Presenting behaviour- a correlation between the Human animal and the animals which surround us.

It’s been quite a fun few weeks one way or another. Over and above my usual work, I have presented the subject of behaviour and learning to several very different human audiences.

There are so very many correlations to be made via the emotions and the associated behaviours to be seen in all animals and the environment drives them all!

The environment is the precursor to all behaviour because there is absolutely no behaviour for no reason. In science, it is called the antecedent arrangement- what goes before to set the scene(both good and bad) Understanding the influence of environment then leads us to be able to let out learner succeed instead of fail! Those behaviours may be driven by innate, hard-driven or primal reactions to do with survival.

Some may be driven by the immediate outcome feeling bad or punishing causing frustration, feelings of unfairness, fear, rage or perhaps grief.

Some may be driven through memory (classical conditioning) both good and bad.

Not all behaviour is bad of cause. If the immediate outcome is great and feels nice for the learner then seeking, investigation, play, care, obvious pleasure, nurture, lust, excitement or happy anticipation can be seen in observable behaviour.

This brief scenario setting, which is only touching on the surface, is describing drivers which affect all living creatures from humans to chimpanzees, elephants and horses right down to rats and birds. The myriad of different species matters not- their brains all work the same when it comes down to it. They all produce the same hormones which directly elicit predictable behaviour. Emotions are behaviour drivers and emotions are triggered in the brain according to the stimuli in the immediate environment.

I have had fun entertaining audiences with cross-species videos and explaining what we do; when we do it, where we do it and why. Understanding the function of any behaviour is everything and can give us human animals real clarity when dealing with staff, customers, our peers, our family members, be-it child or grown-up.

Watching people’s reactions to the information or seeing how they react to situations highlighted in the videos, brings everyone together as one. Most of the footage made the audiences smile, some automatically elicit a reaction of “Awwwww!” (sympathy, empathy) at times and some made them feel a little bit sad – however, everyone can draw correlations between ourselves in similar situations as the animals on the film.

For business networking, business building, team building and generally building a harmonious workplace, my presentations have gone down really well with fantastic feedback.

For horse owners, pet owners alongside horse and companion animal trainers, my presentations have given real clarity as to the choices we make when handling, training and management protocols, in order to keep our pets feeling safe, calm and content. This automatically leads us to have a very trainable animal or human in front of you.

If you are looking for a guest speaker for an event and this huge subject is of interest, then please do feel free to email me at melanie@instinctivehorsetraining.co.uk. I would love to come and share my world of behaviour! 😊