The Delta-Bravo continuum

Since the SSH is more of a series of behavioral patterns than a set of drawers to toss people into, it makes sense that some people can exhibit multiple of these patterns, depending on the situation. The PUA world has long talked about situational alphas, which is a similar concept to this proposed continuum.

The idea of the Delta-Bravo continuum is that people who would normally be Deltas can be situational Bravos, and vice versa.

As patterns go, Delta and Bravo are extremely similar. Both function best when given a purpose by an alpha. Both can set their minds to someone else's goal, without suffering a mental crisis á la special boy. Finally, both tend to be fairly normal men with simple, conventional desires. They are not alphas who want to rule the world, gammas who live in a delusion bubble, or sigmas/omegas who want God only knows what. Since they are so close, I posit that a Delta can be a situational Bravo much easier than he could be a situational Sigma, et cetera.

For example, a Delta being a situational Bravo would be if a group decides that the most experienced member takes charge. If this most experienced member is somewhat reluctant, he is a Delta being forced into the Bravo role. I am confident that every Delta over twenty five reading this has a story about being asked to lead something he did not want to lead, simply because Deltas get so good at stuff that it makes sense for them to lead, much as some of them do not enjoy it.

Conversely, one can occasionally observe the more cheerful and boisterous members of the group really shrinking back when there is something new to learn, when the terrain becomes unfamiliar. This, I believe, would be a Bravo being a situational Delta because he does not know enough to lead. It is worth recalling that Alphas and Bravos tend to lead because they, often correctly, consider themselves to be good at leading, whereas gammas lead to get petty revenge or an ego boost. Therefore, when a Bravo feels unable to lead properly, he shrinks back. Alphas do the same thing, to an extent, because they too are capable of stepping back to benefit the group effort. It just takes a little more effort to slow down an alpha. If you ever see a guy with nothing but respect for the guy who just busted his nose, it is two alphas who figured out their relative hierarchy the hard way. If, on the other hand, busted nose says he actually won because the other guy cheated and he is off his game this week and is secretly an MMA champion, well, you can guess.