Psychologist, Carol Dwek, PhD, also recognizes the same patterns of human learning, however, Dwek’s Growth Mindset [democratic culture of innovation and growth]-Fixed Mindset [autocratic culture of conformity and status quo] framework states that the learner [subordinate] drives the level of engagement while the Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© uncovers that it is in fact the supervisor who determines the level of learner [subordinate] engagement.

Maria Montessori, MD, recognized that many educational hierarchies create a culture of conformity and status quo (autocracy) and that by engaging the student in their own learning (engagement-transparency spectrum of democratic belief-behavior system), students are able to truly learn and discover. Her insights lead to the Montessori Method of Education. The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© explains the rules and pathways for these patterns, essentially explaining how and why they are true.

Psychologists David Merrill and Roger Reid, who created the Social Styles Model in the mid-1900s, and mother-daughter thought leaders Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers who created the Myers-Briggs Personality Categories in the early to mid 1900s, also recognized the same patterns of human behavior, however, their sorting of the patterns of human behavior ended before they could discern the continua of those behaviors.

For example, Merrill and Reid had not yet uncovered that the behaviors that they classified as fixed people-ask, actually represent the engagement-transparency spectrum of interactions that a democratically minded supervisor drives with their subordinate. Additionally, the behaviors that Merrill and Reid classified as fixed task-tell actually represent the deprivation-domination spectrum of interactions that an autocratically minded supervisor drives with their subordinate.

Additionally, the Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© uncovers that all people can toggle between democratic-autocratic belief-behavior systems when their intention is to help the common good, and all people can toggle between manipulative-exploitive belief-behavior systems when their intention is individual gain at the expense of the common good. Belief-behavior systems are dichotomies with continua.

Psychologist Douglas McGregor, PhD’s XY Theory also recognizes that supervisors toggle between X-Theory behaviors [autocratic] and Y-Theory behaviors [democratic], however, McGregor was thinking that external characteristics such as the type of worker or the work environment is what leads a supervisor to toggle into a certain behavior pattern and that it is a conscious decision, rather than recognizing that it is the unconscious democratic or autocratic belief of the supervisor that causes the democratic vs autocratic feelings-thoughts-behaviors cascade.

In The Gardener and the Carpenter, psychologist and philosopher, Alison Gopnik, D.Phil, astutely recognized the dichotomy of parenting behavior patterns, which she classifies as gardeners [democratic belief-behavior systems] and carpenters [autocratic belief-behavior systems]. The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© not only explains the rules and pathways that cause the patterns that Gopnik describes, but also clarifies that these belief-behavior systems apply to every hierarchy, not just families. Additionally, the Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© describes that a democratic or autocratic unconscious belief is what causes the toggle between the two cascades.

In The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Loose Influence, psychologist, Dacher Keltner, PhD, also describes the patterns of enduring power as advancing the greater good [democratic belief-behavior systems] and self-serving power as undermining the greater good [autocratic-manipulative-exploitive belief-behavior systems], and describes the toggle between them. The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© explains the rules and pathways that cause these patterns that Keltner is describing as well as cause the toggle between different belief-behavior systems: the intention to protect the common good leads to the democratic-autocratic cascade, and the intention for individual power at the expense of the common good leads to the manipulative-exploitive cascade.

Brené Brown, PhD also describes the patterns of democratic belief-behavior systems when she discusses “daring leadership, being a learner and getting it right,” and she also describes the patterns of autocratic belief-behavior systems when she discusses “armored leadership, being a knower and being right.” The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© explains the rules and pathways that cause these patterns that Brown is describing as well as the cause of the toggle between the two, a democratic versus autocratic unconscious belief.

In Thinking Fast and Slow, psychologist and economist, Daniel Kahneman, PhD, describes an immediate, unconscious type of thinking and a later, conscious type of thinking. While we are both recognizing the same patterns of human thinking, the Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© uncovers the cascade of unconscious beliefs leading to conscious feelings then thoughts and finally behaviors. As we move through the belief-behavior cascade, the first part of the cascade, our belief, is unconscious and immediate. This immediate unconscious belief then causes our conscious feelings-thoughts-behaviors cascade. Because our behaviors are the final destination of this cascade, we can hopefully learn how to audit our unconscious beliefs by recognizing their clues and evidence before we act.

Keltner as well as many other academics emphasize that great leaders pay attention to emotion [feelings-thoughts-behavior cascade] which psychologists, Peter Salovey, PhD, and John D. Mayer, PhD, termed Emotional Intelligence. The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© uncovers the rules and pathways that describe the fundamental role of emotion [feeling] in the belief-behavior cascade. Specifically, that unconscious beliefs cause feelings then thoughts then behaviors, and therefor, a supervisor can learn to identify their unconscious beliefs by recognizing their own feelings (clues), thoughts (clues), and behaviors (evidence). A supervisor can also learn to identify their own unconscious beliefs by correctly interpreting the feelings (clues), thoughts (clues) and behaviors (evidence) of their subordinates.

Psychologist Albert Eglash’s Restorative Justice is an attempt to understand and correct for the unconscious bias (autocracy) which is incubated by our criminal justice system (and many other criminal justice systems), which hampers our ability to bestow justice. The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© not only explains how and why this unconscious bias exists, but also explains how to correct and conquer our unconscious bias in order to administer true social justice.

Victor Hugo, celebrated 19th century writer and social justice advocate, provides a great literary illustration of the unconscious bias in criminal justice hierarchies with his character, Javert [autocratic belief-behavior system], from Les Misérables. Javert follows the letter of the law to punish Jean Valjean for stealing, but the context of Jean Valjean’s crime was that he was stealing bread to save the life of a child, a clear example of a resistance belief-behavior system. Uncovering the context of the “crime” is essential for administering real justice. The social problem is not that Jean Valjean is a criminal and needs to be locked away; his behaviors consistently prove the opposite as he uses his democratic belief-behavior system to improve the common good. The real problem, tragically, is that children are starving and dying; there is dysfunction within the social hierarchy, which is at the least autocracy and at the worst manipulative-exploitive. Deciphering the context (resolving our knowledge gap) helps us recognize and truly begin to solve the real problem which is the underlying dysfunction of the social hierarchy.

Playwright and social justice advocate, Bertolt Brecht, also emphasized the poetic injustice and unconscious bias of our criminal justice hierarchies in his 1928 play, The Three Penny Opera, with the insight shared by his character, Macheath: “You may proclaim, good sirs, your fine philosophy. But till you feed us, right and wrong can wait!” The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© uncovers that survival is the first goal of existence and when the hierarchy does not effectively solve the underlying problem of survival, it is tragically in its autocratic or manipulative or exploitive belief-behavior system. By seeking out our knowledge and experience gaps, by seeking out the context, we begin to function in our democratic belief-behavior system and are then equipped to truly solve our social problems.

NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff beautifully reported on the Inuit tradition of collaborating with their children to help them learn. Martha Tikivik, an Inuit elder, noted that since ancient times, Inuit have seen anger as unproductive and elaborated that “Anger's not going to solve your problem. It's just going to stop you from doing something that you need to get done.” This is a wonderful example of not only recognizing the evolutionary advantage of democratic belief-behavior systems but nurturing tradition around that truth to create a culture of learning and growth and success. The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© explains the rules and pathways for these patterns, essentially explaining how and why they are true.

In Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, neurobiologist and primatologist, Robert Sapolsky, PhD, also recognized the dichotomy of worst [autocratic, manipulative, exploitive] and best [democratic] patterns of human behavior, highlighting the importance of evolution in understanding these patterns. The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© uncovers the evolutionary advantage of forming hierarchies to improve survival and quality of life, and the evolutionary advantage of developing democratic belief-behavior systems to facilitate effective problem-solving and hierarchy or group success. The Belief-Behavior Systems Archetype© also highlights that hierarchies incubate unconscious bias, creating autocratic cultures and thus tension between the hierarchy and subordinates, and in order to survive within an autocratic hierarchy, disengagement-resistance belief-behavior systems evolved.