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