a new, creative combination. Synthesists tend to be interested in conflict and also like change – often for their own sake and might accept technology upgrades easily. Synthesists tend to pride themselves on their ‘creativity’.

    Strategy:
    • Direct confrontation
    • Question assumptions
    • Third party observation
    • Suspending opposing ideas
    • Speculation & fantasy
    • Devil's advocate


  • [*]Idealist.
    The idealist mode of thinking is used by people who like to take a broad view of things and tend to be future-oriented. They also think about goals and are interested in social values. Idealists are like Synthesists in their focus on values rather than facts. Idealists like to be seen by other people as useful, supportive, open and trustworthy. When it comes to solving problems, Idealists are at their best in situations where the important things are values, judgment, feeling and emotions.

    Strategy:
    • Assimilative thinking
    • Looking at the whole
    • Rush to structure
    • Focus on long range issues
    • Pre-emptive participation
    • Receptive listening
    • Conciliation tools

  • Pragmatist. The motto of the Pragmatist is ‘Whatever works.’ They excel at finding new ways of doing things with the materials that lie at hand. They are apt to be interested in formulating strategies and tactics for getting things done and they often like to be liked, approved of, or at least accepted. The pragmatist approach is flexible and adaptive.

    Strategy:
    • Incrementalism
    • Experimentation/innovation
    • Looking for quick payoff
    • Tactical thinking
    • Marketing approach
    • Contingency planning

  • Analyst. The Analyst approaches problems in a careful, logical, methodical way, paying great attention to details. Analysts analyse and judge things within a broad framework that helps to explain and arrive at conclusions. Analysts want to be sure of things, to know what’s going to happen next. They take pride in their competence, in the sense of understanding all the facets of whatever the situation in which they happen to be.

    Strategy:
    • Deduction - theoretical
    • Systematic analysis of alternatives
    • Search for more data
    • One variable at a time
    • Charting the situation
    • Nit-picking



  • [*]Realist.
    The Realists motto is, ‘facts are facts.’ Realists firmly believe that any two intelligent people, properly equipped with eyes and other sense organs, will at once agree on the facts. Without agreement on the fact, Realist believes, things don’t get done. The Realist always wants to get things done by proceeding on the facts that are at hand, rather than by gathering ever more data as Analysts do.

    Strategy:
    • Reality from observation & experience
    • Setting firm objectives
    • Making categories: specifics
    • Reduction/simplification
    • Fixing and correcting


Multiple Styles of Thinking

It is, however, naïve to assume that all individuals neatly fit into one or the other thinking style category (Harrison & Bramson, 1984). This section discusses multiple styles of thinking. Harrison and Bramson (1984) categorize multiple thinking styles as follows:

  • Idealist-Analyst (I-A). The I-A is characterized by a broad, comprehensive view. They are careful, thoughtful people who want to achieve the ideal goal using the best method possible.They are unlikely to make quick decisions and possess a future-oriented, planned view of things.

  • Analyst-Realist (A-R). The A-R person is highly task-oriented and objective. They like facts and structured approaches to problems. The A-R does not like situations that defy analysis and when confronted with such a situation they tend to be unable to cope.

  • Synthesist-Idealist (S-I). The S-I thinking style is in many ways the exact opposite of the A-R. The S-I will tend to focus on ideas and inferences rather than structure and facts. They are perceived as being conceptualized and theorists by other individuals and therefore not very practical.


  • [*]Idealist-Realist
    (I-R). The I-R is characterized by the twin thrust of high standards and concreteness. They know how things should be done and also have the skill set to carry them out. They don’t seek a lot of recognition for their efforts.

  • Pragmatist-Realist (P-R). The P-R is highly task oriented but approaches things in a less structured manner than the A-R. They tend to have considerable energy and drive and achieve things solely for the sake of achievement. They tend to make quick decisions with a minimal amount of data and as a result can quickly become overextended.


  • [*]Idealist-Pragmatist
    (I-P). The I-P combination is typical of someone who gains agreement on goals and then tolerates a great deal of latitude in method. They have a great concern for ‘people’ issues and more in tune with a person’s needs. As a leader, the I-P will appear to be over permissive and be allowing of too much latitude.

  • Analyst-Pragmatist (A-P). The A-P likes facts and structure but also is willing to experiment. They know what they want and how to get there but want to have fun along the way. This can be quite damaging in relationships due to the fact that serious goals and directions will appear to be not taken seriously by the A-P.

  • Analyst-Synthesist (A-S). The A-S respects structure and logic. The Analyst style seems to be more dominant in this combination most of the time. Whereas the Analyst respects structure and logic, the Synthesist understands and values the opposite. This can be the source of great internal conflict and a profound lack of understanding by people around them. They can, sometimes be very difficult to listen to but have a lot to contribute.

  • Synthesist-Pragmatist (S-P). S-P’s show the greatest tolerance for change. They strive on ambiguity and uncertainty and have developed the coping mechanisms to deal with both. Their thinking style generates tremendous amount of creativity.


  • [*]Synthesist-Realist
    (S-R). The S-R is extremely rare due to the fact that the synthesist and realist are at the opposite ends of the thinking spectrum. The S-R is a person with great energy for unorthodox but firm achievement. They can see clearly what the proper course is and also see that the opposite way is just as acceptable.


  • [*]Three Way Thinkers.
    People that possess a strong preference for three of the five styles tend to be creative. This flows from the idea that they have more thinking styles available to them. They are versatile and can rely on the style that suits an individual situation.


  • [*]Flat Profile.
    The rarest of thinking style preferences is a person who shows no preference for any specific style. This is where the InQ test shows a relatively equal score for all five thinking styles. These people tend to be unpredictable, less intense and less recognizable than people with strong preference for other styles.

Information Sources:

More info on individual styles here:
http://www.earthtym.net/s-general.html

General categories listed are all in this .pdf
http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/10500/3007/1/Lubbe.pdf
 
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Totenkindly

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SYNTHESIST: 60
IDEALIST: 43
PRAGMATIST: 61
ANALYST: 54
REALIST: 52

Synthesist-Pragmatist (S-P). S-P’s show the greatest tolerance for change. They strive on ambiguity and uncertainty and have developed the coping mechanisms to deal with both. Their thinking style generates tremendous amount of creativity.
 
T

ThatGirl

Guest
61 Pragmatist
56 Realist
53 Idealist
52 Synthesist
48 Analyst


Pragmatist. The motto of the Pragmatist is ‘Whatever works.’ They excel at finding new ways of doing things with the materials that lie at hand. They are apt to be interested in formulating strategies and tactics for getting things done and they often like to be liked, approved of, or at least accepted. The pragmatist approach is flexible and adaptive.


I don't know about this description.
 
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G

garbage

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56 SYNTHESIST
49 IDEALIST
58 PRAGMATIST
55 ANALYST
52 REALIST

No real preferences for anything

I am an unpredictable "Flat Profile" thinker

Also, I submitted my scores. Someone's going to wonder who "Bologna Gorona" on team 19 is
 

ragashree

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SYNTHESIST 62
IDEALIST 49
PRAGMATIST 50
ANALYST 49
REALIST 60

Synthesist-Realist (S-R). The S-R is extremely rare due to the fact that the synthesist and realist are at the opposite ends of the thinking spectrum. The S-R is a person with great energy for unorthodox but firm achievement. They can see clearly what the proper course is and also see that the opposite way is just as acceptable.

"Extremely rare" eh? Should have known... :whistling: Nevertheless, it seems to be the most frequent result in this thread to date, will be interesting to see if that changes. Anyway, sorry for stealing your uniqueness Jag. :tongue:
 

ragashree

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A preference for a thinking style is 60 and above.
Care to rethink your comment? :wink:
Sure!

*Jag is presumably proud of his immoderately high score on one axis of the two dominant styles, which has been achieved at the expense of low scores for the two less preferred styles; I, however, am perfectly satisfied with the relative balance indicated by my own results, which still appear to put me in the same category of preferred processes*

That do? :tongue:
 
T

ThatGirl

Guest
I am not exactly sure what these scores mean.

A little disappointed with the shallow analysis of the end result. Is there more of a theory behind what they mean? What it says about you and others, or in comparison?
 

ragashree

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This is what I was responding to:

The statement makes no sense.
Oh, didn't occur to me that it would be hard to fathom. I simply meant that out of the few results so far, this was the only listed thinking style *going by the established criterion, as you just reiterated, of 60% or more indicating a preference* to have occurred more than once.
 

BlueGray

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a score of 60 = 66%, they are out of 90.
 

Lethe

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1. Pragmatist (66)
2. Synthesist (60)
3. Analyst (53)
4. Idealist (47)
5. Realist (44)

Synthesist-Pragmatist (S-P). S-P’s show the greatest tolerance for change. They strive on ambiguity and uncertainty and have developed the coping mechanisms to deal with both. Their thinking style generates tremendous amount of creativity.

-------------------------------

SO how do I score this??

Idealist - 70
Pragmatist - 67
Analyst - 67
Synthesist - 65
Realist - 65

Perhaps this will help --

Test Instructions said:
Each question must contain one 5, one 4, one 3, one 2, and one 1. Even if two or more endings seem equally like you, rank them anyway.
 
T

ThatGirl

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I GUESS I WILL JUST HAVE TO READ THE BOOK THEN!

Lol, oh well, I have a feeling my answers were pretty generic anyway.
 

Jaguar

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I am not exactly sure what these scores mean.

A little disappointed with the shallow analysis of the end result. Is there more of a theory behind what they mean? What it says about you and others, or in comparison?

Google: pragmatist thinking style harrison bramson
Also, their book - The Art of Thinking, compares the styles (especially in the workplace).
 
T

ThatGirl

Guest
Yeah I did, this sounds like ISTP. I relate to some points highly disagree with others.

I wonder if it is an error in the test or the way I took it. From my understanding it was more focused on how one interacts with a situation more so than what they already approach it with.

For instance analysis usually happens by default, so I would't begin actively with that approach and wouldn't revisit it until late down the line, if the initial understanding was proven unacceptable.
 

ragashree

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Clearly, we're not talking about the same thing.
I set this thread up to collect data.
My initial comment was about the data, having just provided some of my own, which I am quite happy to leave up, regardless of what any subesequent poster may deduce from it. It was not a particularly serious comment, granted, but I find your reactions as puzzling as the implicit accusation of "trolling" was needless.

If you have any more immature remarks about my scores, feel free to PM me.

Thanks.
Just thought I'd note that I don't think that loaded rhetoric is a particularly effective means of conflict resolution. If you thought I was actually intending to do the thing of which you are accusing me, I very much doubt that you would actually want to have a private discussion on the subject. Rhetorical content aside, I'm quite happy to follow your suggestion. I'm not therefore going to say more about this here.
 

Jaguar

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Yeah I did, this sounds like ISTP. I relate to some points highly disagree with others.

Orangey is an ISTP. Her scores from the test in 2009 gave her: analyst/realist. (Both were 60 and above.) Actually, her pragmatist score was 59 and I'd like to call her a triple thinker, but Harrison/Bramson has that strict cutoff at 60 and above. That's their strict criteria, not mine. I'd like her input, actually.
 
T

ThatGirl

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Ha! Ironic choice for an example. I think I should read the book, and watch. There is surprisingly little literature on the subject. Still, I think something is off yet it seems well put together. Idk.
 

BlueGray

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Synthesist: 53
Idealist: 37
Pragmatist: 63
Analyst: 55
Realist: 62
 

Totenkindly

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Arclight said:
All my scores are very close

Idealist - 70
Pragmatist - 67
Analyst - 67
Synthesist - 65
Realist - 65

SO how do I score this??

You score it by retaking the test.

The maximum number of points, if you look at the test itself AND everyone else's scores, is 270.

Don't ask me how you got a total combined score of 334, but somehow you have an extra 64 points in there.

I think once you actually have a correct tally, you should find only one or two scores above 60, because the median score is 54. You can't have scores over 60 without other scores taking a hit of some sort.
 

Arclight

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You score it by retaking the test.

The maximum number of points, if you look at the test itself AND everyone else's scores, is 270.

Don't ask me how you got a total combined score of 334, but somehow you have an extra 64 points in there.

I think once you actually have a correct tally, you should find only one or two scores above 60, because the median score is 54. You can't have scores over 60 without other scores taking a hit of some sort.

Yes!!! I realized what I did.. That's why I deleted my post.. I just didn't have time to retake it at that point.. Sometimes I just Skim things too much , like instructions. :doh:
SO ended up assigning each point a value instead of ranking them.. I was thinking sliding scale when I should have been thinking rank from most likely to least likely..

I knew there was no way I was Flat line or even a tri-type..

SO now I am off to retake the test.. :)
 

Totenkindly

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Yes!!! I realized what I did.. That's why I deleted my post.. I just didn't have time to retake it at that point.. Sometimes I just Skim things too much , like instructions. :doh:

:doh: for me, I hadn't realized it was a deleted post -- sorry!
 
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