Cognitive Preference Survey

larea

Registered
John Forrister;100838 said:
Me too! I have high preferences for reading and listening. Sometimes they even compete. Have you ever seen wallpaper that's meant to look like pages from a newspaper, usually an old newspaper? OK, my idea of stress would be that newspapered room, with four other people. The four people are in two groups of two, in opposite corners. I'm in the middle. The two pairs are both having fascinating conversations about subjects that interest me. My listening would ping-pong between the two conversations, while my reading would be hooked on the wallpaper.

My husband also will start listening to people talking near him and get interested. Once several years ago he actually shushed me in a restaurant because the people at the next table were having this bizarre conversation and he had to hear it!

I'm all about that wallpaper!
 

megedwards

GTD Connect
Taking my Cognitive Preference into account when chosing my next actions...

Hi Everyone,

I love reading all these posts- very rich conversations...

What I wanted to share is that since having learned what is means to be high on some preferences, (55 and over ) balanced on some preferences ( between 45 and 55 ) and low on other preferences (below 45 ) is that I make sure I take this information into account when deciding my next actions.

For example, if I need to give John feedback on an email he sent me my next action may be to email John to set up a 15 minutes call to discuss this email to him. I score very high on the talker preference and I have learned that sometimes the best way for me to get things done is to talk something out vs. writing it.

Another example is reading. I score very low on reading and used to have tons and tons of backlog. Now I realize that there needs to be high target value for me to read and if it isn't high target value than I will either toss it or file it in case I need to retrieve that topic at a later date. Before I didn't do that deeper dive of thinking about whether it had high target value since when it does I will read it and I don't procrastinate.

I encourage all of you who have taken the Cognitive Preference Survey to take a look at some of your actions during your next weekly review and ask yourself are some of your next action possible repelling you because you haven't landed on the next action given your preference. This doesn't mean we can't do action outside of our preferences but if we do then there better be a good strategy in place to do that action or you might not do it.

As a company we have all taken the survey. It was great years ago when David emailed all of us for some feedback on something and at the end of the email he said "Meg, lets set up a time to talk about this. " David was aware that for me, talking out my feedback would be much more efficient and effective then emailing him back. This can't happen all of the time but I thought that was great of him to say that and to give this as an option for me.

Cheers!

Meg
 

larea

Registered
What a great idea - would be very useful to know how all the important people in my life score. Too bad there isn't a scanner we could just point at them......
 

megedwards

GTD Connect
larea;101316 said:
What a great idea - would be very useful to know how all the important people in my life score. Too bad there isn't a scanner we could just point at them......

Larea,

Just to let you know that there are different versions of the Cognitive Preference Survey-one for adults, one for middle school and one for high school. I had my daughter take it in 6th grade and it was extremely helpful.

Meg
 

TesTeq

Registered
What would you do...

larea;101316 said:
What a great idea - would be very useful to know how all the important people in my life score. Too bad there isn't a scanner we could just point at them......

What would you do with this knowledge? What if their score would not match your expectations?
 

John Forrister

GTD Connect
Staff member
TesTeq;101324 said:
What would you do with this knowledge? What if their score would not match your expectations?

I can't resist good questions, so I'll answer even though you didn't ask me.

There are plenty of assessments that give all kinds of information. Knowing how to use the knowledge is, as TesTeq points out, the important practical application.

I would use the knowledge to communicate more effectively, taking advantage of their cognitive preferences. If their score did not match my expectations I would question my assumptions about the person (and myself), and try to free myself from any restrictive assumptions.

And here's a really practical application. Did you ever receive a gift from someone, and think that the gift shows they don't know you very well? Or it was something the giver would want to receive, but not what you would want? The CPS could help with that. I'm a high reader, and I've incorrectly given books I enjoyed to people who don't enjoy them. Now I think about that sort of thing when choosing a gift. I may not know someone's CPS score, but I can still ask myself if I see them taking a dance class more often than I see them with a book.
 

megedwards

GTD Connect
TesTeq;101324 said:
What would you do with this knowledge? What if their score would not match your expectations?

These scores are preferences and not aptitude scores so you are just learning about them as if you were learning are they left handed or right handed or can use both equally well.

For example, Annie scored very high for listening. She hears everything. She is like a radar dish, always dialed in. When I would try to have a private phone call she would hear it all. I would then say to her, "When I was younger I never listened to my parents phone conversation. " This is probably since I scores a 45 for listening. With this information, Annie knows that she is dialed in all the time and so when I want to have a private conversation she will put on headsets or go to her room so that I can talk or I will go to my room to talk. When she was younger this was an issue because in the classroom she would hear all the conversations and get very distracted and it wasn't enough to say to her, stop listening to everyone. Again, this isn't about aptitude. She doesn't necessary understand better what she hears just that she is dialed in- all the time.

I have seen kids with scores that are between 45 and 55 and it doesn't mean they are average but balanced in that it will depend on the situation which way they go. For me with the 45 listening, sometimes I would listen to my parents conversation and sometimes I wouldn't- it depends.

Another example is Annie scores above 55 on reading and I scored a 10. She was always asking me to read her books and I wasn't interested and it hurt her feelings- alot. Now she knows that I only read for very high target value so out of 100 books she reads I may read one of them.

Does that help?

Meg
 

Zoltan

Registered
2 Tips for Balanced Processors

I have found the Cognitive Preference Survey to be incredibly helpful both personally and professionally.

It has helped me to understand how and why I prefer to take in and put out information. And I have found it incredibly helpful to my clients as well.

For balanced processors (45-55 on Associative/Sequential), the value of Incubation and Ideas lists are very helpful. Because a balanced processor is running information more equally between the two systems, it can sometimes take more time to make a confident decision or choice. The more important the decision, the more time it can take. So having the understanding and permission to allow a decision, project or action to incubate or "percolate" for a period of time can be a great relief. And very effective, because often the right choice will suddenly become apparent. It seems to pop forward on its own once it has incubated for a while.

I have an Incubation list for Projects that I'm not sure yet whether I want to commit to them.

And then having a separate Ideas list is also very useful for capturing all of those creative ideas that I may or may not want to commit to. It's makes great fertile ground for creativity, without the pressure of having to do something with it.
 

TesTeq

Registered
To be open to the CPS results.

John Forrister;101325 said:
I can't resist good questions, so I'll answer even though you didn't ask me.

megedwards;101326 said:
Does that help?

Thank you for your answers. The main point is to be open to the CPS results. To be ready to change your own expectations and interactions with a person.
 

mickdodge

Registered
Looks like I'm stuck in the middle...

"3-4% of the population has neutral access to both of our brain's dominant processors
(Associative and Sequential). This means you've scored between 0-12% Associative or 0-12%
Sequential, placing you in the middle of the continuum.
"

Although it is spot on with how I feel I am about my thinking. Thanks for sharing this! Knowing my preferences at least helps me to better understand why I think about things the way I do.
 
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