The Rutledge Compass is a BioPsychoSocial model of human behavior. It’s designed to map the unconscious systems that drive much of our lives automatically—especially the parts we don’t question until something breaks. At its core is the Primal Operating System, a deep, internal layer made up of instinctual drives, cognitive preferences, and emotional survival strategies.
These three systems form early in life. They help us survive childhood by adapting to our environment, but they often go unexamined for decades. When the rules we learned as kids no longer fit the realities of adult life, we can feel stuck, burned out, or lost—and we may not know why.
What emerged through years of research, pattern recognition, and lived experience was a new kind of map. When these three systems are combined, they form a remarkably accurate profile of how we handle stress, how we unconsciously seek safety or connection, and why we fall into the same loops again and again. The Compass reveals the hidden architecture behind these patterns—so we can finally begin to change them.
This test is made up of three short quizzes. Each one helps identify a different part of your Primal OS—the hidden systems that quietly run your life.
When you’re done, I’ll ask you to send me a simple line like this:
SO/Sp/sx, VAK, Recognition Driven
Then you'll send this to me - sean at rutledgecompass.com
Don’t worry if that looks cryptic now. Once you take the quizzes, it’ll make perfect sense.
Home | Instincts Quiz | Cognitive Quiz | Relational Quiz |I’ll use your results to generate a personalized profile describing how your unconscious system works—including how you handle stress, your typical collapse patterns, and some of your more unusual traits. It can be surprisingly accurate—and sometimes a little spooky.
Let’s begin.