I gather a fair amount of what people think from how I see them behave. Psychologically, it is simple observation. Observe body language over any period of time and you will be able to determine more than what could see. I think it’s fascinating to watch and predict; sometimes I will be right and other times I will be quite surprised. It is an imperfect but reasonable science. People’s intentions are often telegraphed in what they do and how they do it.
For example, I came across a light duty truck the other day on my way to work. The first thing I noticed was that he passed me just after the corner where we had both just turned. The interesting thing I noticed right away was the big bumper sticker the work truck had on the tailgate: “Practice Safety Now,” he said. I was intrigued at this point and continued to follow the work truck looking for more cues in driver behavior that aligned with the safety message being displayed or the unsafe passing behavior I had just witnessed.
I was captivated by what I kept seeing. There was a mix of behaviors that indicated that the driver might have been aware that he was meant drive safely, but he really didn’t know as to fully achieve this. He was a young driver. He could have been in a hurry. He sometimes seemed to be in a hurry, and other times during the twenty-kilometer journey he didn’t. His behavior was disconcerting. He was not consistent one way or the other.
On reflection later, I determined that this young man may have been experiencing the onset of a form of mental chaos. Lack of patience and ability to feel with the “tension” of a situation will lead to various mental, emotional and spiritual chaos. In the same way, not knowing how to behave consistently in a given situation reveals chaos in cognitive processes. A dissonance ensues. Sometimes it is because we are asked to behave in a certain way, perhaps for safety, and yet it is not explained. because we should behave this way, we just have to.
I wonder if this was the case with this young man. Was he expected to drive safely but had he not been properly motivated (trained) on how to achieve it? I tend to think that in order to behave safely we need to understand “why” among other things. It also means knowing when and how to patiently deal with chaos. When brain processes get confused, we need to bring in a higher level of thinking: “neocortex” thinking. It is in these regions that we can rationalize many sources of conflicting information, but we invariably need time to analyze things properly; we have to delay the processing. It doesn’t always work in the heat of the moment when many security battles are fought mentally and are won or lost in the cause of individual or group security.
This is where training comes in. The problem is that today’s training (ie traditional training) is a bit of a joke; there’s a 2 day course on something and then you wonder why the person hasn’t changed when they went back to work. We lose it almost immediately. Training someone to behave safely requires a journey with that person. They need to be counseled and it can take years.
Motivating people to deal with the inevitable chaos that lies ahead requires an explanation ahead of time. When we anticipate things, particularly what we would call ‘abnormal’ things that bring up chaotic feelings, we can plan to respond appropriately. It requires explanation. It’s the philosophy “When this happens, do this.” So it’s a matter of practice. train in the knowledgeand then in the ability that is, in the application of knowledge in the situation.
When people are properly trained and supported by the right culture, they usually respond very well.
© 2008, Steven John Wickham. All rights reserved throughout the world.