Cross Balance

Two x Two brain drive

If these four faculties do underlie our four temperaments,
one can ask if there is some other more basic foursome that controls our faculties?
Studies of the brain seem to say yes.

The brain is divided into two hemispheres,
each of which has two parts making four “quadrants”.
According to a psychologist Dr Herrman,
each of these four quadrants controls particular thinking skills.
The left side of the brain deals with analytical and sequential skills
and controls the right side of the body,
whereas the right side of the brain deals with imaginative and interpersonal skills
and controls the left side of the body.

These four quadrants seem to correspond to our faculties and temperaments
as shown in the diagram.
The diagonal dotted line shows the division
into left  (L) and right (R) sides of the brain.
The letters A,B,C,D behind the descriptions
are used by Herrman to identify each quadrant
– thus A corresponds to our interpretative faculty, B to application,
C to expression and D to observation.

The physical structure of the brain supports the fact
that the four temperaments are in contrasting pairs.
Quadrants in the same hemisphere (C-D, A-B) are closely connected,
and we can shift our thinking from one to the other quite easily.
Thinking associated with quadrants adjacent to each other in opposite hemispheres
are less easily shifted (A-D, B-C).
But the most difficult is to shift our thinking patterns
from quadrants diagonally opposite each other (A-C, D-B).
The thickness of the arrows indicates the ease of linkage.