Theory | The Typology of Personal Attitude is based on the psychological model of transactional analysis by Eric Berne. The transactional model starts from the premise that every person has his/her own concept about life, i.e. an individual idea of what is important, and how one’s own life should be spent. According to this theory, a person’s concept of life is strongly influenced by five states of the EGO: the NATURAL CHILD EGO and the ADAPTED CHILD EGO, the ADULT EGO and the PROTECTIVE and CRITICAL PARENT EGO. How distinctly the five states of the EGO are present, depends on the person. They influence one’s thinking, behaviour and feelings and therefore define the way one interacts with other people and one’s environment. A decisive factor is that a human being always communicates or acts from of one of the five states of the EGO. The TOP questionnaire is designed to obtain information which EGO-state a candidate leans towards or avoids in his behaviour. This makes it possible to analyse and improve the understanding of the transactional patterns between communication partners, and permits decisions on measures that allow changing a person’s communication and behavioural patterns.

Application | The TOP is a diagnostic tool widely used in work psychology, particularly in career planning, development of young professionals and leadership coaching. The TOP results can also be used in team-building processes and in professional sensitivity and communication training. The test takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Concept | The TOP test systematically analyses a candidate’s personal attitude and his/her perception of values that have a crucial impact on his/her communication and interactional behaviour in a professional environment. The diagnostic tool uses 143 behaviour-oriented questions to record individual characteristics in five personality spheres. The clear and practice- oriented presentation of the five personality areas gives an intelligible and comprehensible view of a candidate’s or team’s communication and interaction behaviour. The test impresses with its simple terminology and therefore makes it particularly suitable for use on a broad scale in personnel development.

Evaluation | The TOP is evaluated in a bar-chart and forms an ideal basis for discussions and for differentiated feedback and development talks. A particular candidate’s diagram can also be compared very easily with the average diagram of a specific target group. This comparison gives useful information concerning the composition of a group or team and its inherent potential for co-operation or conflicts.