Personality System Interaction Theory (PSI)

In the model of action control, Kuhl’s PSI Theory describes four central brain systems that are essential for controlling action and hence the individual achievement of goals.

Our brain is highly complex and provided with a multitude of the most differing individual functions that are largely widely distributed over different cerebral areas. Nevertheless, there are networks that perform very specific functions. To make this complexity somewhat more concrete, we have taken the liberty of simplifying the processes a little and will here concentrate on the co-operation between four very central functional areas in your brain that exemplify the process of digesting and learning. Sustainable learning and action resulting from it are only possible when both hemispheres of your brain work together smoothly and thus also the four major areas of intuitive behaviour control, object recognition, holistic processing and strategic networking, described in the following.

The left hemisphere of your brain processes information above all step by step, one item after the other. The left hemisphere of the brain processes numbers, signs, letters and facts in particular. By contrast, the right hemisphere of the brain can process a great deal of different information at the same time and thus very rapidly. It specializes in processing extensive and complex information simultaneously, e.g. images, music or experiences from the environment. For this topic, please also look at our explanatory film from our Coaching Campus Offers.

So that you can understand which systems we refer to in our coaching, we will simplify the action control model as follows.

The yellow system: the inner manager (extension memory)

This system covers all the neuronal networks in our brain that can process in parallel, i.e. that are designed to receive and process several items of information simultaneously. In this system, you have an overview and your emotional state is determined by composure.

The system must be understood as a kind of control centre for your biographical experiences to date. This is where your knowledge about your own desires and needs is stored, but also about your social environment. This system enables you to answer the question as to the ‘meaning’ of what you learn. If you cannot manage to activate this yellow system, the inner manager, the meaning of learning and thus the sustainability of learning success gets lost.

The blue system: the inner controller (object recognition system)

This system subsumes the networks working in a discrepancy-sensitive way, i.e. placing a focus on identifying inconsistencies. So, this system should be understood as the discrepancy detector in our brain. Your emotional state in relation to this area of the brain is dissonant.

Here, you control your actions and plans, and it is here that your error analysis has its home. The blue system shows you any inconsistency from the ‘norm’ you have established from your experience to date. The inner controller can stop you from implementing new knowledge, if it is insufficiently integrated.

The red system: the inner planner (intention memory)

This system covers all the functional areas that work sequentially, i.e. step by step.

This portion of your brain houses conscious thinking and planning. Here, you are in a position to devise precise work plans and steps of action before putting them into effect. This system costs a lot of effort and is very heavily involved in any intake of ‘new knowledge’. Your emotional state in this area of the brain is characterized by objective sober-mindedness.

Whether the ‘new knowledge’ can be incorporated in a sustainable way is contingent on how well the link between the red system, the inner planner, and the yellow system, the inner manager, works.

The green system: the inner doer (intuitive behaviour control system)

This system covers all the networks that work fully automatically and intuitively.

This area of your brain accommodates your intuitive behaviour control. The system becomes active as soon as you can actually apply your recently acquired knowledge. Your emotional state in this area is positive and full of joy.

The more you use this system, the stronger networking becomes, i.e. the stability of what you have learnt. And you will acquire the skill to transfer this new knowledge into a routine, permitting you to have this knowledge available without major effort.

You can simply act.

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