Mucho loco

A study in interpreting the behavior of others

What is behavior?

• Behaviorism or the learning perspective tells that everything a living organism does (acting, feeling, thinking) are to be regarded as behaviors

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Cultural soup

America is a giant soup pot, wherein we mix the lives, behaviors, and traditions of many cultures to make a culinary delight.

but with all of these new people comes the confusion generated by new behaviors and how to interpret them.

Two main behavior categories

Innate Or learned

Innate

These are behaviors we are preprogrammed with such as an infant crying when in distress, or the flight or fight behaviors, just as examples.

Learned behaviors

These are passed down, or taught by parents, teachers, peers, and are

built into our various cultures.

How do you interpret this?

Aggressive? Contemplative?

Requirements for interpreting, more accurately.

The key points to remember

• There is no sure fire way to interpret everyone’s behavior all of the time, but here are a few simple tips to make sure that you can at least give it a whirl

context

• Consider body language in context. Trying to read too much into isolated pieces of a behavior can lead to misinterpretation

Clustered behavior

• Look for groupings or variations of the same behavior instead of a specific behavior.

History repeating itself

• Familiarity with another person increases your ability to “read,” them.

Check your observations

Observe the behaviors, attempt to read what is being expressed, then

ask for confirmation.