This is my “General Theory of Human Behavior” – A single explanation that explains all human behavior with no gaps and no contradictions and is race, gender, politically, culturally, religiously, socio-economically and in every other way neutral. It explains how individual behavior, social interaction, group behavior (no matter the size) and controlling and modifying behavior actually work. In a nutshell my 82 slide PowerPoint presentation explains how human behavior itself works, how human behavior is constructed. You can use my model to understand any behavior: anyone; anywhere; anytime; anything. And you can do that by simply using my model as a tool to “deconstruct” any past or present behavior to have a complete understanding of what has happened in the past or is happening in the present. And you can even use the model to “preconstruct” future behavior and see what is likely to occur in the future.

1. Beyond All Doubt
(The Explanation of Human Behavior)
www.humanbehaviorexplained.ning.com
www.linkedin.com/in/davewrona
Version 1.04
Copyright © 2009 David J. Wrona.
All Rights Reserved. 1

2. All Rights Reserved
I am providing an electronic copy of this for free, I am also
retaining all ownership rights of what is presented here
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• Charge any kind of delivery or distribution fee
• Use the information presented here to enhance business efficiency or
productivity or to make money in any way
2

3. 12 Words Say It All
3

4. 12 Words Say It All
All human behavior is an attempt to
remove doubt from our lives
4

5. Doubt Is the Constant in Human Behavior
Doubt is the engine that drives behavior
Doubt removal is the equivalent of gravity
Trying to remove doubt from our lives is the
equivalent of gravity trying to pull everything
to the center of the earth
Not only is this happening constantly in both cases
It is the predominant thing happening
• Everything else is minor
5

6. What about fear?
Doesn’t fear, our need to survive, fear of
death drive our behavior? No
Fear is very powerful and emotionally charged but
it’s not running the show
Why do we fear anything? We fear it because we
DOUBT we will be safe
Doubt is always present when fear is and it always
arrives first
For fear to be the driving force behind human
behavior it would always have to be present and it
would have to be present in the absence of doubt
6

7. The Behavior Process
7

8. The Behavior Process
We consider all of the possibilities that
we can see available to us at any one
moment
8

9. The Behavior Process
We consider all of the possibilities that
we can see available to us at any one
moment
We choose the one we have the least
amount of doubt in and we act that out
9

10. The Behavior Process
We consider all of the possibilities that
we can see available to us at any one
moment
We choose the one we have the least
amount of doubt in and we act that out
This is all we do, we do this over and
over and over again, constantly
10

11. The Behavior Process
We consider all of the possibilities that we
can see available to us at any one moment
We choose the one we have the least amount
of doubt in and we act that out
This is all we do, we do this over and over
and over again, constantly
This is the only behavior “transaction” or
“instance of behavior” that exists in the world
11

12. The Behavior Process
We consider all of the possibilities that we
can see available to us at any one moment
We choose the one we have the least amount
of doubt in and we act that out
This is all we do, we do this over and over
and over again, constantly
This is the only behavior “transaction” or
“instance of behavior” that exists in the world
6.8 billion people on the planet are all doing
the exact same thing, for every second of
their lives
12

13. The Behavior Cycle
13

14. The Behavior Cycle
Each “behavior transaction” or instance
of behavior goes through a behavior
cycle
Every instance of behavior goes
through the same cycle
The cycle has four stages
14

15. The Behavior Cycle
I Want
I Act I Think
I Judge

16. The Behavior Cycle
We start by wanting something
We think about it
Do I want it?
Should I want it?
Can I do it/Can I get it?
What’s the best plan to get what I want?
We evaluate our options, we make a
judgment (decide which one we have the
least amount of doubt in)
We act
16

17. The Behavior Cycle
Now people tell me, “That cycle’s not
true, there are a lot of times when I
don’t want anything”
The times when we “don’t want anything”
are simply times when we can’t see clearly
enough to see what we want, we always
want something
Here’s my favorite example of people
insisting that they don’t want anything
17

18. The Behavior Cycle
I don’t want anything; I just want…
18

19. The Behavior Cycle
I don’t want anything; I just want…
How many of us have heard that, or said that?
Here is a person insisting that they don’t want
anything and yet they can’t even make it out of
the sentence, they can’t even make it two seconds
without declaring something that they want
Let’s look at some positive and negative
examples
19

20. The Behavior Cycle
Negative things heard during an
argument or a fight
I don’t want anything; I just want…
• You to leave me alone
• You to shut up
• You to drop dead
– Hmmm, that’s not wanting much is it? “I don’t want
anything; I just want you to drop dead”
20

21. The Behavior Cycle
Here are some “positive” things
I don’t want anything, I just want…
• You to be happy
• My kids to have more opportunities than I did
• Peace on Earth
– Just “Peace on Earth”, that’s all?
21

22. The Behavior Cycle
People also tell me “Well yeah, I want
things, but I don’t always want to be
doing what I’m doing, sometimes I
want to be doing something else”
This notion of doing something other than
what we want to be doing is perfectly
summed up with this commonly heard
phrase…
22

23. The Behavior Cycle
I don’t want to but I have to…
23

24. The Behavior Cycle
I don’t want to but I have to…
How many of us have heard that or said
that?
• I’d guess just about all of us have heard it and
said it
Let’s look at a couple of examples
24

25. I Don’t Want to But I Have to
Going to work is a big one of these
I don’t want to go to work but I have to
• Of course I want to go to work. I want to go
to work more than I want to suffer the
consequences that I anticipate I will endure by
not going to work
25

26. I Don’t Want to But I Have to
“Your money or your life!”
Here’s a classic one with the notion being,
I don’t want to give the robber my money
but I have to
• Of course I want to give him my money. I
want to give him my money more than I want
to suffer the consequences of not giving him
my money which may include being killed
26

27. The Behavior Cycle
We are always doing what we want, given
the options we see available to us, quite
frequently many of us would prefer to have
better options available
But of the options that we see available we always
pick the one that we think is in our best interest at
that particular moment, that will leave us feeling
the most secure right then, we are never in a
situation where “have to” and “want to” are
different things, at least not when we are talking
about options that are actually available
27

28. The Behavior Cycle
Let’s go back and review what the
Behavior Process is
We consider all of the possibilities that we
can see available to us at any one moment
We choose the one we have the least
amount of doubt in and we act that out
• The one with the least amount of doubt is the
one we want, it is what we want
28

29. The Behavior Cycle
Maybe the “possibilities that we can see
available to us” are all bad
Maybe we can see 10 options and we don’t like
any of them
Maybe our “want” is to make the best of a horrible
situation
• Having only options that we don’t like does not invalidate
the Behavior Cycle
– We are still going through this cycle and our behavior (act)
is still fulfilling our want, based on our best judgment of
the options we think are available to us
29

30. The Behavior Cycle
I Want
I Act I Think
I Judge
30

31. The Behavior Cycle Summary
Every instance of behavior, every
behavior transaction has a behavior
cycle that it goes though
The cycle has four stages
•I want
•I think
•I judge
•I act
31

32. The Behavior Cycle Summary
We start by wanting something
We think about it
Do I want it?
Should I want it?
Can I do it/Can I get it?
What’s the best plan to get what I want?
We evaluate our options, we make a
judgment (decide which one we have the
least amount of doubt in)
We act
32

33. Four Elements
of Behavior
33

34. Four Elements of Behavior
Every instance of behavior, every behavior
transaction also requires a group of behavior
“elements” in order for that behavior to take
place.
There are four elements
When these four elements are combined a
behavior cycle will complete and a specific
instance of behavior will have manifested
34

35. Four Elements of Behavior
It takes four things to create an instance of behavior,
to create a “Behavior Transaction”
Belief Systems
Energy
Opportunity
Trigger
If any of these four are lacking, or are lacking
sufficient quantity or quality the specific behavior
cannot take place
This will become more obvious when we look at the
elements individually and look at a picture of how it all
comes together, so let’s do that now
35

36. Belief Systems
You need to believe that it’s humanly possible
You need to believe that you can do it
You need to believe that you should do it
If you don’t believe all three of these things,
the instance of behavior cannot take place
36

37. Energy
You need enough energy
You need the right kind of energy (your
mood has to match)
Some other person or thing will also
need to have enough of and the right
kind of energy, if the behavior involves
other people or things
37

38. Opportunity
You have to have the opportunity to
engage in the behavior
If you don’t have the opportunity the
behavior can’t take place
If you don’t believe you have the
opportunity (even if you really do) then
the behavior can’t take place
38

39. Trigger
There has to be a trigger to initiate the
process
It could be a physical, mental or
emotional trigger
Quite often all three exist
There’s always a trigger
39

40. Four Elements of Behavior
Belief Systems
Energy
Opportunity
Trigger
If any of these four are lacking, or are
lacking sufficient quantity or quality, the
specific behavior cannot take place
40

41. Four Elements of Behavior
The four elements combine to create a
specific instance of behavior
Any specific behavior only occurs when the four
elements combine in that precise way
• Change any of the four elements and the behavior will
not occur
If the behavior is already taking place the four
elements need to remain stable for the behavior
to continue
• Change any of the four elements and that behavior will
stop and a new behavior based on the new configuration
of the elements will begin
Let’s look at it in picture form
41

42. Four Elements of Behavior
Beliefs
Trigger Behavior Energy
Opportunity
42

43. Behavior in Action
The Hunt
43

44. Behavior in Action – The Hunt
We are always on a hunt
We may label it differently and call it
• a Goal
• an Objective
• a Want
• a Need
• a Desire
We are always on a “mission” (a hunt)
to acquire something
44

45. What Are We Hunting For?
Ultimately we are always hunting for a feeling
We aren’t really hunting for things, even the
basics of food, clothing and shelter
• We are hunting for the feeling we hope we will have by
getting those things
• It’s not uncommon that we get the thing that we were
hunting for, remain unsatisfied and keep hunting
– That’s because we weren’t hunting for a thing we were
hunting for the feeling and the feeling didn’t come with the
thing, or the feeling came with it but it didn’t last long so
we begin the hunt again
45

46. Behavior in Action
We are always on a hunt
We are always on a hunt for a feeling
The feeling we are always hunting for is to
feel secure, we are always hunting to
remove insecurity, to remove doubt
• All of the other feelings that we may say we
are hunting for (happiness, love, peace, a
feeling of power and control and many others)
are all simply different flavors of safe and
secure and healthy (minimal doubt)
46

47. Behavior in Action
We go on both internal and external hunts
Internal hunts are an attempt (conscious or
subconscious) to directly gives us the feeling we
are looking for
External hunts are an attempt to acquire control
(possession of an object or control of a person or
situation) and we hope that control will function
as a trigger to lead us to the feeling we are after
47

48. Being Aware of
the Process
48

49. Being Aware of the Process
For any “instance of behavior” any mental
snapshot that you make, you can map out
two things and prove to yourself over and
over and over again, that this really is the
way human behavior works
You can do it for your own behavior or the
behavior of anyone else
Let’s look at the two things…
49

50. Being Aware of the Process
One – the Behavior Cycle
I want
I think
I judge
I act
You can look at any behavior, anything that you’ve
done and see how proceeding through the first three
steps (want/think/judge) led to the fourth, the
behavior (act)
50

51. The Behavior Cycle
I Want
I Act I Think
I Judge
51

52. Being Aware of the Process
Two – the Four Elements of Behavior
Belief systems
Energy
Opportunity
Trigger
You can look at any behavior, anything that you’ve
done and look at each of the four elements and see
how they came together to create the behavior
You can also envision how changing any of the four
would have changed the behavior
52

53. Four Elements of Behavior
Beliefs
Trigger Behavior Energy
Opportunity
53

54. Social Interaction –
The Basics
54

55. Social Interaction
Why Do We Do It?
Two reasons for Social Interaction
To get someone else to hunt with us
To get someone else to hunt for us
55

56. Social Interaction
Why Do We Do It?
Two reasons for Social Interaction
To get someone else to hunt with us
To get someone else to hunt for us
These are the only two reasons to
purposefully interact with another
human being
56

57. Social Interaction
When we are socially interacting one of five things is
going to happen
One – we are going to get the other person to do what we
want (hunt with us/for us)
Two – we are going to change our objective and do what
the other person wants (hunt with them/for them)
Three – we are both going to change our objectives to a
mutually acceptable one and hunt together
Four – we are going to leave or stop interacting
Five – we are going to become hostile and lash out, argue or
fight
This is how simple social interaction is, one of these
five things is always going to happen
57

58. Social Interaction – Manipulation
The whole point of social interaction is to
manipulate (maneuver, coax, entice) other
people, to get them to do what we want
We are always on a hunt
• We are always on a hunt for a feeling
• We are always selfishly in pursuit of the feeling we are
hunting for
• When we encounter other people, either purposefully or
accidentally, we immediately either want them to hunt
with us, for us, or to get out of the way
58

59. Social Interaction – Manipulation
Manipulation has a strong negative
connotation and if I could think of a less
“negative” word that equally or better
describes the essence of social
interaction I would use it
The problem is that manipulation (wanting
to control others and get them to do what
we want them to do) is the essence of
social interaction
59

60. Social Interaction – Manipulation
Manipulation and being nice
Just because we are trying to control other
people and get them to do what we want
doesn’t mean we are not being nice, we
can be controlling and manipulative while
still being nice
• We can be nice, loving, caring, supportive,
affectionate, encouraging, cooperative and any
other thing that could be considered “good”
while still being controlling and manipulative
60

61. Social Interaction – Compatibility
What is compatibility?
Compatibility is having the same objectives
on a consistent basis
Since we are always trying to
manipulate the other person into
hunting for us or with us, it’s very
handy if we want to go on the same
hunts
61

62. Social Interaction – Compatibility
When both people want to go on the same
hunt, it doesn’t come across as manipulation
it comes across as cooperation
Helpful, kind, giving, loving
This is why compatibility is so important
We are always being selfish and manipulative, it
just doesn’t matter when we have the same
objective, because when we are on the same
“hunt” our selfishness isn’t causing a conflict
• Our selfishness is matched with their selfishness (we
have mutually compatible selfish objectives) and
therefore there is no conflict
62

63. Social Interaction – Compatibility
Our level of “getting along” with others
is directly tied to our compatibility
And our compatibility is directly tied to our
objectives, our hunts
• And there are two compatibility issues with our
hunts
– Do we have the same ultimate objective
– Do we have the same plan to get there
– The more we have the same objectives and
plans to achieve them the more we “get along”
63

64. Social Interaction Summary
When we are socially interacting one of five things is
going to happen
One – we are going to get the other person to do what we
want (hunt with us/for us)
Two – we are going to change our objective and do what
the other person wants (hunt with them/for them)
Three – we are both going to change our objectives to a
mutually acceptable one and hunt together
Four – we are going to leave or stop interacting
Five – we are going to become hostile and lash out, argue or
fight
This is how simple social interaction is, one of these
five things is always going to happen
64

65. Social Interaction Summary
There are two reasons for Social Interaction
To get someone else to hunt with us
To get someone else to hunt for us
The point of social interaction is to manipulate
other people, to get them to do what we want
Manipulation isn’t “bad” it’s just the way it is
When both people want to consistently go on
the same hunts, it doesn’t come across as
manipulation it comes across as cooperation
That is what compatibility is
65

66. Controlling and
Modifying Behavior
66

67. Controlling and Modifying Behavior
To produce consistent behavior all four
elements (beliefs, energy, opportunity,
trigger) must remain stable
To change behavior you only need to change
one of them
Changing any of the four will result in
different behavior, even if all of the other
three remain completely unchanged
67

68. Controlling and Modifying Behavior
Attempts to control and modify behavior, like
human behavior itself and social interaction,
are not complicated at all
We judge a persons actions and pending actions,
we decide “like” or “don’t like”
This determines encourage or discourage
We pick an element of behavior to focus on
We pull them up or drag them down
• That’s all there is to it and we go through the same
process whether the attempt to control or modify
behavior pertains to us, or to someone else
68

69. Controlling and Modifying Behavior
Attempts to control or modify behavior
are principally attached to one element
Beliefs, Energy, Opportunity, Trigger
• Beliefs – we try to increase faith or doubt
• Energy – we try to change the energy state so
the desired belief system will be active, or an
undesired belief system will be inactive
• Opportunity – we try to enhance or diminish
• Trigger – we encourage or discourage
69

70. Controlling and Modifying Behavior
To produce consistent behavior all four
elements (beliefs, energy, opportunity, trigger)
must remain the same
To change behavior you only need to change
one of them
Changing any of the four will result in different
behavior, even if all of the other three remain
completely unchanged
This is very obvious when we look at it in picture
form, so let’s look at that slide again
70

71. Elements of Behavior
Beliefs
Trigger Behavior Energy
Opportunity
71

72. Human Behavior Conclusion
There is nothing complicated about human
behavior. Individual behavior; social
interaction; large or small group behavior;
attempts to control or modify behavior, none
of them are complicated
It might be very difficult or impossible to control a
person or a groups behavior, but none of the
behavior is complicated, human behavior simply is
not complicated at all
72

73. Human Behavior Conclusion
When examining behavior the event
severity or magnitude doesn’t matter
The process is exactly the same and not
complicated whatsoever, whether the
behavior involves picking up a water bottle
and taking a drink, or ordering an army to
invade a country
73

74. Human Behavior Conclusion
Likewise, scale doesn’t matter either
An individual, 10 friends in a bar, a group of
100,000 people or the entire human race. The
behavior process is identical, everywhere, all of
the time
It doesn’t matter who is engaged in the behavior,
how many people are engaged in the behavior, or
what the behavior is, the process is always the
same and it’s not in the least bit complicated
74

75. Human Behavior Conclusion
There really is only one thing, one
“behavior transaction” or “instance of
behavior” that is ever going on in the
world
6.8 billion people on the planet are all
doing the exact same thing for every
second of their lives
75

76. Human Behavior Conclusion
And what is that one thing?
We are going through the Behavior Process
• We are considering all of the possibilities that we
can see available to us at that precise moment
• We are choosing the one we have the least
amount of doubt in and we are acting that out
We are choosing and acting out the behavior
that will make us feel the most emotionally
(not physically) secure at that exact moment
76

77. Human Behavior Conclusion
People are physically doing different things,
because different things make different
people and even the same people at different
times, feel the most emotionally secure at
any particular moment
But despite the fact that people are doing a wide
variety of different things (some of which we love
and some of which we hate) people are not
“fundamentally” behaving any differently
77

78. Human Behavior Conclusion
The fundamentals are identical for everyone
all of the time
Everyone is constantly going through the same
Behavior Process
All behavior is going through the same Behavior
Cycle (I want, I think, I judge, I act)
All behavior is made up of the same Behavior
Elements (Beliefs, Energy, Opportunity, Trigger)
78

79. Human Behavior Conclusion
It is this universally (species wide) identical
fundamental nature of human behavior that
offers so much promise and cause for
optimism for the human race
The more we accept and embrace how simple
human behavior actually is and that all human
beings are engaged in the same fundamental
behavior all of the time, the better it will be for us
as individuals, the people we come in contact with
and the human race as a whole
79

80. Human Behavior Conclusion
We will be better off as individuals because
We will have a much better understanding of
our own behavior and the behavior of others
And that increased understanding will lead to
• a reduction of stress in our lives
• an increase of feeling safe and secure
• a greater capacity to accept and to work with
others, which will lead to better relationships
– And all of these will increase our quality of life
80

81. Human Behavior Conclusion
The people around us will be better off
Because the more individuals feel secure, the
less threatened they feel
And the less threatened they feel the less
threatening they are to the people around
them
• And this leads to the people around them feeling
more secure and the people around those people
feeling more secure
81

82. Human Behavior Conclusion
And lastly, the human race as a whole
will be better off
Because as each person embraces this
model of human behavior and integrates
it into their daily life, the human race will
be one small step closer to achieving
“Peace on Earth”
82