The Social Brain - The Colours

Emotional/Mental; Need to develop Action

Purples are connectors and visionaries. They can be fun, intense, animated storytellers and great leaders.

Purples have a lot of ideas and get things started with a strong direction but struggle to complete things because they move onto the next ‘bigger’ idea.

They value respect and justice.

Purples live in the future so love goal setting and lists, and can’t sit still in traffic - because they need to be moving forward.

Purples have intense eye contact because they want to connect and feel the emotion.

They are discerning and have an amazing radar for BS, and there is no coming back after crossing a Purple - you’re done.

Purples often feel superior to those around them and are confident leaders.

They strive to appear capable and would be very upset to let someone down.

Mental/Emotional; Need to develop Action

Blues are generally calm and considerate people who value purpose, integrity and honesty.

People may need to have patience with a Blue because they can spend a lot of time in their head thinking things through, or are indecisive.

They care about how things affect others, and it stresses them to see people not reaching their potential.

Blues have plans and back-up plans mapped out, so often won’t start a project because it is too overwhelming and too much to think about. They can also get stuck thinking about what they could have/should have said.

A Blue will have a fairly blank face when people are talking to them as they are taking in everything that is being said, and will become more animated when they are talking, and feel safe with the company.

Blues are very likeable, because of their kind, thoughtful, caring nature. They are peacemakers that can see many sides to a story and detach from the emotion to create logical solutions that consider everyone’s needs.

Mental/Action; Need to Develop Emotional

Greens view the world from above - they are generally the best at what they do, charismatic, think that they are better than everyone else, and sit at the top of the system directing others.

Quality is important to a Green. They buy the best quality that they can afford, and are stressed when they perceive that others can’t work to their high standards.

Greens value efficiency and principles. Greens will not veer from their own principles even though others may not agree with them.

A Green will often end up in a CEO type position - they can make decisions quickly because their own principles guide what is right, not how other people’s feelings or opinions come into play. They also value freedom and don’t like being told what to do, and need time alone.

When Greens are stressed they add more busy-ness to avoid dealing with the emotions.

They have a strong intuition but tend to override it with their mind, and develop gut issues.

Action/Mental; Need to develop Emotional

Yellows are very intelligent and see patterns where others don’t. They use past experience to solve current situations.

They like order (their order, not necessarily tidy).

They need to understand how things work, and are not really interested in other people’s emotions about things.

They are logical, literal and strategic.

Yellows will tell a story the same way each time, even if you’ve already heard it - they need to finish it.

Yellows can be obsessive and are great at technical, detailed or repetitive work - they may be researchers, computer programmers, musicians or entrepreneurs, because they follow something deeply - i.e. they know a lot about a little, rather than a little about a lot.

They are very gently spoken, sometimes awkward with social cues, logical and don’t really know what to do with feelings. (“What feelings?”)

They can put their feelings aside to get a job done, and they value hard work and need to be doing things with their hands.

Emotional/Action; Need to develop Mental

Oranges are fun, great storytellers and use their whole face and body to express themselves. They live in the moment and feel all the feelings.

Oranges are very generous and like the beautiful things - how things look is important.

They can be reactive and rage, but once it’s over they’ve moved on.

Oranges are great organisers of people, but not necessarily organising using a logical/sequential order or mapping out future plans or goals.

Their story telling is dramatic and skillfully brings together all the aspects and details of the story.

They do things because it is fun or it feels good.

Oranges make great hosts or customer service staff as they are empathetic and meet people’s needs easily.

They want deep connection with people and value harmony and honesty.

Action/Emotional; Need to develop Mental

Reds have beautiful hearts, connected with nature and spirit. They are gentle, have beautiful clear eyes and a lovely smile.

Reds will research (reading or talking to people) until they have all the information they need, and the context, before making any decisions.

It can be difficult to follow their logic because they intuitively know something but explaining how they got there is hard.

Reds are empathetic and can be very affected by the feelings of those around them.

They will often work in nature, or spend a lot of time there, and need time alone.

Reds need to feel the feelings to move on from something.

Their highest values are usefulness, reliability and factual.