I came to design through psychology, which is the reason the work looks the way it does.
I teach human relations at the University of Oklahoma, where I have been on the faculty since 2007, and my training is in intercultural communication and personality psychology rather than in art or design. The first two books came out of nearly two decades of teaching personality theory. The third came out of asking what happens when you point the same apparatus at taste.
- Position
- Associate professor of human relations, University of Oklahoma. Nineteen years.
- Degrees
- PhD, intercultural communication. Master of human relations, counseling and personality psychology.
- Research
- The Instinct Aesthetic™, from an IRB-approved study at the University of Oklahoma, 2025 to 2026. See the research.
- Color
- Master color consultant, certified under Leatrice Eiseman of the Pantone Color Institute.
- Columns
- Creative Review · The Branding Journal · Psychology Today · Visual Grammar, on Substack. See the writing.
- Studio
- Founder of Zykr Brand Atelier, where the framework is applied to identity work. How engagements run.
- Also
- Co-founder of Empathy Architects, a personality and Enneagram education practice, and co-founder of a ballet company.
- Represented by
- Laura Wood, Fine Print Literary Agency, New York.
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The Aesthetic Instinct
Discovering Your Visual Personality
The first book to map the relationship between instinctual drive and what a person finds beautiful. Three drives crossed with four seasons give twelve visual profiles, tested across three waves of research at the University of Oklahoma.
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Center of the Universe
Transforming the 27 Types of Narcissism from the Inside Out
The companion to the first book, and the one that asks what to do about it. Twenty-seven subtypes read at four scales, from the individual through the relational and the collective to the systemic, with the argument that the same pattern behaves differently depending on how much room it is given.
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The Narcissist in You and Everyone Else
Recognizing the 27 Types of Narcissism
Narcissism treated as a spectrum of diminishing empathy rather than a fixed condition, sorted into twenty-seven subtypes through the Enneagram. Written so that a clinician and a general reader can both use it, and structured so that the reader is included in the diagnosis instead of standing outside it.
All three are typologies, and the method underneath them does not change. The first two sort people into twenty-seven kinds of narcissism through the Enneagram, and argue that where a person lands tells you how their empathy fails. The third sorts people into twelve aesthetic profiles through instinctual drive, and argues that where a person lands tells you what they will find beautiful.
- Listen
The Narcissist in You and Everyone Else
A long-form conversation on the New Books Network around the first book, the clinical landscape of narcissism, and the case for treating it as a spectrum rather than a slur.
- Listen
Dr. Sterlin Mosley, interview
On personality, narcissism, and the long view.
- Listen
Understanding narcissism beyond the buzzwords
How the word stopped meaning anything, and how to bring it back.
- Listen
Staying connected without losing yourself
Empathy, boundaries, and the architecture of staying present.
- Listen
A2 the Show, interview
A wide-ranging conversation on empathy, identity, and the cultural moment.
- Listen
The hidden dynamics of narcissism and empathy
The human relations frame on personality and repair.
- Listen
Narcissism hijacks love, empathy, belonging
On the costs of unmet relational hunger.
- Listen
The Brian and Lee Show, interview
Narcissism in everyday life, for a general audience.
- Listen
Narcissistic people can affect daily life for many
The Chatting with Betsy interview.
Essays and columns are collected on the writing page. For interview requests, review copies, or a high-resolution portrait, get in touch.
I speak to university audiences, design and industry groups, clinical and coaching communities, and general audiences, in formats from a conference keynote through to a full-day workshop. Sessions are built for the room rather than delivered off a shelf, so the shape is worth a conversation.
- Narcissism and the failure of empathy
- The twenty-seven subtypes, how they form, and what actually shifts them. For clinicians, faculty, and general audiences.
- The aesthetic instinct
- Why taste is a drive rather than a preference, and what the research found when it was tested. For design schools, studios, and industry audiences.
- Color, season, and identity
- The long tradition of seasonal color from Goethe forward, and the psychology sitting underneath it.
- Personality typology, used carefully
- What typing is good for, where it goes wrong, and how to hold a system without letting it flatter you.
The framework has a research paper behind it, a book in front of it, and a studio built on top of it.
Three instinctual drives crossed with four seasonal palettes give twelve aesthetic profiles. The study behind it ran across three waves at the University of Oklahoma and matched people to their profile at well above chance. Zykr Brand Atelier is where the framework gets used on real identity work.