HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

MODULE

CASA Approved Instructor: Reuben O’Connor

[email protected]

Port Moresby
 Module Objectives
• Discuss human behavior and how it affects the learning
process.
• Teach the instructor to know why people act the way
they do, how people learn, and then use this
understanding to teach .
• To be an effective instructor, knowledge of human
behavior, basic human needs, the defense mechanisms
humans use that prevent learning, as well as how adults
learn is essential for organizing student activities and
promoting a productive learning experience for students.
By observing human behaviour, an
instructor can gain the knowledge
needed to better understand him or
herself as an instructor as well as the
learning needs of students.

Understanding human behaviour leads

to successful instruction.
Definition of “Human Behaviour”
• The study of human behavior is an attempt to explain
HOW and WHY humans function the way they do.
• Human behavior is seen as the product of factors that
cause people to act in predictable ways.
• Human behaviour dictated by different stages of human
life. (infant, toddler, middle childhood, adolescent, adult)
• Human behavior is a product both of innate human
nature and of individual experience and environment.
• Human behavior is also defined as the result of attempts
to satisfy certain human needs.
Example –Complexity of Human Nature

• For example, speaking in public is very high on the list of

fears most modern humans have.
• While no two people react the same to any given fear,
fear itself does trigger certain innate biological responses
in humans such as an increase in breathing rate.
• How a person handles that fear is a product of individual
experiences. The person who has never spoken in public
may be unable to fulfill the obligation. Another person,
knowing his or her job requires public speaking, may
chose to take a class on public speaking to learn how to
cope with the fear.
 Instructor-Student Relationship
• Research has led many educational psychologists to feel that based on
personality type, everyone also has an individual style of learning.
• In this theory, working with that style, rather than against it, benefits
both instructor and student.
• Not only does personality type influence how one learns, it also
influences how one teaches.
• Learning one’s personality type helps an instructor recognize how he or
she instructs. Why is it important to recognize personal instruction style?
The match or mismatch between the way an instructor teaches and the
way a student learns contributes to student satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
• Students whose learning styles are compatible with the teaching styles of
an instructor tend to retain information longer, apply it more effectively,
learn more, and have a more positive attitude toward the course in
general.
• Although an instructor cannot change his or her preferred style of
teaching to match a learning style, steps can be taken to actively bridge
the differences.
 HUMAN PERSONALITY TYPES
-Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test 1962.
-Random variation in human behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being
due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and
judgment.
-16 P Types; Free test online: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

ESTJ ISTJ ENTJ INTJ

ESTP ISTP ENTP INTP

ESFJ ISFJ ENFJ INFJ

ESFP ISFP ENFP INFP

 HUMAN PERSONALITY TYPES
MBTI Personality Type Learning Preference
ESTJ-Extraverted, Sensing, Thinking ESTJ’s interest in learning is based on the Q: Does
& Judging this solve a problem? If ans is Yes, their interest to
learn HOW to solve the problem.
ESTP-Extraverted, Sensing, Thinking ESTP’s interest in learning is based on the Q: Will
& Perceiving this learning help me act more effectively? If ans is
Yes, their interest is proportional to learning
practical solutions to pressing problems.
ESFJ- Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, ESFJ’s interest in learning is based on the Q: Will
Judging this help me in my work with others? The more
positive the answer to this question the greater
the interest in the topic and apply what is learnt.
ESFP-Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling ESFP’s interest in learning is based on the Q: Am I
and Perceiving enjoying this? The more they enjoy what they are
learning the greater the interest in learning.
 HUMAN PERSONALITY TYPES
MBTI Personality Type Learning Preference
ISTJ-Introverted, Sensing, Thinking & ISTJ’s interest in learning is based on the Q: Is this
Judging practical and useful to me? If ans is Yes, their
interest to learn grows.
ISTP-Introverted, Sensing, Thinking & ISTP’s interest in learning is based on the Q: How
Perceiving does this work? Their interest to learn is directly
proportional to how they can operate something.
ISFJ- Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, ISFJ’s interest in learning is based on their desire to
Judging serve others or their “need to be needed’.
Learning is based on the Q: Will this help me in my
work?
ISFP-Introverted, Sensing, Feeling ISFP’s interest in learning is based on the sense
and Perceiving that ‘I like this, this is beautiful”. The more they
enjoy a given topic, the greater the interest.
 HUMAN PERSONALITY TYPES
MBTI Personality Type Learning Preference
ENTJ-Extraverted, iNtuitive, Thinking ENTJ’s interest in learning is based on the Q: ‘Will
& Judging this help me solve a problem? If ans is Yes, their
interest to learn grows.
ENTP-Extraverted, iNtuitive, Thinking ENTP’s interest in learning is based on the Q: In
& Perceiving what ways can a given problem be solved? Their
interest to learn is linked with the more solutions
they can learn of.
ENFJ- Extraverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, ENFJ’s interest in learning is based on the Q: ‘is this
Judging helpful to people?’. They see the ‘big picture’.
ENFP-Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling ENFP’s interest in learning is based on their search
and Perceiving for solutions to people-related issues, as well as
relevance and usefulness of what they learn to
other people.
 HUMAN PERSONALITY TYPES
MBTI Personality Type Learning Preference
INTJ-Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking INTJ’s interest in learning is based on the Q: ‘Why
& Judging is this so? The clearer and deeper the answer
received during the learning process, the greater
the interest in the topic
INTP-Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking INTP’s interest in learning is based on the Q: How
& Perceiving is this structured? The more in-depth, multi-
faceted, the answer they receive, the greater their
interest.
INFJ- Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, INFJ’s interest in learning is based on the Q: ‘is this
Judging good for people?’. The more beneficial the topic to
others, the greater their interest.
INFP-Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling INFP’s interest in learning is based on the q: Are
and Perceiving we doing the right thing? Their desire to study
comes from their desire to find solutions to issues
facing humanity.
Human Needs & Motivation
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning

Physiological
-These are biological needs. They consist of the need for
air, food, water, and maintenance of the human body.
-If a student is unwell, then little else matters. Unless the
biological needs are met, a person cannot concentrate fully
on learning, self-expression, or any other tasks.
-Instructors should monitor their students to make sure
that their basic physical needs have been met. A hungry or
tired student may not be able to perform as expected.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning
Safety & Security

-Once the physiological needs are met, the need for

security becomes active.

-All humans have a need to feel safe. Security needs are

about keeping oneself from harm.

-If a student does not feel safe, he or she cannot

concentrate on learning.

-The aviation instructor who stresses flight safety during

training mitigates feelings of insecurity.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning

Love & Belonging

-When individuals are physically comfortable and do not feel
threatened, they seek to satisfy their social needs of belonging. -
Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of
loneliness and alienation.
-This involves both giving and receiving love, affection, and the
sense of belonging. For example, aviation students are usually
out of their normal surroundings during training, and their need
for association and belonging is more pronounced.
-Instructors should make every effort to help new students feel
at ease and to reinforce their decision to pursue a career or
hobby in aviation.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning
Esteem & Self-Esteem
-When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the need for esteem can become
dominant. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect
and respect from others.
-Esteem is about feeling good about one’s self. Humans get esteem in two ways:
internally or externally. Internally, a person judges himself or herself worthy by
personally defined standards. High self-esteem results in self-confidence,
independence, achievement, competence, and knowledge.
-Most people, however, seek external esteem through social approval and esteem
from other people, judging themselves by what others think of them. External self-
esteem relates to one’s reputation, such as status, recognition, appreciation, and
respect of associates.
-When esteem needs are satisfied, a person feels self-confident and valuable as a
person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak,
helpless, and worthless.
-Esteem needs not only have a strong influence on the instructor-student relationship,
but also may be the main reason for a student’s interest in aviation training.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning
Cognitive and Aesthetic
-Maslow added cognitive (need to know and understand) and aesthetic (the emotional
need of the artist) needs to the pyramid. He realized humans have a deep need to
understand what is going on around them.

- If a person understands what is going on, he or she can either control the situation
or make informed choices about what steps might be taken next. The brain even
reinforces this need by giving humans a rush of dopamine whenever something is
learned, which accounts for that satisfying “eureka!” moment. For example, a flight
student usually experiences a major “eureka!” moment upon completing the first
solo flight.

-Aesthetic needs connect directly with human emotions, which makes it a subtle factor
in the domain of persuasion. When someone likes another person, a house, a painting,
or a song, the reasons are not examined—he or she simply likes it.

-This need can factor into the student-instructor relationship. If an instructor does not
“like” a student, this subtle feeling may affect the instructor’s ability to teach that
student.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning
Self-Actualization
-When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for
self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person’s need to
be and do that which the person was “born to do.” To paraphrase an old Army
recruiting slogan, self-actualization is to “be all you can be.”

Self-actualized people are characterized by:

• Being problem-focused.
• Incorporating an ongoing freshness of appreciation of life.
• A concern about personal growth.
• The ability to have peak experiences.

-Helping a student achieve his or her individual potential in aviation training offers the
greatest challenge as well as reward to the instructor.

-Instructors should help students satisfy their human needs in a manner that creates a
healthy learning environment. In this type of environment, students experience fewer
frustrations and, therefore, can devote more attention to their studies. Fulfillment of
needs can be a powerful motivation in complex learning situations.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning
Douglas M cGregor ‘s X-Y Theory (1960)
-McGregor’s famous X-Y Theory was designed for use in human resource
management, it offers information about how people view human behavior at
work and organizational life which makes it useful for aviation instructors.

-it sets out two opposing assumptions about human nature and motivation
Theory X Vs Theory Y

-Theory X assumes that management’s role is to coerce and control employees

because people need control and direction. Managers who think in Theory X
terms believe people have an inherent dislike for work, avoid it whenever
possible, and must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened with
punishment in order to get them to achieve the objectives.
Human Factors that Inhibit Learning
Defense Mechanisms

-Defense mechanisms can be biological or psychological. The biological defense

mechanism is a physiological response that protects or preserves organisms. For
example, when humans experience a danger or a threat, the “fight or flight” response
kicks in. Adrenaline and other chemicals are activated and physical symptoms such as
rapid heart rate and increased blood pressure occur.

-An example of this might occur when an anxious student pilot is learning to place the
aircraft (helicopter) in an autorotative descent, which is used in the event of engine
failure or tail rotor failure.

-Emergency procedure training is necessary to practice as the outcome of a true

emergency is directly related to the pilot’s ability to react instantly and correctly, and
in taking the proper corrective action since there may be limited time to analyze the
problem. The anxiety that the student pilot may feel while practicing such maneuvers
may resolve itself into a “fight or flight” response.
Human Factors that Inhibit Learning
R epression
-Repression is the defense mechanism whereby a person places uncomfortable
thoughts into inaccessible areas of the unconscious mind.

-Things a person is unable to cope with now are pushed away, to be dealt with at
another time, or hopefully never because they faded away on their own accord.

-The level of repression can vary from temporarily forgetting an uncomfortable

thought to amnesia, where the events that triggered the anxiety are deeply buried. -
Repressed memories do not disappear and may reappear in dreams or slips of the
tongue (“Freudian slips”).

-For example, a student pilot may have a repressed fear of flying that inhibits his or
her ability to learn how to fly.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning
Denial

-Denial is a refusal to accept external reality because it is too threatening.

-It is the refusal to acknowledge what has happened, is happening, or will happen.

-It is a form of repression through which stressful thoughts are banned from memory.

-Related to denial is minimization. When a person minimizes something, he or she

accepts what happened, but in a diluted form.

-For example, the instructor finds a screwdriver on the wing of an aircraft the
maintenance student was repairing and explains the hazards of foreign object damage
(FOD). The student, unwilling to accept the reality that his or her inattention could
have caused an aircraft accident, denies having been in a hurry the previous day. Or,
the student minimizes the incident, accepting he or she left the tool but pointing out
that nothing bad happened as a result of the action.
Human Factors that Inihibit Learning
Com pensation
Compensation is a process of psychologically counterbalancing perceived
weaknesses by emphasizing strength in other areas. Through compensation,
students often attempt to disguise the presence of a weak or undesirable
quality by emphasizing a more positive one. The “I’m not a fighter, I’m a
lover” philosophy can be an example of compensation. Compensation involves
substituting success in a realm of life other than the realm in which the
person suffers a weakness.

Projection
Through projection, an individual places his or her own unacceptable impulses
onto someone else. A person relegates the blame for personal shortcomings,
mistakes, and transgressions to others or attributes personal motives, desires,
characteristics, and impulses to others. The student pilot who fails a flight
exam and says, “I failed because I had a poor examiner” believes the failure
was not due to a lack of personal skill or knowledge. This student projects
blame onto an “unfair” examiner.
Human Factors that Inihibit Learning
Rationalization
Rationalization is a subconscious technique for justifying actions that
otherwise would be unacceptable. When true rationalization takes place,
individuals sincerely believe in the plausible and acceptable excuses which
seem real and justifiable. For example, a student mechanic performs poorly
on a test. He or she may justify the poor grade by claiming there was not
enough time to learn the required information. The student does not admit to
failing to join the class study group or taking the computer quiz offered by the
instructor.

Reaction Form ation

In reaction formation a person fakes a belief opposite to the true belief
because the true belief causes anxiety. The person feels an urge to do or say
something and then actually does or says something that is the opposite of
what he or she really wants. For example, a student may develop a who-
cares-how-other-people-feel attitude to cover up feelings of loneliness and a
hunger for acceptance.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning
Fantasy

-Fantasy occurs when a student engages in daydreams about how things should be
rather than doing anything about how things are.
-The student uses his or her imagination to escape from reality into a fictitious world—
a world of success or pleasure. This provides a simple and satisfying escape from
problems, but if a student gets sufficient satisfaction from daydreaming, he or she
may stop trying to achieve goals altogether.
-Perhaps the transitioning pilot is having trouble mastering a more complex aircraft,
which jeopardizes his or her dream of becoming an airline pilot. It becomes easier to
daydream about the career than to achieve the certification. Lost in the fantasy, the
student spends more time dreaming about being a successful airline pilot than
working toward the goal.
-When carried to extremes, the worlds of fantasy and reality can become so confused
that the dreamer cannot distinguish one from the other.
Meet Human Needs to Encourage Learning
Displacem ent
-This defense mechanism results in an unconscious shift of emotion, affect, or desire
from the original object to a more acceptable, less threatening substitute.
-Displacement avoids the risk associated with feeling unpleasant emotions and puts
them somewhere other than where they belong.
-For example, the avionics student is angry with the instructor over a grade received,
but fears displaying the anger could cause the instructor to lower the grade.
-The student might choose to express the anger but redirects it toward another, safer
person such as a spouse. Maybe the student yells at the spouse, but the student
knows the spouse either forgives the anger or ignores it. The student is allowed to
express anger without risking failure in a class.
-An instructor needs to be familiar with typical defense mechanisms and have some
knowledge of related behavioral problems. A perceptive instructor can help by using
common sense and discussing the problem with the student. The main objective
should be to restore motivation and self-confidence. It should be noted that the
human psyche is fragile and could be damaged by inept measures. Therefore, in
severe cases involving the possibility of deep psychological problems, timely and
skillful help is needed. In this event, the instructor should recommend that the student
use the services of a professional counselor.
Student Emotional Reactions
Anxiety
-Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, often about
something that is going to happen, typically something with an
uncertain outcome. It results from the fear of anything, real or
imagined, which threatens the person who experiences it, and may
have a potent effect on actions and the ability to learn from
perceptions.
-The responses to anxiety range from a hesitancy to act to the
impulse to do something even if it’s wrong. Some people affected by
anxiety react appropriately, adequately, and more rapidly than they
would in the absence of threat.
-Many, on the other hand, may freeze and be incapable of doing
anything to correct the situation that has caused their anxiety. Others
may do things without rational thought or reason.
-Student anxiety can be minimized throughout training by emphasizing the
benefits and pleasurable experiences, rather than by continuously citing the
unhappy consequences of faulty performances.
Teaching the Adult Student
Adults as learners possess the following characteristics:
• Adults who are motivated to seek out a learning experience do so primarily
because they have a use for the knowledge or skill being sought. Learning is
a means to an end, not an end in itself.
• Adults seek out learning experiences in order to cope with specific life-
changing events—marriage, divorce, a new job. They are ready to learn when
they assume new roles.
• Adults are autonomous and self-directed; they need to be independent and
exercise control.
• Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge
and draw upon this reservoir of experience for learning.
• Adults are goal oriented.
• Adults are relevancy oriented. Their time perspective changes from one of
postponed knowledge application to immediate application.
• Adults are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to them
in their work.
• As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect.
• The need to increase or maintain a sense of self-esteem is a strong
secondary motivator for adult learners.
• Adults want to solve problems and apply new knowledge immediately.
Teaching the Adult Student
Instructors should:
• Provide a training syllabus (see Chapter 8, Planning Instructional Activity)
that is organized with clearly defined course objectives to show the student
how the training helps him or her attain specific goals.
• Help students integrate new ideas with what they already know to ensure
they keep and use the new information.
• Assume responsibility only for his or her own expectations, not for those of
students. It is important to clarify and articulate all student expectations early
• Recognize the student’s need to control pace and start/stop time.
• Take advantage of the adult preference to self-direct and self-design
learning projects by giving the student frequent scenario based training (SBT)
opportunities.
• Remember that self-direction does not mean isolation. Studies of self-
directed learning indicate self-directed projects involve other people as
resources, guides, etc.
• Use books, programmed instruction, and computers which are popular with
adult learners.
• Refrain from “spoon-feeding” the student.
• Set a cooperative learning climate.
• Create opportunities for mutual planning.