Frequently Asked Questions > Basics
A Brief Introduction to "The Spiral" model
and Gravesian Theory
People think in
different ways. A brother and sister, husband and wife, manager and
employee, corporation and client company might have very different
world views and values. People in adjoining cubicles or families
living right next door to each other sometimes don't seem to be
inhabiting the same neighborhood. Colleagues in an organization have
wide ranging ideas about vision, mission, and purpose. Countries
sharing one planet often seem to be in totally different worlds with
their policies. Why?
Dynamics® programs are a way of thinking about these complexities of
human existence and bringing some order and predictability to the
apparent chaos of human affairs. It provides a framework for tracking
the evolution of worldviews and a scaffold on which to stand while
analyzing situations and planning the most appropriate actions.
Sometimes called levels of psychological existence theory, this work
lays out a pattern of human differences and a trajectory for change.
It addresses why we have unique perspectives on living, and how our
own senses of what "the real world" is like can vary. More
than that, SD offers concrete tools for communicating, managing,
organizing, and learning to fit who people are and who they are on the
road to becoming what they will be next.
Based in the original research and theory building of Dr. Clare W.
Graves, this point of view describes how emergent waves of
consciousness flow through individuals and groups leading to greater
expansiveness in thinking and an increase in conceptual space - the
entry of more factors into life's equation and the ability to
incorporate more ways of knowing. It elaborates different ways of
behaving which are congruent with shifting views of existence and
which people functioning at those different levels deem appropriate.
This theory does not track with intelligence per the old IQ models,
and only somewhat with intelligences (see Howard Gardner's work) as
they reflect shifting focus of attention. Temperament variables do not
fit neatly into this Spiral, either. Although there are some
correlations with factors like rigidity, authoritarianism and impulse
control, some of these are linear relationships and others appear to
rise and fall in different systems.
In other words, this is more of a quantitative than qualitative
hierarchy, though both kinds of differences arise among the systems.
It describes expansiveness in thinking and conceptualization, not the
worth or decency of the person. People don't get smarter or better as
they move through the levels; though they do broaden their
perspectives and increase their options to act appropriately in a
given situation. They don't necessarily achieve higher planes of
"consciousness" in the neo-spiritual, metaphysical sense,
though they do become conscious of more complex factors in more
elaborated ways. And they may well come to think about
"consciousness" in new and different ways. So the reasons
for acting in particular ways change, as do the behaviors. Yet all of
this doesn't necessarily make a person happier or sadder, wiser or
more foolish, kinder or harder, better adjusted or more out of sorts;
it only increases their degrees of behavioral freedom and opens a
different sense of what life is about. (For some remarks by Dr. Graves
on the notion that no system is inherently better or worse than
another, yet that there is a trend to move along the Spiral to adjust
to changes in our human existence, click here.)
Dynamics® training we tell the story
describing how biopsychosocial systems along a continuum form an expanding spiral. (A zig-zag line or a wobbling curve
works, too, but a 3-D image is more intriguing.) The term
biopsychosocial reflects Graves' insistence on a multidisciplinary
approach to understanding human nature - Bio: for the neurology and
chemical energy of life; Psycho: for the familiar psychological
dimensions such as temperament, measurable intelligences, and
personality variables; Social: for the collective energy in group
dynamics and culture as the social atom influences human behavior.
These three elements interact constantly within Gravesian levels. Some
users also feel it is appropriate to add -Spiritual to make the term
bio-pyscho-socio-spiritual systems since they view that as another
distinct aspect of human nature rather than being integrated among the
This work was called "Value Systems Theory" for a long time.
That title produced confusion since most people have a clear
definition of values in mind already. When some then add 'moral' to
values, the field is even more limiting. These models are about where
those decisions come from and how they are made. It better addresses
why people adopt the values they do, not what those values are. It is
deep systems for valuing, not collections of values. Thus, you might
think of values, moralities, standards, beliefs, and priorities as
contents (memes, per Richard Dawkins et al.). The Gravesian levels in
the Spiral model are more like containers for them (vMemes -
for value system meme attractors). In some ways the container limits
its contents, though, just as certain contents require a more
specialized container and can't be force-fit into just anything. The
basic eight theoretical containers described in the tables below can
hold all sorts of contents. The question is, how do they hold and
shape them? How does the person relying on such a container(s) think
about the thing? How is that content set shaped by the container it's
put into, and how is the container impacted by the contents?
What people in each world seek out in life . . . (Goals of
1 BEIGE (A-N) survival;
biogenic needs satisfaction; reproduction; satisfy instinctive urges;
2 PURPLE (B-O) placate spirit
realm; honor ancestors; protection from harm; family bonds; respect
elders; safety for tribe
3 RED (C-P) power/action;
asserting self to dominate others and nature; control; sensory
pleasure; avoid shame
4 BLUE (D-Q) stability/order;
obedience to earn reward later; meaning; purpose; certainty; Truth;
the reason to live and die
5 ORANGE (E-R)
opportunity/success; competing to achieve; influence; autonomy;
mastery of nature; understanding self
6 GREEN (F-S) harmony/love;
joining together for mutual growth; awareness; belonging; spirituality
7 YELLOW (G-T)
independence/self-worth; fitting a sustainable living system; knowing;
the big questions; the long view
8 TURQUOISE (H-U) global community
without exploitation; understanding of life energies; survival of life
on a fragile Earth
Don't get too bogged down in the jargon and terminology, yet. Focus on
the idea of emergent levels of psychological existence - a series of
new worlds building upon what comes before and then becoming something
unexpected and new. The basic landmarks are designated by color
the Spiral Dynamics book -- beige, purple, red, blue, orange, green, yellow,
turquoise, coral, and others to come. Those are the "nodal"
states - peaks on a series of curves. There are sub-systems between
the peaks where the thinking represented by the adjacent colors blend
together. (In original Gravesian language, this is done with letter
pairs; more on that later.) You could think of them as string of
lights. Each light is on its own dimmer. They brighten and fade as
conditions change. Sometimes that's by conscious choice, and often
not. For more information on terminology and transitions, click here.
For example, many business people today are in the Orange-to-Green
transition seeking a return to more community and spirit in their
lives. For some the relativistic, sociocentric Green is brightening as
Orange fades; others have shifted back to Blue in an effort to achieve
the same sense of purpose and spiritual completion. A number of
politicians in developing nations are in the Blue-to-Orange range
trying to move their economies from structured, centrally-controlled
bureaucracy/theocracy to entrepreneurism and free markets: a fade
between bright Blue to more Orange.
Many environmental and activists are living in the Orange-to-Green-to-Yellow
zone as they work to achieve positive, sustainable results on a human
scale through interaction, involvement, and purposeful learning and
teaching. Some parts of the world are still in the Purple-to-Red
transition as ancient tribal ways confront well-armed and ruthless
dictators. Others are in the Red-to-Blue as centralized authority
tries to contain factional ethnic battles and feudal monarchies are
challenged by doctrinaire belief sets. Hotspots emerge as corporate
interests merged with governmental power - corporatocracies - from the
Orange zone overwhelm indigenous peoples in the Purple-Blue range with
ideas of progress and development schemes that don't fit the realities
at hand, and which ultimately destroy the less complex cultures,
languages, knowledge, and ecology by exploiting them. Yet naive
rescuers from the early Green zone sometimes romanticize the primitive
and non-functional - a human zoo - thus slowing natural emergence as
much as exploiters from Orange zone seek to transform it into their
own image, or 'missionaries' from Blue structures seek to convert to
the -ism of choice. Yellow thinking begins to question and analyze all
of these human processes as parts of an integrated spiral where
survival of life on earth is at stake, and Turquoise is looking for
solutions on a global, holistic scale and lives accordingly. The next
zone, Coral, may be the implementer, but that's in the future.
The cyclical aspect of the Graves theory is depicted with the two
color families. The warm color family (beige, red, orange, yellow,
etc.) exhibits an express-self way of living with a focus on the
external world and how to change and master it (with an internal,
I-oriented locus of control); it is how that expressiveness occurs
that differentiates the levels. The cool colors (purple, blue, green,
turquoise, etc.) have a sacrifice-self way of living with a focus on
the inner world and how to stabilize and come to peace with it (with
an external, we-oriented locus of control). The Spiral winds between a
series of individual "I" and collective "we" poles
as it turns between cool, deny-self group systems and warm,
individualistic express-self systems. As individuals, most of us are
mixtures of both, often living in the transitional phases, and
sometimes settling predominantly with one family or the other. This
broad swing from individualism to collectivism and back is also
something to note as societies move through time and cultures adjust
to changes in life conditions.
The Spiral/Graves model is not a typology for categorizing people into
eight rigid boxes. These are ways of thinking about a thing that
reside in varying proportions within human beings and which ebb and
flow, not labels for kinds of human being. The question is not how to
deal with a person at a given level, but how to deal with the thinking
of the level when it is activated in its particular way that person.
While most of us operate with mixtures and blends of these colors, one
or two are often dominant.
The eight levels of existence and the fourteen transitional states
between them are only the visible signs of much deeper forces at work.
Embedded within the spiral is a double helix. In the spiral diagram
above (and below), the alphabet letters on the left represent the Life
Conditions - a perception of "what the real world is like"
and a particular set of Existential Problems - at each level. Those
energies arise from the interaction of two elements: (a) the Life
Conditions the person or group encounters and (b) the brain/mind
capacities available to cope with such conditions. Thus, the term
biopsychosocial suggests a moving blend of the biological nature, the
psychology of experience and learning, and the sociology of group
interaction with the world. Existential problems (life conditions)
trigger neurological capacities (coping systems) and the combination
is a level of existence ('LoE' in Graves, 'vMeme' in the Spiral
perspective argues that human nature is both nature and nurture -- the
genetic heritage and neuronal systems interacting with the experiences of being
alive in an environment. It is this interaction between mind/brain
systems and modules inside with existential conditions and problems outside that is central to
the Gravesian point of view and energizes of emergence of the Spiral.
This also explains why the SD model is an emergent sequence and not a
developmental stair step tied to chronology; there is no mandate for
movement, and no predictable time-line when there is, only a probably
The following tables illustrate the colors and letter pairs - AN, BO,
CP, DQ, ER, FS, GT, HU, and IV, the last system clearly identified.
(Rather than being a continuum of 8+, these systems may also be
presented as a series of 6 core themes which repeat. This aspect of
Dr. Graves's hypothesis is as yet unproven, but fascinating to
consider and widely promoted. Thus, AN through FS represents a first
run-through - a First Tier of thinking systems. Graves called the
Subsistence Levels because they focus on relatively basic human needs.
The first repeat - Second Tier - is represented by the letters primed;
thus A'N', B'O', C'P', etc. These he called the Being Levels because
subsistence needs are subsumed beneath quality of existence issues
once the problems of the first six levels are in hand. The primes
suggest similarities to the base systems, plus an additional set of
neuronal capacities brought online. The gap between First Tier and
Second Tier appears to be far narrower than sometimes reported, if it
exists at all.
The first letter in each pairing represents the existential problems -
the life conditions that stimulate a particular kind of thinking to
resolve them. The second letter represents the mind/brain capacities -
the neurobiological equipment and mindsets required to deal with such
a reality. The combinations are represented by the colors which
symbolize their interaction, when they are aligned.
The landmark Life Conditions (A, B, C, ... I, etc.)
1 BEIGE A a state of nature and
biological urges/drives; physical senses dictate the state of being
2 PURPLE B threatening and full of
mysterious powers and spirit beings which must be placated and
3 RED C like a jungle where the
tough and strong prevail, the weak serve; nature is an adversary to be
4 BLUE D controlled by a Higher
Power that punishes evil and eventually rewards good works and
5 ORANGE E full of resources to
develop and opportunities to make things better and bring prosperity
6 GREEN F the habitat wherein
humanity can find love and purposes through affiliation and sharing
7 YELLOW G a chaotic organism
where change is the norm and uncertainty an acceptable state of being
8 TURQUOISE H a delicately
balanced system of interlocking forces in jeopardy at humanity's
9 CORAL I (too soon to say, but should tend to be I-oriented,
controlling, consolidating if the pattern to date holds)
The landmark coping means and neurology activated by such a world
(N, O, P, ...U, etc.)
BEIGE N instinctive: as natural
instincts and reflexes direct; automatic existence
PURPLE O animistic: according to
tradition and ritual ways of group; tribal; animistic
RED P egocentric: asserting self
for dominance, conquest, and power; exploitive; egocentric
BLUE Q absolutistic: obediently as
higher authority and rules direct; conforming; guilt
ORANGE E multiplistic: pragmatically to achieve results and get ahead;
test options; maneuver
GREEN S relativistic: respond to
human needs; affiliative; situational; consensual; fluid; relativisitc;
YELLOW T systemic: functional;
integrative; interdependent; existential; flexible; questioning;
TURQUOISE U holistic:
compassionate; collective consciousnesses; collaborative energy;
Note that the letters are not locked together. They can shift and,
to some extent, can be shifted. Thus, it is possible for someone to
live in an E level world but only have access to Q means of dealing
with life; the world will seem beyond the person's understanding at
times -- the old-time government bureaucrat suddenly in a privatized
agency that must prove its bottom-line effectiveness. Some things from
the more complex level will not 'register' in this person's awareness
and coping may be stressful, perhaps impossible. Some people can learn
the more complex ways; others are less likely to.
Another person might have T (or N') capacities, yet work in a
situation with a performance appraisal system concentrating on D or E
measures; such a person is often underutilized and frustrated by a
management system that appears to lag behind the thinking and focuses
on issues that seem secondary and narrow -- the IT professional
working where punctuality and compliance with a dress code matter more
than competence or creativity, or the student who is punished for
questioning teachers whose approach is far behind the complexity of
the thinking. If wise, the organization will adjust its management
system to fit the person; the school will match teacher, student, and
method. If not, it will lose mind/brain power and interest as the
person moves elsewhere. Getting the right person into the right job
with the right materials at the right time within the right systems
and structures is what SD is about. Then the challenge is to
communicate, develop, motivate, and manage those people in ways that
fit who they are now and prepare systems for who they will become
Some ideas to consider for understanding what is covered in Spiral
Dynamics® training and programs -
The Spiral is a model and framework for how people
think about things, not the things they think about. It represents
containers that shape worldviews, not the contents that fill them
(beliefs, values, etc.).
There is no direct link with intelligence, gender, age, ethnicity, or
other demographics except as those variables influence the world
around the person.
No level is inherently better or worse than another. They do become
more expansive since each builds on all that came before.
The theory is hierarchical in terms of conceptual space (the inclusion
of progressively more factors and ways of understanding), but not in
terms of intelligence in the conventional sense.
The general trend is up the Spiral because thinking in more complex
systems offers more degrees of freedom to act appropriately in a given
situation by using more fully the mind/brain which is there.
A person is not generally locked at a single level. The Gravesian
systems are ways of thinking about things, not typologies for people,
so several can coexist.
Systems are rarely discrete and often run in combinations, though one
often will be the dominant state.
Individuals and organizations may appear to be largely of the
warm-colored individualistic approach or the cool-colored collective
Gravesian systems do not go away; they are subsumed within more
complex layers and can rise to the surface if Life Conditions warrant.
Beware of finding simplicity which is not there. The "emergent,
cyclical, double-helix model of adult biopsychosocial systems
development" of Dr. Clare W. Graves is more complex than many
Beware of complications which do not serve the theory. The model is
elegant in itself and is sometimes wrapped in details which contribute
little of substance and only add confusion.
People may talk about more complex systems without actually
operationalizing the ways of thinking and being they describe. Look
for "stretch" versions of systems that talk a good game but
do not live the worldview.
People may shift their thinking to fit the conditions at hand and
operate quite differently when under pressure or stress.
There are entering and exiting phases between systems where most
energy lies; the pure colors are only the theoretical peaks of waves.
People value different things because they think in different ways.
They think in different ways because the mixes of thinking systems (vMEMEs)
in the biopsychosocial complexes in which they exist are different.
Memes and vMemes aren't the same thing. Memes are the ideas - contents
that are replicated and imitated. vMemes are the levels - containers
Different organizations - companies, schools, NGOs, and governments -
occupy different positions on the Spiral and need to develop
managerial/governance strategies that match their people, their
visions of the future, and the jobs they perform today.
Managers should develop a consistent and systemic approach to all the
issues within the organizational loop - recruitment, selection,
placement, training, internal management, and external marketing - so
they all align, integrate, and synergize.
Organizations should be constructed from both "the top down"
and "the bottom up" to link the functions, intelligences,
and decision structures that the more complex new problems ahead will
Successful organizations are in danger of failing if they continue to
manage people in the ways that made them successful in the first
Many people need to be managed quite differently today because they
have moved on the Spiral even further and faster than most of their
bosses, teachers, and even parents.
Marketing efforts, strategic plans, and M&A efforts often fail
because the designers look into mirrors and assume the audiences and
cultures they are attempting to reach share the same values systems
The question is not "how do you motivate people?" but how do
you relate what you are doing to their natural motivational flows. A
person has a right to be who he or she is.
Issues with productivity, quality, political instability, and
restructuring are signs of growth and not decay which will force us to
find new and innovative ways to manage people based on who they have
Since people learn in different ways form different kinds of teachers,
the task of education is to match learners, instructors, learning
situations, and technologies designed for fit, function, and flow.
Dealing with the whole Spiral at once is the great challenge for
everyone, and will be easiest and most natural for those awakening
Second Tier thinking (Yellow and beyond).
As a species, the leading edge of Homo sapiens is now at a point of
transition between the first six Subsistence Levels and the next
series of human existential states, the Being Levels. It is a time of
both danger and opportunity as new ways of thinking, indeed, new sorts
of human beings, emerge to prominence.