The title of this post is a reference to the 1979 movie The Seduction of Joe Tynan, written by and starring Alan Alda.  I have a personal connection to this film as it was shot in Maryland at a time when I worked for the state Department of Economic and Community Development in Annapolis.  The Maryland Film Commission, which helps producers find locations and services during filming, was housed in our department.  Additionally, one scene pictured here of Alda and Meryl Streep was shot at a small general aviation airport just down the road from my house on the East River.

The title character U.S. Senator Joe Tynan is seduced by the power he accrues when asked to lead the fight against a Supreme Court nominee.  He becomes a captive of his environment and the situation.

So what does this have to do with Joe Biden and recent allegations by Lucy Flores that the then Vice President inappropriately touched her?  No one, I repeat NO ONE, is accusing Biden, for lack of a better phrase, of “hitting” on them.  Even Flores, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper did not accuse Biden of anything close to sexual harassment.  The terms she used included “made to feel uneasy” and “he violated my space.”

First, I understand exactly how Ms. Flores felt.  I value my space and feel uneasy when others get overly close.  It does not have to involve physical contact.  Someone standing too close behind me in a line at the bank or grocery store makes me feel uneasy.  And there is a physiological rationale for this response.

Some years back I was exposed to the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) for which I am now a certified facilitator.  Developed by the late Ned Herrmann during his employment at General Electric, it focuses on our behavior and how it depends on the way our brain is hardwired, unlike behavioral models such as the more familiar Meyers-Briggs assessment.  HBDI measures an individual’s preference (score) on four scales associated with the four quadrants of the human brain:  logical/rational, structured/conservative, interpersonal and conceptual/risk-taking.

You probably will not be surprised at my preferences.  My highest score is on the conceptual scale.  People in this quadrant tend to explain things in metaphors (like comparing life to movies).  My lowest score is on the interpersonal scale.  That explains why I prefer spending hours alone in my office cranking out this blog than attending conferences to present my thoughts.

Which brings me back to Biden and Flores.  Without administering the HBDI test, I would bet the farm Joe Biden is off the interpersonal scale and Lucy Flores’ dominant preference is on the structured/conservative scale.  Thus, unlike Joe Tynan, Biden and also Flores are not captives of their environments.  They are captives of their dominant brain preferences.  Biden wants to hug everyone.  One of the major shortcomings of the weekend reporting is every picture only showed Biden interacting with women.  But how about the photos below?

And if I’m correct about Lucy Flores, Joe Biden is not the only person who she feels has at one time or another violated her space.  That is why, when we conduct HBDI team training, the goal is not to compare profiles, but to help participants understand how people with different preferences react differently to words, actions or situations.

The conclusion.  Neither party is at fault.  Lucy Flores has a right to her space and one can certainly understand her discomfort at asking the sitting Vice President of the United States to “back off.”  And Joe Biden is not a seducer, but is seduced by his preference to be close to people. The fact he has now acknowledged her discomfort is a learning moment.

What worries me more is we seem to have lost the distinction between one person’s desire to connect with others and another person’s belief that grabbing women by the genitals is okay.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP