Assessing ability, aptitude and personality in order systematically to match people to jobs and tasks has been part of the commercial world since the US military began using psychometric testing in the 1940s. Since that time, understanding and knowledge of the human mind has changed a very great deal.

In the first half of the 20th century, when psychometrics emerged, Freudian psychoanalysis and its derivatives (Jung, Rank, Adler, Ellis, Fromm etc) became the accepted framework for studying and understanding the human mind. These approaches have since been enlarged by alternative observational, experimental and statistically-based theories on human behaviour (Skinner, Eysenk, Bandura, Maslow, Piaget, etc). More recently, breakthroughs in neuroscience and brain imaging techniques with abbreviated names like CAT, PET, MRI, fMRI and MRA, and a wider acceptance of the principles of ethology, sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, have enhanced the way the human mind and behaviour are understood. A lot of this contemporary brain research has practical applications that can be put to use in our daily lives.

Personality profiling remains popular. Historically, professionals have alternated between the idea that personality is inborn and the seemingly opposite view that it results from experiences. The most current thinking is that personality is both inborn and conditioned or developed by the environment. In effect, what we are talking about is ‘behaviour’.

Behaviour cannot be measured - it can only be mapped. A person cannot be described in any definite and specific way because he or she is constantly changing, adapting, and evolving. Any one perspective will give only one data point. When mapping behaviour, we can make only approximate measurements, so we ‘triangulate,’ or see where several indicators from multiple situations meet. Then we have a good idea of what the individual’s behaviour style is like.

'The PRISM Model of Human Behaviour' has been developed over the past 12 years based on the growing knowledge of behaviour that cognitive neuroscience provides. The term cognitive neuroscience refers to everything taking place in our brains that helps us to know the world. Included here are such mental activities as alertness, concentration, memory, reasoning, creativity and emotional experience. At its earliest inception - before it was formally called PRISM - the Model was used to identify and map the intensity of observed human behaviour, with particular emphasis on how individuals adapt their natural or preferred behaviour to deal with specific situations.

Many psychometric instruments are based on the assumption that differences in behaviour arise from different personality types. This belief can be a barrier to behavioural change because a personality ‘type’ is fixed - it is not subject to choice or change. However, the idea that humans can be, or even should be, ‘pigeonholed’ for purposes of framing a response offends even those who praise the value of profiling enthusiastically. “Every classification is an injustice,” says Jane Loevinger, of Washington University, St Louis, one of modern psychology’s best-known classifiers.

The “injustice” makes it easy to ridicule the idea that we should seek to judge individuals, particularly if there is little time to get to know them, by the easily distinguishable ‘labels’ they are given to wear. People are not alike. They all have gifts and abilities that are unique. They differ in their attitudes, their beliefs, their wants, their skills, and their needs.

PRISM takes a fundamentally different approach from typing or labelling. It holds that a person is not one type or another: it demonstrates that people prefer some behaviour styles more than others. It does not typecast people.

PRISM describes behaviour preferences, not competencies. Participants are not labelled, judged, or limited by their results. Labelling someone with a personality type can become an excuse for substandard performance (“I'm just no good at that”).

PRISM describes differences in behaviour quantitatively, not qualitatively. There is no reference to good or bad, right or wrong, strong or weak. Qualitative or categorical judgments often lead to oppositional thinking which can promote conflict, impede teamwork, and make people less willing to adapt or change their behaviour to meet the needs of situations or other people.

In contrast to the categorical labels of some psychometric instruments, PRISM theory views behaviour along a colour continuum, from ‘low intensity’ at one end to ‘high intensity’ on the other. The reality is that we all tend to underuse some strengths and overuse others. Either extreme can make us less effective and can be perceived by others as an irritating weakness.

In contrast to the categorical labels approach, PRISM behaviour preferences are not set in stone. They are dynamic. People use different styles in different contexts and in different relationships. For example, experience shows that most people change their behaviour patterns in stressful situations. People also use different behaviour styles at home and at work, or with their line mangers, customers or colleagues. Any instrument that yields a single ‘personality type’ is therefore likely to be an inaccurate predictor of how most people will actually behave in the real world.

During its early development years PRISM was tested and refined as a result of experience and feedback from a wide variety of users of different employment, cultural, ethnic and educational backgrounds. Because of its approach to human behaviour and real life issues, it became popular with a wide variety of outlets, ranging from public bodies to multinational corporations. For example, it has been used to help recruit people for membership of emergency response teams used to organise and deliver aid to parts of the world stricken by earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters. In this instance it led to a change in the recruitment process by highlighting the fact that some applicants who were highly eligible for such work were not always also suitable.

In the United Kingdom it has been used by high street stores, financial institutions, manufacturing industry, NHS trusts, government departments, supermarket groups, high technology companies and in education. Uses have included: recruitment, assessment and selection, team development, change management, leadership skills development, coaching, conflict resolution, 360-degree feedback, team performance diagnosis, sales improvement and customer service.

Now used by some of the world’s most successful organisations, PRISM has attracted comments such as: “a life-changing experience” and “at last a behaviour tool that can really be applied to everyday work and that will lead to improved motivation, performance and results”.

21st Century discoveries about the brain will provide people with even more insights into their behaviour, thinking and feelings. PRISM is designed to simplify and make use of such discoveries to help people make the most of their innate strengths and to achieve their personal and work goals.