The next preference that I will discuss is kinesthetic. Kinesthetics make up approximately 20%-30% of the population. This portion of the population is very interesting because they actually use more than one sense in their preferred processing. They will process information most efficiently and effectively based on what they touch, smell, and feel in their gut. Once again, keep in mind, this does not mean that they don’t use their other senses. It simply means that the best way they process information is based on what they feel. Also remember, you may have some kinesthetics that process almost exclusively based on touch, smell and gut response, while others have developed the ability to use their other senses quite well.  

Remember that, earlier in this unit, I mentioned that there is a gap in the percentage of the population that are kinesthetic. Some professionals[1] that have conducted surveys or done studies on this subject have published their findings at 20%. I even read one study[2] that put this portion at only 5%. However, in my personal research, I have always come up with figures closer to 30%, taking the other 10% from the visual category. I will explain in this section what I think are the contributing factors. 

I will now go through, in some detail, the personality traits you will most often find dominant in those who have this as their sensory preference. Keep in mind the bell curve that I discussed earlier.

Childhood as a Kinesthetic

Remember that it helps to determine an individual’s innate preference by looking at activities and actions during childhood. Once they are old enough to start making decisions for themselves, they may make those choices based on facets of their personality. Listed below are traits that you might notice, or remember about yourself as a child, or that you can ask a client you are coaching:

• Texture of their food may be very important. They may refuse to eat something and when asked for an explanation may respond, “It feels funny in my mouth,” or, “It is sandy.” 

• They tend to be very sensitive about the way they are touched. For kinesthetic children tickling can even be a violation. Where other children may laugh and think its fine, not so much for kinesthetic brains.

• Physical confrontation can be devastating for the kinesthetic child.

• Physical comfort is a must. These children may always put on the same clothes-no matter how they look; it is the feel that is most important to them. I often share the story of my kinesthetic child. When he was young, before we would go into town, I would instruct him to go in and change his clothes into something that didn’t have stains on it. Now, because I am not a visual person, it would always turn out that after arriving at the store I would notice that he changed from one set of comfortable, well-used clothes into another. The fact that they were stained had no effect on his choice.

• The toys that they prefer will often be the ones that are soft and pleasant to the touch.

• They will gravitate to hands-on sports.

• They may be the children that always need to be rubbing the ribbon on the blanket to fall asleep.  

• Kinesthetic children need-and even thrive on-positive physical reassurance. Hugs are so very important to these children; without them their brains will not thrive. 

Kinesthetics and Their Brain 

• Will take a hands-on approach to everything.

• In learning, the kinesthetic needs and learns best by manipulatives. Getting their hands into a project is the best way for their brain to retain what that they are learning.

• They may learn best with a smaller group where they won’t be overrun by the auditories and can build a project with their hands. They also need to be active; so, if they are listening to a lecture, they need to get up and move. You will often find them to be the people pacing at the back of the room.

• They will often communicate with their hands, gesturing plenty.

• Their memory may be based more on how things felt or what was done, rather than on what was said or what they saw. 

• When assembling a project (such as a bike or a bookshelf) the kinesthetic will most likely pull out all of the pieces handling and examining them. Then, possibly, assembling the item without ever referring to the instructions.

• If they get bored, they may start to tinker or build something, using anything that may be in the environment.

• They are not crazy about reading but, when they do, they must be in a comfortable position to do so.

• They prefer to be physically active; enjoying sports, cooking, and exercise. 

• Physical contact is very important to them: hugs, holding hands, rubbing shoulders, pat on the back. 

• They tend to have a quick “gut” response; meaning that they can sense when a situation is not right. 

• They tend to be picky about where they sit in a room, restaurant, or public place. When asked why, it is often so they can get up easily, or have a straight line to the door should they feel the need to move, or even that it just feels right.

• They tend to be well coordinated; good at dancing and choreographed movement.

• They will often tap their feet, play with the pen, or mess with items on a table or desk, while concentrating or involved in conversation.

• They are particular about their personal space.

• They may tend to be more fearful of physical pain.

• According to some experts, like Arlene Taylor, they have lower toned voices and tend to breathe deeply and talk slowly. 

• Their preference may even be apparent in their speech. They may use terms like:

1. My gut is telling me… 

2. It really touched me when you said… 

3. That doesn’t feel right to me. 

4. In the pit of my stomach… 

5. I felt pinned against a wall. 

6. That event overwhelmed me. 

7. It felt like…

8. That crushed me. 

9. Trying to get a handle on things.

10. I felt it in my whole body. 

11. That really moved me.

12. I was really feeling uptight. 

13. It felt like a weight was taken off my shoulders. 

14. That really stinks. 

Kinesthetics and Their Environment 

• Like auditories, but unlike visuals, they will be not be overly concerned with their appearence looking just right. What will be overwhelmingly important to them is that their clothes are comfortable.

• The feel of their environment is very important to them. They may have the older piece of furniture that is out-of-date but still so comfortable that they will never get rid of it.

• As with the other modalities, they may choose pets that match their brain. They may not care about the look or sound that they make but rather that they are cuddly. My kinesthetic son, even now as an adult, can often be seen sitting or even laying on the floor with the dogs on his lap or right next to him.

• Their sensitivity to the feel of food does not disappear as an adult. They will be choosey about food based on texture. They may not like the lobster that is stringy or the oysters that are slimy. 

• You might find their home filled with pleasant smells, candles burning or fresh air constantly flowing. 

Good Career Choices for the Kinesthetic 

In coaching people, or yourself, in making career choices, all of the Brain Personality Connection facets should be considered. Below is a list of good choices for kinesthetics, but remember, you must factor-in the whole brain.

• Counselors, because they can connect through feeling

• Sports athletes 

• Wood workers 

• Mechanics 

• Dancing

• Hands-on artists, sculpting

• Surgeons 

• Massage therapists 

• Physical therapists

Now that you have a good idea of what is present in the personality of the kinesthetic sensory preference/communication style, let’s look at some applications to improve your communication with and coaching for this personality type. 

Kinesthetics and Relationships 

What they feel is so much more important than what they hear or see. So, let’s look at the same scenario of a husband and wife but, this time, we will apply it as if the wife is a kinesthetic. Remember, she has been hard at work all day and upon coming home works to straighten up the house and prepares the evening meal. She enjoys the cooking and is pleased with the wonderful aroma in the house. Now the husband, who is not a kinesthetic, arrives home. He may be a visual so he is careful not to make too much of a mess as he comes into the house. He may walk into the kitchen and say how happy he is to be home and how great the house looks. At this point, he proceeds into the living room and sits down to relax. How will the wife feel? What will be her response?   

Well, remember, her brain is going to register what it felt first and with the most impact. The husband did not make a mess (visual), and he talked to her (auditory), but he neglected to physically reassure her. Her brain could be thinking, “He doesn’t care for me. After all I didn’t even get a hug.” At this point, she could become moody or upset and the husband has not a clue why or what he did wrong. Again, he could now be completely confused, get frustrated and a heated discussion could ensue; perhaps no communication at all. 

Again, while this seems to be an exaggerated event, in reality, things not so different from this have happened. At the heart of it all: miscommunication between the two brains. Imagine what a powerful effect this would have on all marriages if just this one BPC[3] facet was taught as a prerequisite to marriage?  

Understand that the application in a work environment is equally important. If you have a kinesthetic individual that you are interacting with, or you know that a client you are coaching is a kinesthetic, be sure to be fully aware of their kinesthetic needs. 

Addressing the Kinesthetic Needs of Clients or in Presentations 

The same as with the visuals and auditories, you will want to pay attention to your speech. The words that you use can have an impact on how their brains pay attention. Look back over the phrases mentioned earlier and see if you can’t include more kinesthetic terms in your language when communicating with the kinesthetic. If you are doing a first consultation, listen carefully to the terms they use and mirror those. 

Now, here is where it gets challenging because this sensory preference needs a hands-on approach. It is difficult to make a “hands-on” proposal; so, first you need to make sure that the area or place that you meet in is very appealing to their brains. Make it comfortable with climate control, comfortable seating, and, it is very important to provide them with stress balls, a desk sand box or anything that they can get their hands into while you are presenting or working to communicate with them. You have available to you the brain stress balls that have the Your Best Mind website information on them. However, I encourage you to get ones that have your contact information.  

As before, I need to emphasize that, if you are doing a presentation for a group of people, you need to be sure to address the needs of all three sensory modalities. For the kinesthetics in the group, that means that you must provide them manipulatives (i.e.: stress balls) and openly acknowledge at the beginning of your presentation that they are welcome to get up and move around. It might take you a while to get used to this idea, but, I promise you, it will have a much bigger impact for them if they are allowed to get up and move. 

Touch and Western Society 

So, why are there so many different views on the percentage of the population that are kinesthetic? In my professional opinion, it is more than apparent that this portion of the population is not validated in society. Touch is just simply not well accepted in the western world. Not only is it not well accepted but, often times, people are thought of as strange if they are too “touchy, feely.” Let me relate some research on touch that may surprise you. 

There was a study on eating disorders that was conducted in California; the results were quite astounding. It revealed that 85% of the participants in this particular study were touch deprived kinesthetics. Now, I am not making the bold statement that this is the reason behind 85% of eating disorders, but I think the information merits our attention.  

Cross cultural studies have shown that societies where parents outwardly show more physical affection toward their children tend to have significantly lower rates of adult violence. Could it be that some of adult violence is a result of touch deprived kinesthetics?  

When researchers watched interaction between patrons in coffee houses in the US verses France, they were quite surprised with what they found. During a time frame of 30 minutes in France, casual touch occurred some 200 times. Yet, during a 30 minute time frame in the US, touch happened only twice. Yes, twice!  

The extreme importance of touch in general, not just for the kinesthetic population, is very important to take note. When doctors use PET machines to scan the brains of touch-deprived infants, it showed that critical sections of their brains are barely active. This is a significant discovery and one that all parents should be aware of and take to heart. 

Another study on babies and touch showed that premature babies who were massaged for 15 minutes, 3 times a day, over the period of 10 days, gained 47% more weight than the non-massaged infants. Not only did they gain more weight, they were able to be released from the hospital on the average of 1 week earlier. 

Yet, another study on touch was done with school teachers. It revealed that those who touched their students on the arm no more than 5 seconds during an evaluation conference were rated more effective. In addition, the students showed superior performance on the next course examination.  

Needless to say, touch is incredibly important for the brain. We learn better when we include touch and clearly our brains are healthier. However, it is obvious that in this nation, and quite a few others, proper touch is not honored. This is incredibly painful for the portion of the population that possesses this as their sensory modality. If touch is not validated, they are more likely to suppress their innate gift. If they are doing an evaluation, they might tend to, whether consciously or subconsciously, answer questions in a way that they think they should, rather than the way that matches their brain.  

I have found consistently that individuals that take an evaluation after taking my course have a split of preferences of 20% auditory, 50% visual, and 30% kinesthetic. Other professionals may have compiled completely different information. I encourage you to keep track of your personal numbers to see what you find out.  

This concludes the section on the sensory preference/communication styles. 

[1] Your Brain Has a Bent (Nit a Dent) Arlene R. Taylor,PhD and W. Eugene Brewer, PhD
[2] River Parishes Community College Learning Syles & Assessment, 2003-2006 TRIO Dissemination Partnership-Southern Louisiana University July 2006
[3] Brain Personality Connection

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