GRAVES VALUE
THEORY
Motivational drives -
Types of values that
motivate us
Criteria
Criteria are standards with which we evaluate things.
For instance: when you meet someone new, you may be using 'honest' as a criterion.
Values
Values are very important criteria.
For instance: 'Honesty' might be a value when you meet someone new. If they don't seem very happy, you might not worry about that. But if they strike you as dishonest, you might think twice about doing anything with them.
Meta Programs and values
Meta Programs are ways in which you handle your values.
For instance: are you assuming people will be honest (meta program 'Matching') or are you assuming they will be dishonest (meta program 'Mismatching')?
Graves Drives
Graves Drives are a typology of important criteria (values). In MindSonar we use them to make it easier to compare a value with other values.
For example: is honesty about power for you (the red Graves drive)? Or is it about community (the green Graves drive)?
Graves drives in MindSonar
MindSonar measures these seven drives:
- Purple Drive
Criteria in that have to do primarily with security and safety.
Other keywords for this drive are: belonging, tradition, feeling at home, togetherness, and seniority. - Red Drive
Criteria that relate primarily to power and respect—to getting respect in particular, but also to showing respect. Acting impulsively, quickly, and forcefully without thinking of the consequences.
Other keywords for this drive are: reputation, power, strength, honour, and courage. - Blue Drive
Criteria that have to do primarily with order and security.
Other keywords for this drive are: discipline, reliability, duty, and control. - Orange Drive
Criteria that that are associated primarily with competition and winning.
Other keywords for this drive are: success, achievement, results, progress, and influence. - Green Drive
Criteria that have to do primarily with ideals and loyalty to the group.
Other keywords for this drive are: harmony, community, connectedness, love, social contact, and consensus. - Yellow Drive
Criteria that have to do primarily with learning and independence.
Other keywords for this drive are: creativity, analysis, and personal growth. - Turquoise Drive
Criteria primarily associated with the big picture and a holistic vision.
Other keywords for this drive are: responsibility for the earth as a whole, spirituality, balance, and integration.
Claire W. Graves
The US psychologist Claire Graves theorized that there are eight value systems, which have evolved over the course of human history. He assumed that each value system flows from the previous one as a response to:
a. Ever more complex life circumstances
b. Problems with the previous value system.
Graves and Maslow
Graves was a professor of Psychology in the sixties and seventies of the 20th century at Union College in New York, the same university where Abraham Maslow taught. Maslow was developing his motivation theory (the famous Pyramid of Needs), which shows the development of individual needs. Graves thought Maslow's model did not offer a broad enough base for understanding man as a bio-psycho-social-cultural being. He assumed that human behaviour was not determined by individual needs alone, but by a combination of social, biological and psychological factors
Graves categorisation
MindSonar measures the extent to which someone's criteria are associated with Graves Drives. We call this Graves categorisation: putting someone's criteria (already formulated) into Graves categories.