Understanding human nature allows you to predict how someone responds before they do. It allows you to better navigate human interaction. And it allows you to better get through life with less frustration and struggle.
Here are some laws of human nature that I’ve observed time and time again. Keep in mind that these are referencing people in aggregate. That means there are people who are operating at a higher consciousness and who think before they act that can avoid these tendencies. However, I’m referring to patterns of the masses. Usually, the random person at the restaurant or on the high way will follow human nature. And even those who operate at a higher consciousness can fell prey to these in moments when they’re not thinking.
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People Don’t Like Any Criticism
The base human doesn’t like criticism in any way. Anything remotely resembling criticism can trigger their ego and a negative reaction. They don’t like to be told they’re wrong or flawed or worse than others. Sure, there are organizations and companies where radical candor and feedback is welcomed for growth. That’s coming from a place of higher consciousness, thought, and values. When you’re talking to some random person in line at the grocery store or at some recreational sports league, that’s a different story.
Here’s an Instagram Reel I filmed providing a brief story of how trying to give a lady feedback during a beach volleyball game backfired.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cl90hz_JzQt/
People Are Impatient
They’ll rage at you for wasting five seconds of their time on the road because you’re driving too slow. These five seconds saved are quickly used up later in their life in stupid ways. They’ll return home to waste hours of TV or go on their phone every night. It doesn’t make sense on a logical level, but on an emotional level, it does.
Their monkey brains aren’t thinking. They’re bored, annoyed, thinking they could get from point A to point B faster, so they don’t want you to waste their time. They’re not necessarily tracking or assessing how they spend the rest of their personal time that they have control of, as long as they feel good during those moments of entertainment.
Once People Believe Something Strongly, They’ll Construct Convoluted Rationalizations To Explain Away Things That Disprove It Rather Than Reconsider Their Belief
Ever meet someone who is debating about something, and their arguments stop following any real logical structure? Instead, it’s more along the lines of: “I am emotionally attached to one or two beliefs or ways of doing things. I will ramble on and on and get off track but always swim around these points of belief. Any logical reasoning and evidence against it will be unconsciously ignored or will be rationalized away with a convoluted, rambling, over the top explanation.”
There’s many examples, but one would be when someone beliefs there’s no way a man who is short/tall/of a certain race/ugly/etc. gets a beautiful girl. When they see that, they’d rather come up with explanations to counter that actually being true, like “he paid for an actress,” rather than consider it’s true. Let’s say this people stay in a relationship for years so that there’s continuous evidence that it’s not a fraud; I wonder if these people continue to stick to some excuse they made up or revise their theories. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them just unconsciously forget or block it out so that it doesn’t disrupt their world perception and belief systems.
I dare not venture into the controversial territory of religion (since the golden rule is don’t talk religion or politics unless you want lots of fighting), but that’s another field of examples.
People Judge A Book By Its Cover
I learned the saying “Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover” when I was a kid. It’s commonly repeated often, and while I believe in it, I think there’s nuances to it. When you assume someone’s a loser, poor, or not worth your time, sometimes, karma’s going to come your way – that person may just end up successful or be much cooler than you think. Similarly, someone who seems really cool may actually be a scammer.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that most people will judge a stranger by what they can see. I don’t like this, but I’m starting to understand it. When someone walks into a room for business, work, networking, or socializing, I see the judgement. I’ve seen men and women make judgements of someone real quickly based on just how they look, move, and what they wear. I’ve seen women reject men continuously off a two-second impression. I’ve seen some (not all) CEOs be superficial and choose to not talk much and move on from a guy because the guy talking to them at a networking event is in a t-shirt not a suit and looks kind of young and awkward. Maybe they’re too busy or have too many people approaching them to care; perhaps, they don’t mind making a few false judgements because they have the abundance to do so. What I do know is that going up to them and saying, “Don’t you know it’s not good to judge a book by its cover? Here’s XYZ reason why. You should give them more of a chance” won’t work. Going into some logical debate with them there isn’t going to make a difference; they’re there to live their lives, and they could care less. It’s an example of theory vs. reality; in life, people sometimes behave differently than what’s seen as best for society, and they can care less what you think.
Once again, I think not everyone’s like this. With some conscious thinking and not just reacting to your reptilian response, you can choose to give people more of a chance. That said, many people just judge and form conclusions. They run the risk of being a dick or making a wrong choice. At the same time, I’m empathetic to why they do it. Tucker Max once said that if anyone thinks looks and what’s on the outside shouldn’t matter, than try not to do anything when a homeless man runs at you with a knife. He goes on to say that someone’s external world is a strong indicator of their internal world: how clean their nails and hair are, their fashion sense, how confident their body language is, is all a sign of how healthy their mind is.
People Over-React To Things That Affect Them When They Are Emotionally Invested (Especially With Their Money)
A year ago, I posted a 30-second video at the Bull sculpture in Wall Street, NYC. I was half-jokingly saying in the video that I predict crypto will crash one day. The video got 1,000 views and about 10 comments of people reacting very angrily to the video that there’s no chance that crypto would go down and there’s no way and I have no idea what I’m talking about and where’s the evidence. For such a simple, fun video and statement, they were viciously reacting to a statement threatening their world. It goes without saying that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that they’re only reacting so emotionally and disproportionately because they have invested a significant amount of their net worth in cryptocurrency, and they’re scared and emotional to any indication or possible detractor that could ruin their world view and fantasy that their investment is going anywhere but up.
I haven’t probably tapped into the best ways to leverage human nature to our advantage other than to avoid things that you know will trigger others negatively. Anyone have any ideas? Leave a comment.
