Insights® Discovery and Carl Jung: the psychology behind the four-colour model

Insights® Discovery is a highly regarded psychometric tool, based on a four-colour energy model. It’s used by 48% of the Fortune 500 companies for team development, leadership and positively enhancing collaboration in the workplace. Its success can be attributed to its roots in the well-versed psychology of Carl Gustav Jung. 

In this article, we’ll break down Jung’s analytical psychology and how it actually influences Insights® Discovery. Whether you’ve participated in an Insights® Discovery workshop and are looking to understand the background in more depth, or you’re considering whether the research behind this tool is strong enough to take the plunge at your company, this one’s for you.

Academic background

Carl Gustav Jung received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Basel in 1900 and went on to become a renowned Swiss psychologist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Jung is best known for founding the area of analytical psychology and his exploration of the human mind and personality archetypes.

He shared a friendship with the infamous Sigmund Freud and initially collaborated with him on Freud’s school of psychoanalysis. Jung, however, had a different idea for where he wanted his research to go so eventually went his own way to develop his separate system of analytical psychology.

Jung believed that human behavior was, at least in part, driven by a desire for self-improvement and working towards future goals.

What is analytical psychology?

Analytical psychology is a psychotherapy framework based on a complex theory of personality. The focus is on bringing together the conscious and unconscious minds, and how these influence behavior. 

Jung believed in both a personal and collective unconscious, with the collective being an inherited part of the mind shared by all humans. His work suggests that combining these different aspects of the human psyche can lead to personal growth and self-awareness.

The difference between this and Freud’s school of thought is the two parts of the unconscious mind. Freud spoke only of the personal unconscious whilst Jung introduced the concept of a second collective unconscious, often referred to as ancestral memory.

How does this link to Insights® Discovery?

Jung defined two core attitudes – intraversion and extraversion – and four psychological functions – thinking, feeling, sensing and intuition. He stated that an individual’s personality is made up of a combination of these attitudes and functions. This shapes how they perceive and react to situations.

Thinking and feeling are considered rational, judging functions that are linked to decision making. Sensing and intuition are considered irrational, perceiving functions which focus on gathering information.

Insights® Discovery is based on a four-colour model: Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow, Earth Green and Cool Blue. These colours represent different behavioral patterns. A participant answers multiple choice questions in the Insights® Discovery evaluator which produces an Insights® Discovery personal profile for that individual. This depicts the person’s conscious and ‘less conscious’ colour energy preferences.

These four colours expand out to eight personality types, each of which represents a Jungian behaviour combination. For example: Cool Blue is ‘introverted thinking’ and Sunshine Yellow is ‘extraverted feeling’. 

These personality types can be broken down further, eventually ending with the 72-type model. Each iteration provides a more specific description of behavior and multiple results can subsequently be mapped onto the team wheel to show the spread across a group of colleagues.

Why does Insights® Discovery work?

Put simply, increased self-awareness leads to better performance metrics. Understanding your working and communication style can help you have more efficient and successful interactions with those around you. The next layer is learning the working and communication style of your colleagues. This improves collaboration in the workplace, allows for more positive team dynamics and individual drive to perform well for the team as a whole.

Insights® Discovery packages an intricate school of research into an easy-to-remember and visually appealing learning tool. A clear example of this is the 72-type team wheel which gives a quick visual overview of a team’s decision making preferences and any gaps in the group’s strengths.

Want to learn more? Have a read of our article explaining what happens during an Insights® Discovery workshop.

As the first, and largest, official distributor of Insights Discovery in Switzerland, Tree Trunk Partners has spent over a decade helping individuals and teams understand and value their unique styles, and implement strategies for realizing their full potential.

Image sources: https://treetrunk.ch/ and https://www.insights.com/