The Koseiha Compass
Our map of personality, built on the two broad forces researchers find above the Big Five.
Two forces above the five
The Big Five traits are not completely independent. When researchers looked at how they cluster, they found two broad groupings (Digman, 1997). Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and emotional steadiness tend to rise and fall together; so do Extraversion and Openness. Colin DeYoung and colleagues named these two higher-order traits, or metatraits, Stability and Plasticity (DeYoung, Peterson and Higgins, 2002), and later found the same two when each person was also rated by several people who knew them (DeYoung, 2006).
In DeYoung's account, Stability is the tendency to keep your emotions, relationships and goals on an even keel, protecting what already works. Plasticity is the drive to explore: to engage with new people, experiences and ideas. Every person needs both, in different proportions.
Constancy and change
Japanese has an old name for a pair like this. On a journey through the north of Japan in 1689, the poet Matsuo Bashō arrived at fueki ryūkō, often translated as “constancy and change”: what stays the same and what keeps moving. Good poetry, he taught, holds both at once.
Bashō was writing about haiku, not personality, and the research owes nothing to him. But the fit is close enough that the compass borrows his words.
- 不易
- fueki, the unchangingStability, pointing north
- 流行
- ryūkō, the ever-changingPlasticity, pointing east
Turning them into a map
Koseiha draws the two metatraits as a compass. Stability points north and Plasticity points east. From your answers we calculate:
Stability = average of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and (100 - Neuroticism)
Plasticity = average of Extraversion and Openness
Your distance from the center, where both are 50, says how pronounced your profile is; your direction gives a compass bearing in degrees. Within 7 points of the center you are at the Crossroads. Further out, the nearest of eight compass directions names your region.
The nine regions
Each region also has a Japanese landscape word, from the home village (里) in the north to the open sea (沖) in the east.
The Heartland
Northsato, home village
Steady, dependable and calm under pressure.
You score high on Stability and near the middle on Plasticity. Stability is the tendency to keep things on an even keel: your emotions, your commitments and your relationships. You are likely the person others lean on, and you prefer improving what exists to chasing every new thing.
- Strengths
- Emotionally even, Reliable follow-through, Cooperative and fair
- Watch for
- Holding back opinions to keep the peace, Saying yes because you can, not because you should, Mistaking a rut for stability
The Uplands
North-eastoka, hill
Engaged and grounded: exploring from a secure base.
You score high on both Stability and Plasticity. You go after new people, ideas and experiences, and you have the self-discipline and steadiness to make them count. People in the Uplands often find themselves leading, because they pair initiative with dependability.
- Strengths
- Confident with new things, Resilient under pressure, Ideas plus follow-through
- Watch for
- Taking on more than anyone could sustain, Impatience with people who need more time, Assuming your balance comes as easily to others
The Frontier
Eastoki, open sea
Curious, outgoing and drawn to what is new.
You score high on Plasticity and near the middle on Stability. Plasticity is the drive to explore: to engage with new people, places and ideas. Novelty and possibility energize you, and you tend to say yes to experiences that others find unfamiliar.
- Strengths
- Open to new experience, Social and intellectual curiosity, Creates momentum
- Watch for
- Starting more than you finish, Boredom with upkeep and routine, Spreading your attention too thin
The Wildlands
South-eastno, wild field
Bold, intense and unbound by convention.
You score high on Plasticity and lower on Stability. You chase new experiences with energy and feel things vividly, and you care less about rules, routines or keeping everyone comfortable. People in the Wildlands are often the creative disruptors whose intensity gets things moving.
- Strengths
- Fearless with new ideas, Vivid and expressive, Willing to challenge stale norms
- Watch for
- Acting on impulse, Friction with tightly structured places, Crashing after intense bursts
The Rapids
Southse, rapids
Fast-moving, feeling-rich and independent.
You score lower on Stability and near the middle on Plasticity. You feel life's ups and downs strongly, you are not easily bound by schedules or social expectations, and you respond quickly to what happens. That responsiveness can make you honest, perceptive and quick to sense when something is wrong.
- Strengths
- An early warning system for problems, Honest about difficulties, Independent of social pressure
- Watch for
- Stress spilling into relationships, Uneven follow-through, Judging yourself more harshly than the facts warrant
The Deep Woods
South-westmori, forest
Private, intense and inward-looking.
You score lower on both Stability and Plasticity. You tend to keep to familiar ground and a small circle, and you feel things with real depth. People in the Deep Woods are often thoughtful, skeptical observers who notice what others gloss over and who value privacy and authenticity over approval.
- Strengths
- Depth over breadth, Skeptical, independent judgment, Loyal to a close circle
- Watch for
- Withdrawing when support would help, Going over the same worries again and again, Passing up chances because they feel unfamiliar
The Harbor
Westminato, harbor
Reserved, focused and at home in the familiar.
You score lower on Plasticity and near the middle on Stability. You prefer known people, proven methods and a quieter pace, and you can focus for a long time on what matters to you. The Harbor is a place of depth and safety: you head out when you choose to, not because novelty pulls you.
- Strengths
- Sustained focus, Contentment with simple things, Deep expertise in chosen areas
- Watch for
- Resisting change you actually need, Being overlooked in loud rooms, Turning down growth that would help you
The Stronghold
North-westshiro, castle
Quiet, disciplined and hard to rattle.
You score high on Stability and lower on Plasticity. You are calm, conscientious and considerate, and you prefer depth and order to novelty and stimulation. Strongholds are the people institutions quietly depend on: steady, principled and consistent.
- Strengths
- Calm under pressure, Principled and consistent, Careful with commitments
- Watch for
- Rigidity when plans change, Keeping your needs to yourself, Underselling what you contribute
The Crossroads
Centertsuji, crossroads
Balanced between steadiness and exploration.
You sit near the middle of both metatraits. You can be steady when a situation needs reliability and exploratory when it needs fresh ideas, and you may shift between the two with context. People at the Crossroads often end up as the bridge between more extreme friends and colleagues.
- Strengths
- Flexible across very different situations, Easy to work with for many kinds of people, Rarely pushed to extremes
- Watch for
- Waiting for others to set the direction, Second-guessing which instinct to trust, Being underestimated because you are hard to label
Why a map
Five numbers are hard to hold in mind; two directions are easy. A map also avoids the trap of high and low scores sounding like good and bad ones. Every region has its own strengths and its own hazards, and people in each of them lead happy, effective lives.
The compass also cuts across types. Two people with the same four letters can sit in different regions, because the region also reflects Composure and the strength of each preference.
What is research, and what is ours
The two metatraits come from published research. The compass, the region boundaries, the region names and their Japanese words are Koseiha inventions: an interpretive layer to make the research memorable, not scientific categories. Treat your region as a description of your current balance between steadiness and exploration, not a fixed identity. See how the test works for the full method.
Keep exploring
- The 16 typesJung's attitudes and functions, turned into four preferences and sixteen four-letter types by Briggs and Myers.
- The Big FiveFive broad traits found again and again when researchers analyze how people describe each other.
- Cognitive functionsEight mental processes, and the order each type is said to use them in.
- The four familiesStrategists, Seekers, Keepers and Improvisers: the sixteen types grouped by core motivation.
See all of these frameworks applied to you.
Take the test