BEHAVIORAL STYLES

Are there certain tasks that frustrate you or cause you anxiety? At times does someone’s behavior drive crazy? Do you wonder if they are doing it on purpose to bother you, if not why do they do? Sometimes does it feel like others do not understand your needs or you do not understand theirs? The mind is very complicated so how can we better understand human behavior and our emotions in an effort to try to answer these and many others questions we might have about human behavior?

There has been a historical debate if human behavior is a product of Nature or Nurture that has existed for thousands of years dating back to Hippocrates in 400 BC when he theorized that human behavior was the result of our bodily fluids; namely yellow bile, blood, phlegm, and black bile. It was not until 1874 when Sir Francis Galton argued that such things as character traits and intelligence among other things were hereditary and it was when the actual term Nature vs. Nurture theory was first used. Basically, Galton was saying that nature was responsible for our behavior. This was in complete contrast to the well-known theory of earlier philosophers such as John Locke who had postulated the theory of the “blank slate”. The nurture theory is that we are born with a blank slate, nothing written on it, and that all of human traits come from experience and acquired knowledge.

It has long been accepted that physical characteristics such as eye color, hair type, and skin pigmentation are biologically determined by our genetic make-up inherited from the parents. Even medical conditions and increased risk of certain illnesses are linked to our genetic make-up. But its influence on human behavior had not been given much thought or credibility by most of the science world. In fact, the debate continued with the nurture theory being predominate until the late 1900s when the discoveries of modern science supported the theory of the influence of genes (nature) on human behavior.

In 1928 William Marston, American psychologist and inventor of the first prototype of the Lie Detector, wrote the book “Emotions of Normal People” in which in elaborated on Hippocrates theory of the four personality styles using the letters DISC to explain each style. In 1980, a company developed the first DISC assessment that were used in the workplace. Since then the theory has been scientifically validated and the assessments are used in over 40 countries and more than a million assessments conducted each year.

Human behavior is a product of both “Nature” and “Nurture” and recent field of research is studying the theory that over time these two become interwoven. In spite of that, in individual without any major psychological issues, our genes still appear to have the main impact on our emotions and behavior. Based on that and the fact that the variables of nurture are infinite, HR Soft Skills and DISC focus primarily on nature.