Human Behavior!

Human behavior psychology is a very complex topic, no matter how you try to discuss it or
even attempt an explanation of how and why we function the way we do! According to a few
well-known psychologists "Myers-Briggs" and "Keirsey" there are about sixteen distinct
personality types, which defines our personality. And somewhere mixed into all of this
information they can tell us if we are either a extroverted or introverted type of person. You
know the "Mouse" and "Lion" type's.

If you want to learn more about your own personality, here would be a good place to start
looking. http://www.keirsey.com/ Note! Be sure to make your way back here and finish the
rest of the review. We'll leave the lights on.

Now! That you're back, you can see why we're not going into any great length, accept to say,
its well beyond the scope of what we are doing here today.

Nevertheless, after all the things we do and don't know about human behavior and our
different personalities and anxieties. Ranking very high on our list of anxieties, we find things
like, the fear of death and taxes and many more things we humans fear. And very high on the
list of fears we humans have is the fear of "Speaking in public."

Its important to note that no two people will react the same to any given event that may be on
there list of things they fear. So you may also have many of the same fears they do and didn't
realize it! But a good number of us do have one thing in common, that is when we suddenly
find ourselves thrust into the lime light, so to speak, facing a group of people with the task of
presenting a report or a presentation of some type, will or I should say we typically will go
immediately into and experience various of stages of stage fright or even experience an
anxiety attack at the mere mention of public speaking.

This condition can range anywhere from just having a very mild case of the jitters and being a
little nervous about speaking or it can effect a person up to a point where the person is
rendered completely unable to speak a word or they may even pass out cold!

Why? Because it is considered a normal behavioral trait that we humans all have. We usually
exhibit these types of symptoms, plus a few more, when we are suddenly taken outside of our
own comfort zone. Once we're forced outside of our comfort box, we immediately begin
looking for ways to return to the relative safety and comfort of our own little world. First we
begin by "Visualizing" the worst and then verbalizing to ourselves, saying things like " Why
me, No way, I would rather die first, than speak before a group of people." Or am just going to
embarrass myself, because I do not have a clue where to start or what to say, these are just a
few of the many excuses we will use to retreat with if possible back to our own little space we
call our comfort zone, where we are in control again of our non-treating environment.

All of us at times have experienced these very same feeling and have made similar excuses
in the hopes it would keep us from doing something we didn't want to do or we felt
uncomfortable about doing. What we are really saying to ourselves is that we lack self-
confidence in ourselves.

A reality check is in order here! Many may consider yourself as an

expert in your chosen field, but the simple truth of the matter is just
because you now have decided to become an instructor, lecturer,
speaker or teacher in some form in your chosen field, that alone in
themselves does not shield you or me from experiencing or showing
signs of even the most basic human emotions, such as
nervousness, stage fright or anxiety. In some cases experiencing
these emotions are enough to make even the most experienced
amongst us want to run away and hide.
Those who are seeking to become a instructor/trainer should have a working knowledge of
the Principles of Educational and Human Behavior Psychology. However, this is not a
mandatory requirement you must do before you can teach others. Nevertheless, taking on the
role as a professional trainer and being familiar with the terms and principles of teaching
others is, anyone considering entering the training world should have a good working
knowledge of the principles used. The better you understand how we humans function when
it comes to learning and how we learn and what motivate us to learn, the more successful you
will be as an instructor/trainer. However, for now only the areas that deals directly with the
learning process will be briefly discussed here today.

First things first, what is a definition of learning? We all know we begin the learning process
the day we are born, and it continues until the day we die. What happens to a person when
they are learning? What process does he or she go through? (I have to say at this point, we
are still learning how we learn things, it's still an on going learning process.)

We mainly learn new things because of our individual experiences, which may change our
way of thinking, feeling, doing, or seeing the world around us. So basically, it would be safe to
say learning is a change in behavior as the result of an experience. This change or learning,
can be openly observed or it can be in the mind as a feeling, which is hard to see at times.

The characteristics of learning, learning concepts and generalizations, the laws of learning,
factors that affect learning, and the transfer of learning are the many things that we need to
understand as trainers. The more we do understand the learning process it only increases our
chances of creating an effective learning environment and becoming a successful trainer.

Let's work our way through some of these learning processes by starting with:

CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING!

Most people have a very definite ideals of what they want to do and achieve. A student brings
his or her goals into the classroom. Some of these goals may be very personal and some
they will share with you and their classmates. A student will learn best what will help them
meet his or her goals. The learner's goal or purpose is of chief importance in the act of
learning. A good instructor tries to relate learning material to the student's goal.

Learning comes through experience. Learning is a very individual process and must be done
by the student themselves . . . the instructor cannot do this for them. Research has
concluded that learning and knowledge is a part of a person. A person knowledge is gained
from his or her experiences, and no two people react to the experience the same way. Each
learns different things depending on how the situation affects their different needs. Previous
experience conditions a person to respond to some things and to ignore others. Some
experiences involve the individual as a whole, while others involve only their eyes, ears, and
memory.

There are a number of factors in combination that affect the way in which an individual learns
new information.

Major factors contributing to your learning style include:

• Sensory Modalities: Auditory, Visually, and Kinesthetic

• Reasoning Types: deductive, inductive
• Learning Environment: interpersonal (working with others), interpersonal
(working alone)

Sensory Modalities:

The Senses:
Auditory-Listening:

Prefer verbal instructions to written ones.

Is comfortable using spoken reinforcement mentally as well as aloud?

Visually-Seeing:

Reading-Visualizing
Does well with reading comprehension?
Prefers maps to verbal directions.

Kinesthetic-Moving:

Touching - hands-on
Writing things down clarifies thoughts.
Likes to draw pictures.
Enjoys working with hands-likes lab classes.

Reasoning Type:

Deductive reasoning:

Studies premise first, then draw conclusions.

Sees big picture first, then looks for details.

Inductive reasoning:

Likes to see examples first when learning new information before developing an overview.
Prefers to learn game rules as it is played, not beforehand.

Learning Environment:

Interpersonal: working alone.

Likes to solve problems by oneself.
Does not like to work or study in groups?

Interpersonal: working with others.

Prefers discussion with family and friends before decision is made.
Likes to do assignments and study with others.

Do know how do you take in your information? To determine which methods you prefer, turn
to "Appendix A" in the back of your training manual and take a few minutes to complete a
learning inventory sheet. The information from the learning inventory is a brief inventory to
assist you in determining your own style of learning. Use the information from this user
friendly inventory to discover your own learning strengths which will help you maximize
information gathering.

When everyone is finished let's all take a ten minute break!

Now your chance to take a break also. Back to the top or you may continue on, it's your
choice!

Now, that you have an indication of your own style of learning, you can see that as an trainer
you must provide to your students with experiences that are meaningful, varied and
appropriate to the situation. It's not as easy as it sounds, but every effort on your part to
provide an learning environment where the student can use their individual learning styles
pay's off big both for your students and you. However, it requires you to work at it, you need
to be creative, innovative, and challenging to your students.
For instance, by repetitious drill, a student can learn a long laundry list of principles, for
example leadership. But the list is useless if one can't apply them correctly in real life
situations. A person can do this if their learning experience has been both extensive and
meaningful and they understand how to apply the principles. The learning experience which
challenges the student requires involvement with feelings, thoughts, memory of past
experiences, and physical activity is much better than just requiring the student to memorize a
long list of things

Learning is a multifaceted process too. An instructor or teacher who thinks his or her job is
only to train a student's body or memory is wasting their own and as well as the students
time. Students may learn much more than the instructor planned or intended, because, as
humans, they do not leave their thinking mind or feelings at home. As an example, a student
studying Aircraft Maintenance may be learning to perform a check on a particular piece of
equipment. However, in the process, they are learning new concepts and generalizations.
The student may also be learning new uses for the principles of electronics. And may become
more interested in black boxes and learn something about handling electronic equipment in
general.

This experience results in changes in the students way of seeing, thinking, feeling, reacting
and doing, even though the instructor's primary objective was to teach the student how to
read a multi meter. Students in a classroom may also be learning cooperation, elements of
good dynamics, and good and bad attitudes about life in general. The list is endless and is
sometimes referred to as incidental, but it still has a great impact on the learning situation.

Learning is an active process. Never assume anything just because it

is obvious to you. All too often, after an instructor has taught a lesson
many times in the past, he or she will teach the subject strictly out of
habit. Instead of watching their students, he or she becomes a robot,
who walks into the classroom and begins talking. As if they had just
push there on button, and the words begin to flow non-stop, but their
minds are elsewhere.

How can this be avoided? Keep everyone active in the class, the
students as well as the instructor. The more active a student is
involved in the class, the greater their chances are for both learning
and remembering. (If a student is to learn, they must react and
respond. They are not a sponge that will soak up knowledge like water. The response may be
outward or inward.) Since learning is a change in behavior as a result of experience, the
interaction between students and instructor must be active. This action can be either
answering the instructor questions, or working a practice exercise. The responsibility of
creating active student participation lies with the instructor.

We have cover a lot up to now, for those who are reading this we have just scratched the
surface a little. During the basic instructor course we cover the rest of this topic and the ones
listed below.