I've been talking with my certified consultant about the report of my Human Patterns instrument. The results are all reported in pairs called Proactive and Reactive. Proactive describes the respondent "at ease" and Reactive describes them "under pressure."
The values reported are in standard deviations from the norm. Generally values up to half a standard deviation are only known by the respondent. A full standard deviation from the norm is noticeable to others. Two standard deviations from the norm causes some problems and the respondent could benefit by compensating for. Three standard deviations and the respondent cannot recognize the possibility that such a number could have meaning since this is a quality that they consider non-negotiable. Further from the norm is considered a pathology.
In my discussion below, I'll use the convention (concept:quality[proactive σ¦reactive σ]) for shorthand. For example, (Interpersonal Themes:Submissiveness[0.2¦-2.0]) signifies that most of the time nobody, including me, thinks about submissiveness one way or the other when they think about me, but under pressure, to everyone's surprise, I get annoyingly unshakeable.
The first graph in the report describes my world view. The legend says that this addresses the questions "What leads to my feeling self actualized and stimulated? How do I orient myself to my environment? Why am I here?" Two qualities here are most remarkable. Ideas and Theories [3.1¦1.9] stands the tallest, and under pressure my "Traditional Values and Structures" plummets over a point and a half [-0.5¦-2.2].
I'll interpolate the quality description text to the negative for Traditional Values and Structures:
Structure Averse: Refuses to respond to situations which call for attention to detail and procedure. They disdain a structured and traditional environment and don't want to view problems from a system perspective. Self-esteem is derived from long term destruction of relationships, membership, and community life.
That last sentence added to the one from Ideas and theories (Self-esteem is derived from the intellectual soundness of their own thought) adds nicely to: "I'm right and you all can (and, if you piss me off, should) go to hell."
My world view is Self-Righteous Indifference which ramps up to Self-Righteous Indignation under pressure.
How is a pharisee like me to ever hope for Christ's seed to sprout?
I certainly don't want to risk (Sensitivities:Being in situations requiring risk[2.3¦1.8]) such a change(Leadership Motivations:Conservation[1.1¦0.7])(Criteria for Management:S.O.P.[1.3¦1.6]) even though I'm restless(Personal Themes-Self:Energy level/agitation[1.4¦0.2]) and have no comfort with who I am(General Themes:Sense of well-being[-2.7¦-2.6]).
What a relief it is to know that it's not up to me (Sensitivities:Being unskilled or uninformed[-0.6¦-1.1]).
Posted to Interior Life at June 10, 2005 3:36 PMThat's the point of grace, you know.
Pathology starts at 4, really. The guy who created it has *5*s. He's a classic polarizer: you either love him or you hate him, almost from the moment he's in the room with you.
Also, any switch in sign is important (a "switch"). Any change more than .75 is important. Switches that are also changes are very important.
Stan, HumPat's creator, says that your proactive state is who you want to be or who you want the world to think you are, while your reactive (pressure) state is who you really are.
Remember that having a negative score is simply having less of X than the population norm. So your low reactive score on Traditional Structures DOES NOT imply the reverse of it. It's like Introversion and Extroversion: they aren't a continuum but two different qualities. Related, but they are not two poles of the same thing.
Also, any one result isn't meaningful. It's the whole thing taken together.
I've put up some of my results somewhere. I GIFed the PDF graphs. Your's are much less frightening than mine.