The Aperian profile is a cultural awareness tool. It helps individuals understand their own preferences and tendencies for interacting with others, and allows for comparisons with other individuals as well as with other cultures. It is meant to start discussions about the impact of culture on our preferred style of engaging with others.


 The instrument places both individuals and cultures on a scale with five dimensions:

  1. How do I derive my identity? Independent – Interdependent 
  2. What is my preference for how my group should be structured and how power should be distributed? Egalitarianism – Status
  3. How do I make decisions in uncertain or ambiguous situations? Risk – Certainty 
  4. How do I communicate requests, tasks and feedback? Direct - Indirect
  5. When working on new projects, do I prefer to address tasks or relationships first? Task – Relationship


Aperian Profile uses these five dimensions because these have a strong impact on behavior in the business context. These dimensions have been used extensively in research and have proven to be reliable indicators of behavioral trends. In addition, data sets are available on these dimensions, making it possible to compile profiles for many countries.


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