THE TRIANGLES MODEL
Mind Growth Masters facilitates workshops and one-on-one sessions using tools, linked to neuroscience and transformational coaching, to help delegates
reach their true potential
Neuroplasticity refers to the brains ability to change its structure and function in response to different experiences and external stimuli. This ability of the brain to develop and adapt is critical for maintaining a healthy brain. The mechanisms of neuroplasticity include changes in synaptic connections, alterations in gene expression and the growth of new neurons and glial cells.
Triangles Model was developed over the years as a strategy designed to assist individuals identify their unique personality traits and the way in which they process information pertaining to day-to-day life. The application is especially powerful in that personal and inter-personal psycho-dynamics have been simplified in the form of triangular configurations. These are easy to understand and communicate and thereby serve to unify individuals and work units and indeed whole departments. Most importantly though, the application addresses both performance as well as sustained wellness in the work environment.
The major components that produce the most optimal chemistry and which gives rise to neuroplasticity are reflected
in two processes:
1. Growing new neuronal connections to other brain cells based on a new labelling and understanding of the environment
2. Breaking down the redundant circuits that are no longer used
There are five core elements that were identified as creating new brain circuitry:
1. Meaning, purpose, and curiosity
2. Self-esteem and self-efficacy
3. Personal gratification
4. Achievement
5. Connectivity and value contribution
Copyright – Dr Ian Weinberg
The connections between the brain and the rest of the body were already documented one and a half centuries ago. The brain is the seat of the mind – that place which houses all our fears, aspirations, feelings, indeed all which is us and which we use to make sense of the world. And it is all these activities which generate chemistry in the brain which in turn exerts a profound influence on the rest of the body.
Even prior to contemporary research on the subject there was an awareness that certain life situations resulted in identifiable physical ailments and even death. For example, examination stress often gives rise to ailments in students. Retirement or retrenchment is often followed by a high incidence of medical problems which may become fatal. Loss or bereavement may also lead to physical illness. Common to many of these situations is a mind-set which has loosely been defined as hopeless-helpless.
In the early seventies a researcher by the name of Robert Ader performed the first animal experiments in which he showed conclusively that immunity could be influenced by mental activity. He endorsed the term psychoneuro-immunology or PNI, which subsequently became a new field of medical scientific research.
However, it was the psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl who so profoundly illustrated the concept of PNI long before it became a documented entity. He was interned in a concentration camp during World War 2. He estimated that his chance of survival was one in twenty-eight. On observing who survived and who succumbed he noted that only those who retained purpose and meaning in their lives survived. Once an individual lost the purpose to live, they either succumbed to a fatal infection (TB, typhus or typhoid) due to loss of immunity or else they weakened physically, were unable to work and were selected out for extermination. In other words, purpose and meaning impacted favourably on physical wellness and performance.
In 1979 whilst still an intern, neurologist & neurosurgeon Dr Ian Weinberg concluded that the medical model had somehow disregarded the influence of the patient’s personal life situation, their psycho-social circumstances, in the development of their illness. And so, he began a passionate study of PNI. Initially he developed an application for his patients which was designed to empower them to enhance their immunities while the physical ailment such as a brain tumour, was treated in the conventional way. It soon became apparent that the same strategies had a major application in terms of the prevention of illness, thus promoting wellness.
Several of his patients recognised that the application could be very effective in enhancing performance and thus productivity in the corporate environment.
The application was therefore further refined and became known as the Triangles Model©. So named because the brain constantly processes it’s environment and stores the relevant associations via the five senses in specific regions of the brain. In real terms, the manner of representation is through the creation of structures which have pyramidal configurations. In a two-dimensional format the pyramids are represented as triangles.
The Triangles Model was developed over the years as a strategy designed to assist individuals identify their unique personality traits and the way in which they process information pertaining to day-to-day life. The application is especially powerful in that personal and inter-personal psycho-dynamics have been simplified in the form of triangular configurations. These are easy to understand and communicate and thereby serve to unify individuals and work units and indeed whole departments. Most importantly though, the application addresses both performance as well as sustained wellness in the work environment.
More recent studies, performed both in corporate and in clinical environments, have substantiated many facets of the Triangles Model. The studies included in-depth reviews of psychological profiles identifying three core archetypes and the relevant chemical configurations associated with them. This enables the evaluation of individuals in terms of stress and wellness (or illness) expectations as well as work performance. With this diagnostic comes an equally powerful intervention programme aimed at neutralising stress and enhancing wellness and performance, and thus the bottom-line!
Each Archetype combines how we were nurtured (or deprived) during our primary years, our inherent processing traits, values, needs and drives as well as a chemical configuration.
The three core archetypes are summarised as follows:
The Alpha Archetype:
The (A) Alpha Archetype is a product of minimal deprivation.
They are non-judgmental and sensitive to the extended environment. They are driven by task-engagement gratification rather than by the achievement of objectives alone. They also derive gratification from value contribution to their environments.
The Bravo Archetype:
This (B) Archetype evolves from a nurture dynamic of moderate deprivation.
This Archetype is highly driven to achieve objectives, knowing that there will be ultimate reward for task application. One of the important drives is fear of failure to achieve the objectives. The Bravo Archetype is self-absorbed and judgmental, but efficient and ambitious. Issues which may arise as a result of excessive fear is the need to control and the inability to delegate.
The Charlie Archetype:
This (C) Archetype emerges from a nurture heritage of extreme deprivation.
Here are found individuals with low self-esteem and a lack of belief in their abilities. This Archetype may incorporate the belief that they are not worthy of gratification and that they are born to serve others. The deprivation heritage may also give rise to traits of hostility and vengefulness towards those who they believe are more successful and fortunate than themselves. The combination of low self-esteem, hostility, vengefulness, and suppression may give rise to the sociopathic personality disorder or in extreme forms, to psychopathy. On the positive side, individuals with this archetype often have talents. This is important in the context of intervention.
In practice, a continuum exists such that there are no pure Alpha’s, Bravo’s or Charlie’s. Rather, individuals generally incorporate traits from all three Archetypes but are still recognisable as occupying a defined point along the continuum. Defined Archetypes therefore include Alpha, Alpha-Bravo, Bravo, Bravo-Charlie and Charlie.
All rights reserved – Ian Weinberg 2019.