Hacking Human Behaviour

Edin Kapić

About me (Edin Kapić)

• I’m a Developer• A techie, just like you

• We don’t live in isolation• Family• Friends• Coworkers• Managers

• Trial and Error• Costly way of learning

• Take this course with a grain of salt

@ekapicekapic@gmail.com

Your skills

• You have several traits and skills as a technical person• I will build on them to explain human behaviour

High Intelligence Abstraction Problem-

Solving

Observation Reasoning Deduction

Crash course in human behaviour

• Our Mind• Conscious vs Unconscious mind• Personality• Communication

Our Mind

Man vs Machine

PREDICTABLE

NON-PREDICTABLE

Two additions to the Black-box model

Inner State

Subjective Filter

Our mind

Hardware

Firmware

Operating System

Applications Cortex

Limbic System

Brainstem

Nervous System

Conscious vs Unconscious Mind

Schools of Thought in Psychology

Psychoanalysis (Freud)

• Inner thoughts are what counts• Unconscious, ego, defense mechanisms

Behavioralism (Skinner)

• Only the observed behaviour is what counts• Conditioning, rewards

Cognitivism (France)

• There are both inner thoughts and observed behaviour

• Perception, language, memory

The Conscious Mind

• Consciousness• Being aware of ourselves and our environment• Defining characteristic of human mind

• Conscious mind• Our psychic RAM memory

• Preconscious mind

The Unconscious Mind

The Ego

• Common sense

• Mediates between• Instinctive (Id) • Moral values (Superego)

• Defense mechanisms• Our mind “hates” cognitive dissonance

Defense Mechanisms

• Driven by the unconscious mind but their response can be avoided

Denial Regression

Projection Acting Out

Demo: Defense Mechanisms

The project is not going well. Can’t you see?

Don’t worry, it will be OK.

DENIAL

States of Mind

• Awake, conscious• Dreaming• Unconscious mind talking

• Concentrated• Varies from person to person

• “Flow” • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

• Meditation, prayer• Using drugs or drinking

Mental fallacies

• Our thinking process is prone to fallacies or irrational outcomes

Evaluating probability

Sunk cost fallacy

Availability heuristic

• Gambler’s fallacy

Evaluating probability

Sunk cost fallacy

• You go to a cinema• You pay your ticket• The movie is very bad

Availability heuristic

• “I can think of it, so it must be important”

Personality

• Description of the unique characteristics of a single individual

• Not a single trait but a combination• Evolves over time• Influences our behaviour

Types or Traits?

Type theory

Trait theory

The Big 5

Introversion / Extraversion

Gratification found inside

Gratification found outside

The Rest of Traits

Openness to experience

The Rest of Traits

Conscientiousness

Classifications of Personality

• Hippocrates• Four humors

• Karl Jung• Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI)• Type A / Type B• Enneagram

Personality in the Workplace

• We bring our personality with us to the workplace

• The workplace has different effects on different personality types/traits

• We can adjust ...• But choosing when it’s worth it

Personality in the Workplace

• Sometimes the traits don’t match

• Understand the difference and find common language

• Don’t confuse one trait for another

Communication

Communication Theory

Channel

Message

Sender ReceiverEncoding Decoding

Message

How Communication Works

• SMCR model (David Berlo)

Message

• Speaking skills• Attitude• Knowledge• Culture• Social context

Channel

Sender Receiver• Content• Elements• Treatment• Structure• Code

• Listening skills• Attitude• Knowledge• Culture• Social context

• Hearing• Seeing• Smelling• Tasting• Touching

Beliefs and Stereotypes

Belief

A premise held true

Stereotype

Belief applied to a group

Demo: Beliefs in CommunicationHi Jane! Have you seen the specs for the

Feature X? How long it would take to implement it?

Well, I have done an estimate and I am sure that it would take

eight days.

BELIEFPrecision = Accuracy

BELIEFGood estimation = Precision

Demo: Beliefs in CommunicationHi Jane! Have you seen the specs for the

Feature X? How long it would take to implement it?

Well, I have done an estimate and I think that it would take between six and twelve days.

Between six and twelve days? Why?

The specs for the user permissions are somewhat vague and I think that there are some hidden

assumptions there. We should confirm them to get a firmer estimate.

Types of Communication

VerbalConscious, affected by

unconscious

Non-verbalUnconscious,

complementing conscious

WrittenConscious, precise

Non-Verbal Communication

•Reinforces or weakens verbal communication• Unconscious activity• Culture-dependent

• Body posture

• Eye contact

Non-Verbal Communication

•Gestures

• Closeness / distance

Caveats

• Communication is not symmetric• Sender:

• “what I express” + “what I mean”• Receiver:

• “what I receive” + “what I understand”

• Consequences• What we say is not what they hear• We hear what we want to hear

• Remedies• Active listening• Rephrasing and repeating

Demo: Misunderstanding

How should we install this database system to our server?

I’ll send you the installation instructions right now.

No, I don’t want the installation instructions! I know how to find them!

Demo: Active ListeningHow should we install this database

system to our server?

What exactly is your concern? Do you want to know the installation steps

for the database system?

No, I am concerned about the impact it might have on our existing environment.

Defensive Triggers

• Criticism perceived as a threat• Unconscious threat handling• Inhibits further communication

• Decouple the person from the fact• When delivering criticism• When receiving criticism

• You are not your code!

Communication in the Workplace

• Ensure that your message is correctly understood• Be aware of your non-verbal language

Summary

• We are almost never rational in our behaviour• But we can apply our conscious mind to detect unconscious behaviour

paterns

• Our personality influences our behaviour• But it doesn’t define it

• Communication is much more than saying whay you want to say• Be sure to understand and be understood

More information

• http://www.mindtools.com• http://personalitycafe.com

Thank you!

• If you are interested in this topic, let me know• ekapic@gmail.com• @ekapic