What level are you negotiating at?

Subject-Object Development & Scale of Self Differentiation

Blue Belt: Instrumental Mind

Subject: Needs, Desires

Object: Impulses

What’s in it for me? Sees others as means to an end; understands rules but mainly as a way to get what they want; Struggles to take others' viewpoints as meaningful unless it benefits self

White Belt: Impulsive Mind

Subject: Fused with impulses & perceptions

Object: n/a

Instinct Driven; Experience is dominated by instincts and sensations; short time horizon; behavior is impulsive and egocentric; no real sense of others' perspectives yet

Purple Belt: Socialized Mind

Subject: Social roles, norms

Object: Own needs, desires

Desires belonging and approval: Sees others as means to an end; understands rules but mainly as a way to get what they want; Difficulty stepping outside expectations to define one’s own beliefs or goals

Brown Belt: Self-Authoring Mind

Subject: Personal identity and values

Object: Social expectations

Sense of personal purpose; Can still be rigid or overidentified with a fixed identity or worldview

Black Belt: Self-Transforming Mind (Rare)

Subject: Meaning making itself

Object: Identity, Ideology

Interdependence, Transformation; Can hold contradictions, see complexity, embrace change; identities are fluid, not fixed