Understanding DYNAMICS-8
Eight personality dimensions that predict how real people actually behave. Not how they say they behave on a survey. How they spend, vote, scroll, and decide.
Traditional personality models were built to measure people, not predict them
The Big Five and HEXACO models are the gold standard in personality psychology. They were designed in the 1990s to categorise people from questionnaire responses. They work brilliantly for that purpose.
But when you need to predict what someone will actually do (buy, click, share, ignore, complain), those models have two blind spots: they cannot predict digital behaviour, and they cannot predict impulsive decisions. Those two gaps cover most of what matters in modern consumer research.
DYNAMICS-8 keeps the six dimensions that three decades of research have validated, and adds two dimensions built specifically to close the gap: Acuity (digital fluency) and Impulsivity (snap decisions and reward sensitivity).
Every decision your customer makes traces back to these eight traits
Each dimension is scored 0.0 to 1.0. Each has four facets for finer granularity. Together, they predict spending habits, brand loyalty, political views, media consumption, and hundreds of other behaviours.
What DYNAMICS-8 predicts that older models cannot
| Prediction | Big Five (1992) | HEXACO (2004) | DYNAMICS-8 (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase speed (impulse vs. deliberated) | Poor | Poor | Direct (Impulsivity) |
| Digital campaign engagement | Poor | Poor | Direct (Acuity + Sociability) |
| Notification response time | Partial | Partial | Direct (Impulsivity + Mercuriality) |
| Privacy setting behaviour | Partial | Partial | Direct (Acuity + Discipline) |
| Content creation quality | Poor | Poor | Direct (Acuity + Novelty) |
| Brand loyalty vs. switching | Partial | Partial | Direct (Novelty + Discipline) |
| Endorsement susceptibility | Partial | Good | Direct (Yielding + Candour) |
| Doom-scrolling / session length | Poor | Poor | Direct (Impulsivity + Acuity) |
From personality profile to predicted consumer behaviour
See how DYNAMICS-8 drives different responses from different people
What her profile tells you: Sarah is digitally native (high Acuity), curious about new products (high Novelty), and socially engaged (high Sociability). But she does not buy on impulse (moderate to low Impulsivity) and she values authenticity over status (high Candour). She will see your ad, explore the product, share it with friends, but will not convert until she has read the reviews and compared alternatives. Target her with social proof from peers she trusts, not celebrity endorsements or urgency messaging.
What organisations use DYNAMICS-8 panels for
Built on peer reviewed personality science
Six of the eight DYNAMICS-8 dimensions are direct descendants of factors validated across 50+ cultures and 13+ languages. The two new dimensions draw on established research traditions in digital literacy and behavioural economics.
| DYNAMICS-8 | Lineage | Key Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Discipline | Conscientiousness (Big Five, HEXACO) | Costa & McCrae, 1992 |
| Yielding | Agreeableness (Big Five, HEXACO) | Costa & McCrae, 1992 |
| Novelty | Openness to Experience (Big Five, HEXACO) | Goldberg, 1990 |
| Acuity | Digital literacy research | Hargittai, 2002; van Dijk, 2005 |
| Mercuriality | Neuroticism / Emotionality | Costa & McCrae, 1992; Lee & Ashton, 2004 |
| Impulsivity | UPPS model, delay discounting, BIS/BAS | Whiteside & Lynam, 2001; Gray, 1970 |
| Candour | Honesty-Humility (HEXACO) | Lee & Ashton, 2004 |
| Sociability | Extraversion (Big Five, HEXACO) | Costa & McCrae, 1992 |
UK Patent Application Pending. DYNAMICS-8 specification published under CC BY 4.0.
See your audience before you commit to a position
Request a demonstration and we will run a live panel stimulus against your target demographic, profiled with DYNAMICS-8, using a provided or suggested research question. No commitment required.