What Your Reaction to Conflict Reveals About Your Psychometric Profile

When you find yourself confronted and challenged by others, you will likely have one of four possible responses:

• Intimidate
• Manipulate
• Interrogate
• Aloofly judge

This is your natural, unconscious reaction. It is your automatic attempt to resolve conflict. You may even rapidly move from one of these response strategies into another when your first reaction proves to be ineffective.

If your natural reaction in a conflict situation with another person is to intimidate, but they have more natural intimidation power than you, your emotional engine will automatically and rapidly switch to another conflict resolution strategy until it finds one that seems to work.

All of these reactions are based on your Core Values Index psychometric profile. In fact, you can often tell what someone's primary core value energy is by how they respond to stress.

(We don't condone angering someone just to reveal hints about their psychometric profile.)

For those who have taken the Core Values Index psychometric assessment and read your full report, you will have access to your scores amongst each of the four core value energies. (The Basic/Free results do not show this information. Upgrade today.) Knowing your scores reveals a lot about your reactions to emotional challenges.

Each of the four core value energies has an inherent response to conflict or stress. These reactions are called Conflict Resolution Strategies.

When you experience conflict with another person, your first resolution strategy — your response to the conflict — will initially be based on your primary core value energy.

In conflict, Builders intimidate, Merchants manipulate, Innovators interrogate, and Bankers aloofly judge.

All of these reactions and responses are automatic and come from a place deep within your emotional foundation: your lizard brain.

You can't help it, although you can learn to recognize what is happening and take steps to mitigate and temper your response.

Your emotional core value engine is so adept at recognizing the best response for any given situation, you will move down through your core value energies in descending order based on the situation.

For example, my CVI scores are 27-Innovator, 17-Banker, 15-Builder, and 13-Merchant. If I get into a conflicting situation with another Innovator, my first reaction to interrogate probably won't work, especially if their Innovator score is higher than mine. My lizard brain will move me rapidly into my Banker's conflict resolution strategy. I will aloofly judge the other person since Banker is my secondary core value energy. If that doesn't work, I'll go into my tertiary energy, Builder, and intimidation will ensue.

As an example, what happens when two people with primary Builder scores get into an argument? Whoever has the higher Builder score will out-intimidate the other person, who will descend into their secondary core value energy's conflict resolution strategy.

All of these responses and changes are a part of what makes us unique. You can read about your psychometric profile's conflict resolution strategies in your full CVI report. Through this effort, you can learn to recognize your emotional reactions to stress and take steps to shift them into positive and constructive responses.

Those with the CVI Full Results package can download The Core Values Handbook, a PDF eBook included free with your account. This handbook is an outstanding resource for understanding your particular core values profile and your personal conflict resolution strategies.

Learning how to recognize your conflict resolution responses and acting in a constructive manner based on your profile is what it means to become mature in your Core Values Index profile.

The CVI helps you navigate your way through life in a positive and fruitful way.

Even in times of stress, accessing your full CVI profile and the understanding it provides showing how the core value energies operate enriches your life.

→ See also Understanding Your Conflict Resolution Strategy.