Understand What Your Audience Thinks?
Basics Human Psychology
To understand how people think, we need to know little about genetics and basic human psychology. It’s necessary to understand human behavior and how the human mind works.
We are all a product of our genetics and our environment. Human psychology is determined by birth through genetics.
We inherit a certain personality, but that changes over time due to the influence of our surroundings. It depends on the people we hang out with and in general the level of nourishment in our growing environment.
Psychology is a science that deals with mental processes and behavior, explains and helps people to understand why they act the way they do.
It deals with the emotional and behavioral characteristics of an individual, group, or activity.
Individuals vary in their personality, motivation and intelligence. These differences are the main aspects that interact with how individuals develop their identities.
Human behavior is complex. The complexity of human behavior is determined during learning, perception, memory, cognitive development, and emotion and represents part of the psychology of personality.
Understanding Human Behavior
Human behavior depends on personality, emotions, understanding, influences, motivation, intelligence, learning, perception, memory, environmental and ecological factors.
Participation in group life is a key factor in building up personality. Humans learn symbolic skills and behavior systems as group members.
That is important in determining our ideas, attitudes, and social values.
Our personality is a result of four major determinants:
- Physical (Biological/Hereditary)
- Social (the community we are brought up in and our role in the community)
- Psychological (our behaviour, emotions and inner thought patterns)
- Intellectual (our values and beliefs)
Physical (Biological/Hereditary)
Physical or biological characteristics are the genetics of heredity that influence the way someone looks and also determine the character of a person.
Each human being inherits the same basic set of biological requirements and capabilities.
Someone can look a lot like his parents, in physical appearance and intelligence. That can shape whether a person is strong or weak and energetic, lazy, smart or inept, cowardly or brave.
Social (the community we are brought up in and our role in the community)
Social behavior can be defined as all behavior that influences, or is influenced by, other members of the same group.
That covers all sexual and reproductive activities and all behavior that tends to bring individuals together. Also, as well all forms of aggressive behavior.
Communities with shared interests, values, thoughts and attitudes encourage us to live better. We strive for more and focus on the results we’re looking for, creating a sense of belonging, acceptance, understanding and inspiration.
Communities are a source of identity. Every community has its distinct traditions, values, and norms.
Psychological (our behaviour, emotions and inner thought patterns)
Psychological aspects of personality are behaviour, emotions and thoughts. Thoughts and emotions (feelings) are very connected to one another, but they are two distinct things.
THOUGHTS: Ideas or opinions produced by thinking or that occur in the mind.
EMOTIONS (FEELINGS): An emotional state or reaction.
Also connected to our thoughts and feelings are behaviours.
BEHAVIOURS: The way we think about something affects the way we feel about it. Our thoughts and feelings influence our behaviors, choices, and ultimately, outcomes.
How we feel emotionally is not the result of what happens to us, but instead, it is the result of how we think about what happens to us.
In order to succeed, we must actively change the way we construct our inner thoughts.
We need to break negative thinking patterns. These internal thinking patterns can keep us from being our most confident, productive, and successful self.
Inner thought patterns not only prevent us from achieving our goals, but they can take a serious toll on our health.
Intellectual (our values and beliefs)
Intellectual personality is feelings, values, beliefs, behaviours, attitudes, and ways of reasoning, evaluation and decision-making that people utilized when they face a cultural phenomenon-social, political – religious, historical, or economic and then accept or reject it.
Every individual has a unique list of values that guide them throughout their daily life.
Five of the most common and widely known values include integrity, accountability, diligence, perseverance, and discipline. These values can be applied anywhere.
Human behaviour refers to the way humans act and interact. It is based on and influenced by several factors, such as genetics, culture and individual values and attitudes.
Depending on personality type our behaviour will be different. A study on human behaviour has revealed that 90% of the population can be classified into four basic personality types: Optimistic, Pessimistic, Trusting and Envious.
You can do a free personality test and find out what personality type are you.
Other Factors That Affect Behaviour
Our ‘personality’ refers to a person’s unique behavioural and cognitive patterns. Personality is closely linked to identity.
Cognitive patterns or factors refer to characteristics of the person that affect performance and learning. These factors involve cognitive functions like attention, memory, and reasoning and may improve or decline.
Some examples of cognitive factors are deep thinking, more interaction, cognitive conflict resolution, adaptation over time, constructive use of technology etc.
Other important factors that affect behaviour are everything that happened in the environment, our response to that, natural and learned drive toward something, some conditioning learning techniques, motivation, intelligence, group behaviour, life experiences, personal factors etc.
Key factors that affect behaviour:
Stimulus: Anything that occurs in the environment which makes an individual react to it.
Response: While we typically think of a response as a physical action, responses can also be verbal or written. As long as the behavior/action is observable and is a reaction to a stimulus, it is known as a response.
Unlearned drive: A natural human tendency toward food, drink, sleep, or sex that influences decisions and behavior.
Learned drive: A particular behavior that an individual is taught to exhibit.
Classical Conditioning: A learning technique that pairs a naturally-occurring stimulus with a chosen stimulus in order to teach an individual to react the same way to the chosen stimulus as they do to the naturally occurring stimulus.
Operant Conditioning: A learning technique that uses positive and negative reinforcements (rewards or punishments) to teach an individual to either continue or cease particular behaviors.
Incentivization: Trying to prevail someone into doing something, or making it more appealing, by the promise of reward afterwards. Encourage someone to behave in a particular way by offering them a reward.
Motivation: Motivation is largely about values and rewards. Every learned response is the result of some motivation.
Intelligence: Intelligence is one of the most widely discussed subjects in psychology. Some believe that intelligence is a single, general ability, while others believe it encompasses a range of abilities, skills, and talents.
Group behaviour: Humans are social beings and our behaviour changes in group situations. Both, pro-social and anti-social behaviours may result from the influence of others. Social psychology research how culture and gender roles can shape a person’s behaviour or what may influence helping behaviour in emergency situations.
Life experiences: Factors relating to the person, including family, culture, friends, life events, a person needs and wants.
Personal factors: Personality, beliefs, expectations, emotions, age, health, illness, pain, the influence of a substance or medication, etc.
Now when we know all that can affect human behaviour, we can observe people and try to read what they think following some simple tips.
That can help us in our private and business environment to have a better approach and greater response. It is a skill that we can learn to further boost our EQ.
How To Read People’s Minds
The ability to read others will greatly affect how we deal with them and will significantly affect our social, personal, and work life.
When we understand how another person is feeling, we can adapt our message and communication style to make sure it is received in the best way possible.
This is important especially if we have our own business, products and services.
Keeping in touch and constant communication with customers and a happy customer is something that will make them want to repeat the purchase and to buy from us again.
Do we know what our customers think about our business?
What we can do to improve the service we provide?
Are we listening to our customers?
But what should we be listening for?
It’s not that hard. We don’t need any special powers to know how to read people. We can ask them for feedback about our business, conduct a survey, and have a chat about their experience.
Tips For Reading People Easily
1. Be objective and open-minded
Before we start to read people, we must first practice having an open mind. Do not let our emotions and past experiences influence our impressions and opinions. We need to be objective in approaching every interaction and situation. If we judge people easily, it will cause us to misread people.
2. Pay attention to appearance
When we read others, we try to notice people’s appearance. What are they wearing? Are they dressed for success, which indicates they are ambitious? Or they are wearing jeans and a t-shirt, which means comfort? Do they have a pendant such as a cross or something else, which indicates their spiritual values?
Whatever they wear, we can sense something from it. We should pay attention to “identity claims”. These are things people choose to show with their appearances, such as a t-shirt with slogans, tattoos, or rings. Identity claims are deliberate statements people make about their attitudes, goals, values, etc.
3. Pay attention to people’s posture
A person’s posture says a lot about his or her attitude. If they hold their head high, it means they are confident. If they walk indecisively or cower, it may be a sign of low self-esteem.
4. Watch their physical movements
More than words, people express their feelings through movements. For example, we lean toward those we like and away from those we don’t.
If a person is leaning away, it means he or she is putting up a wall. Another movement to notice is the crossing of arms or legs. If a person doing this, it suggests defensiveness, anger, or self-protection.
On the other hand, hiding one’s hands means that they are hiding something. But if they are lip biting or cuticle picking, it means they are trying to soothe themselves under pressure or in an awkward situation.
5. Try to interpret facial expressions
Unless we are a master of poker face, our emotions will be etched on our face. When we see deep frown lines forming, it may suggest the person is worried or overthinking. On the contrary, a person who is truly laughing will show smile lines of joy. Another thing to watch out for is pursed lips which can signal anger, contempt, or bitterness. Additionally, a clenched jaw and teeth grinding are signs of tension.
6. Don’t run away from small talk
Small talk can give us the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the other person. Small talk helps us observe how a person behaves in normal situations. We can then use it as a benchmark to accurately spot any behavior that is out of the ordinary.
7. Scan the person’s overall behavior
We sometimes assume that if a particular action is done, like looking down at the floor during a conversation, it means the person is nervous or anxious. But if we are already familiar with a person, we will know whether the person avoids eye contact or is just relaxing when he or she looks down the floor.
People have different quirks and patterns of behaviour and some of these behaviours could simply be mannerisms. That’s why creating a baseline of others’ normal behavior will help us.
Learn how to identify any deviation from a person’s usual behavior. We will know something is wrong when we notice a change in their tone, pace or body language.
8. Ask direct questions to get a straight answer
To get a straight answer, we have to stay away from unclear questions. Always ask questions that require a straight answer. Remember not to interrupt when the person is answering the question. Instead, we can observe the person’s mannerisms as they talk.
Look for “action words” to get insight into how someone thinks.
For example, if your boss says she’s “decided to go with brand X,” the action word is decided. This single word indicates that most likely your boss 1) is not impulsive, 2) weighed several options, and 3) thinks things through. Action words offer insights into the way a person thinks.
9. Notice the words and tone used
When we talk to someone, we try to notice the words they use. When they say “This is my second promotion,” they want us to know that they also earned a promotion previously.
Those types of people rely on others to boost their self-image. They want us to praise them so they will feel good about themselves. We should also look out for the tone they used.
The tone and volume of the voice can tell much about our emotions. Sound frequencies create vibrations. When reading people, notice how their tone of voice affects us.
Does their tone feel soothing? Or is it abrasive, roughly, or whimper?
10. Listen to what your gut says
Listen to the gut especially when first time meet a person. It will give us an intuitive reaction before we have a chance to think.
Our gut will relay whether we’re at ease or not with the person. Gut feelings occur quickly, it is a primal response. It is an internal truth meter, relaying if we can trust people.
11. Feel the goosebumps, if any
Goosebumps happen when we resonate with people who move or inspire us. It can also happen when a person is saying something that strikes a chord within us. Additionally, we feel it when we experience deja-vu, a recognition that you’ve known someone before, though we’ve actually never met.
12. Pay attention to flashes of insight
Sometimes, we may get an “ah-ha” moment about people. But stay alert because these insights come in a flash. We tend to miss it because we go onto the next thought so rapidly that these critical insights get lost.
13. Sense the person’s presence
This means that we have to feel the overall emotional atmosphere surrounding us. When we read people, try to notice if the person has a friendly presence that attracts us or we face a wall, making us back off. This is the overall energy every person emits, not necessarily congruent with words or behaviour.
14. Watch people’s eyes
Our eyes are the doorway to our souls, they transmit powerful energies. So, take the time to observe people’s eyes. When we look, can we see a caring soul? Are they mean, angry, or guarded? Eyes can convey whether we are lying or telling the truth. They can also serve as a good detector for what people like by looking at pupil size.
15. Don’t make assumptions
Assumptions result in misunderstandings. When we easily make assumptions without even knowing the person, it brings more trouble. For example, if we assume that our friend is angry, then whatever they say or do will seem like concealed anger to us. The key to reading people like a pro is to relax and keep our mind open and positive.
16. Practice watching people
Practice makes perfect so the more we study people, the more we can read them accurately. As an exercise, try to practice watching talk shows on mute. Watching their facial expressions and actions will help us see what people are feeling when they are talking, without hearing any words. Then, watch again with the volume on and see if you are right with your observation.
How To Know Your Customers Better
In previous part, we are talking about reading people and dealing with them in a daily social, private and work situation. Using all that and conducting some surveys, will give us better insight into our potential and current customers’ need and wishes.
We can ask them directly what they think, what they feel and what are their needs. Understanding our customers’ requirements is very important.
Treating our customers, the way we would love to be treated when we are buying something and always looking after them is one of the main things that we can do by setting up good customer service standards.
Keeping our word and always doing as we say we are going to do makes customers become loyal and comfortable with our business.
Regular communication with the customers is a necessity. Making them feel special by treating them as individuals and personalizing the relationship is essential for customer engagement and retention. Personalization has a major impact on driving repeat engagement and loyalty over time.
Conclusion
When we successfully resolve any issue in our customers’ experience, we ensure they enjoyed and have been taken care of and we know what they think about our product or service, we do not need to stay only at that.
Taking one step in front and offering something more, something extra makes a difference. We can always offer them more details to clarify any doubts, direct them to other interesting sources that might help them, etc.
In the end, our customers will be happy with the solution we offered. They will also know that we listen to their needs, so they will be more likely to return when they need our product or service again.
Some of my previous posts can help and give ideas about writing, practicing and expressing of our thoughts, creativity and our voice. With good topics and interesting content we can solve many issues of our audience and bring them some quality solutions what is our primary goal.
