Visual Implicit Profiler (VIP)®
By Patrick K. Magyar & Bernhard Mikoleit
The visual questionnaire Visual Implicit Profiler (VIP)® identifies and outlines strengths – positive personality traits – within minutes.
The importance of the implicit method
The visual questionnaire VIP is an implicit method to determine personality traits based on the interpretation of simple graphic symbols. When completing the questionnaire, a person is not aware of the reason for the nonverbal items. Considering overall brain activities, conscious processes tend to be the exception rather than the norm. Almost 100 years ago, we learned that visual perception is fully automatic and prerational. Its interpretation is largely unaffected by explicit intent. Visual perception is influenced preattentively by the personality and motivation of the perceiving person. Response to visual stimuli is processed in brain areas that are also responsible for non-cognitive decision making.
How people perceive and attach importance to what they perceive, demonstrably influences the manner in which they will behave. Thus, individual behavioural patters and strengths can be established by measuring implicit visual perception and processing preferences.
Example for a VIP item
The following example shows how the items in the VIP questionnaire work. Test takers are given two options and will choose one according to their perception preference.
What did you see first?
- black-and-blue lines
- a blue square
Possible ways of perception:
- Detail oriented and selective: The person taking the test perceives the black-and-blue angles first.
- Intuitive and integrating: The test taker perceives a blue, partly transparent square first.
The strength profile – measuring and illustrating six personality traits
The VIP measures six personality traits on the basis of Professor Julius Kuhl’s PSI theory. When including all assessed dimensions and scales, 16 types (clusters) can be determined. Double interactions between one perception and one decision steering function form four basic types. These types have priority and are depicted as landscapes in the strength profile. However, the profile includes information on all 16 types. The feedback provided in the form of a word cloud (see illustration below) represents the highest level of detail of the VIP analysis. The larger a word is printed in the word cloud, the less energy the test taker has to invest to use this particular strength.
If you would like to learn more about the basics of the Visual Implicit Profiler (VIP)®, you can order the complete white paper free of charge at PSYfiers.