ACADEMIA Letters

An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using prototype

theory and fuzzy logic theory
Henk Roelofs, ROCvanTwente
Adriaan Nieuwenhuis, LE-Network
Willem Schreuder, Functionality

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

1
 The behavior style tests are based on fuzzy logic, on prototype theory and
on statistics. In behavior style we don’t measure precise but “fuzzy” and
use arithmetic mean as a measurement of central tendency to precise the
behavior style.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

2
 Testing a behavior style is stereotyping human behavior in categories: fuzzy sets. As hu-
man beings, we categorize things automatically in order to make sense of the world around
us. In the behavior style test we use “fuzzy categories”, based on fuzzy sets of behavior char-
acteristics, in contrast to so called “classical categories” with clear boundaries. In behavior
the boundaries of the categories are “vague”. For example no one is 100% extrovert and 0%
introvert or 100% introvert and 0% extrovert.
In our measure sets, we use linguistic variables, which are variables whose values are
words in a language. Stereotyping behavior is “fuzzy”. It is based on theory of personality
types: aspects of a personality that are relatively stable in how persons operate generally and
relatively consistent over situations. These stereotype personality types can be distinguished
in different degrees, with no clear boundary’s when refer to the prototypes of the specific
category. As a consequence it will have fuzzy boundaries.
That is why approximate reasoning is used in our test, to measure behavior quite impre-
cise and use the averages to be more precise. Zadeh (1972) formulated his beautiful law of
incompatibility: “when the complexity increases, accurate assertions lose their meaning and
meaningful claims their accuracy”. This law of incompatibility therefore sets limits to the
accurate analysis of complex information. The solution for dealing with complex information
that people have is both a handy and simple strategy: summarizing. In fact, summarizing is
also what happens when testing the behavioral style.
Prototype theory is a mode of graded categorization in cognitive science, where some
members of a category are more central than others. In prototype theory a category is struc-
tured around its good examples. Rosch (1975) presented a simple experiment of about 10
minutes in 1973 with great influence on the time after. She gave 113 students a list of six
words in eight categories (fruit, science, sport, bird, vehicle, crime, disease and vegetables).
She asked the students to indicate to what extent each word was a good example of each
category, and to indicate this in a scale of 1 to 7. For example, an ostrich, if that was an
exceptionally good example of a ‘bird’, would score 1, if a reasonably good example of the
category ‘bird’ it would score 4, if a very bad example of the category ‘bird’, a score of 7
should be granted. It turned out that the students did not need more than 3 seconds per choice
on average.
In our test we use a scale of 0 to 10 to indicate the extent of each word to one of the four
behavior categories, with the restriction that all values in one set add up to 20.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

3
How to measure behavior styles?
The test is conducted twice: one time from a positive viewpoint (Response style, ‘what fits
best’) and one time from a negative viewpoint (Basic style, ‘what fits worst’). Both tests
generate an average measure of four “fuzzy” behavior style categories. By comparing both
(minus negative is positive) we can check the consistency and validity of the test. If there is
too much difference we know the test is misinterpreted or filled in unserious. In general the
differences between both behavior style scans are small.
According to Jung’s theory of psychological types [Jung, 1971], people can be character-
ized by their preference of general attitude, who distinguishes between extrovert behavior and
introvert behavior. Another distinction is rational decision making behavior and the emotional
decision making behavior. These two dichotomies lead to four distinguished behavior style
categories: rational extrovert (RED), rational introvert (BLUE) emotional extrovert (YEL-
LOW), emotional extrovert (GREEN).

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

4
 Adriaan Nieuwenhuis showed visually how behavioral styles are mixed, the 4 categories
have ‘vague boundaries’ . No one is completely “red” or “blue”, the colors are mixed. One
color can be dominating, but this dominance is relative!

In our behavior style test we use “fuzzy sets of 4 words” these 4 personality types, to
prototype a human behavior style in categories.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

5
 Each fuzzy set has 4 categories: words that are more or less stereotyping each category.
The subsets of words characterize with a certain amount of vagueness the categories that
determine our thinking processes, behavior categories that emphasize the essential topics so
it is possible to simplify and generalize.
Because behavior is fuzzy, not something which is absolute and certain, measuring in a
binomial standard -yes/no, more/less, either or not, leading to measuring in “1 or 0”- is not
realistic. Nobody is 100% extrovert or 100% rational with clear boundary’s. We measure these
categories in 10 fuzzy sets on a count scale of non-negative integers: 0, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 &
10 points with each set of 4 stereotyping words adding up to 20.
The scale fits to the mindset of human beings, a mindset of “constant proportions” which
characterizes the metric system, widespread in use.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

6
 After ten times we calculate the average scores on the 4 categories.

• With the basic style, there are always 20 points (with a maximum of 10 points per word
per item) divided over the words that fit “the WORST “ with you. A maximum of 10
points must be assigned per word, always per set of 4 words.

• With the response style, 20 points must be divided (with a maximum of 10 points per
word per item) about the words that “the BEST” suits you. A maximum of 10 points
must be awarded per word, each time per set of 4 words.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

7
The two test in (Dutch version)

By doing the test twice, measure in the same way, it is possible to immediately compare the
“negative” approach with the ”positive” approach. By transforming the observations, from
X to 10-X we make the “negative” answers of the Basic style comparable to the “positive”
answers of the Response style. Minus-minus = positive. By measuring in 20 points for 4
categories this “duality element” in our assessment system is created, which is also used in
our other soft skills tests (conflict style, leadership style, free available at softskillstest.com in
>30 languages).

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

8
Results and findings
Meanwhile we have several thousand persons who filled in the tests of the behavior style scan.
The distribution of the results of the averages of the tests show by approximation a “normal,
Gaussian” distribution. This is what could be expected according to the central limit theorem.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

9
 With our test it is possible to construct a “Teamscan” as the average behavior style of the
tested group to compare the individual behavior style with that of the group. The tests can be
used, in fact are used, to optimize behavior in teams. Because it is always easier to change
your own behavior than try to change someone else’s.
In a paper published at Turku (Roelofs, 2014) we presented results of measuring behavior

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

10
of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs: 28 entrepreneurs that are operating at own risk out
of a 909 test. We selected the entrepreneurs and did the teamscan, comparing the results of
both all and the selection of entrepreneurs.

It indicated that in general entrepreneurs have a different behavior style (+25% more ex-
trovert) compared to non-entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur behavior style is on average charac-
terized by more result orientated RED + 30 % and more sunny YELLOW +20 % at the cost
of less organized BLUE (-20%) and less harmonious GREEN (-30%).

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

11
And next?
Meanwhile -after >5000 tests- paper is not needed anymore to test, because mobile phones do
a better job. Faster, with results immediately available and showable on screen.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

12
 Moreover we use behavior style test in our learning entrepreneurship role game (LEARNGame,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O8zxn6VdwQ) and relate individual performance (reg-
istering individual bank transactions via smart phones) to the individual behavior style. Pilots
are ongoing.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

13
 Another question, a topic for new research, is “will a person with an entrepreneurial be-
havior style become an entrepreneur ? (Bayesian probability)”.

Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

14
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Academia Letters, May 2022 ©2022 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Henk Roelofs, roelofs.hd@gmail.com

Citation: Roelofs, H., Nieuwenhuis, A., Schreuder, W. (2022). An (entrepreneurial) behavior style test using
prototype theory and fuzzy logic theory. Academia Letters, Article 5215.

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