Behavioral patterns in analytics

Pattern - what is it, a word unfamiliar to ordinary people, it is borrowed from Western psychology. In the usual sense, it is a certain set of stereotypes and patterns with which a person goes through life. Patterns are formed in childhood.

What are patterns in psychology?

In the generally accepted meaning, a pattern (translated from English as pattern) is in psychology a system of templates or samples fixed in human behavior. If a person reacts in the same way to different similar or different situations, then this indicates an established stereotypical pattern. For many people, the term stereotype is more understandable. The patterns themselves permeate all spheres of human mental activity, and they can be conditionally divided into:

• congenital and acquired;
• behavioral (this includes sexual);
• thinking;
• social;
• individual.

Patterns of behavior in psychology

To begin with, it is important to understand that the behavioral pattern itself in psychology is a stable program entrenched in the human psyche. A person is born with his own unique set of genes, but they contain all the necessary information about his family, all the important information about survival, developed instincts and reflexes. All this can be called biological patterns, without which a person could not survive.

In the process of life, starting from childhood, a person absorbs patterns of behavior characteristic of the family in which a person is raised, but at the same time the child tries his own tactics and methods of behavior that help him achieve attention and love. Many parents have noticed that if you follow a child’s lead, for example, in response to his hysteria, buy a toy, then this pattern is instantly reinforced: “Oh! It works!".

A person is a creative person, but creativity itself can give rise to both positive behavioral patterns and negative ones (as in the case of a child’s tantrum). Positive pattern - what is it? A pattern of behavior that allows a person to effectively interact with the environment. What are the benefits of a positive behavioral pattern:

• environmental friendliness in relation to surrounding people;
• ability to make compromises;
• be flexible and adaptable;
• Do not worry for long as a result of failures, change tactics or start something from scratch.

Negative behavioral patterns are implemented by people in the following moments:

• constant struggle with oneself and others;
• use of manipulative influence;
• the desire for self-destruction and being in negative situations.

Pattern of sexual behavior

Pattern of sexual behavior - what is it? Sexuality is always difficult, even in modern times. Over the course of many centuries, stable patterns and patterns of behavior have been formed that have become entrenched in the human psyche. For example, the pattern is still alive that a man should pursue a woman like a hunter his prey - the more difficult it is for him to get a woman, the more he values ​​intimacy with her. Many sexual patterns are unconscious, and a person expresses them in behavior without thinking about why he does it.

Sexual pattern - what is it:

• a woman’s desire to dress brightly, paint her lips with bright red lipstick - attracting a partner;
• men tend to whisper pleasant words to the girl they like, because it has long been a stereotype that a woman loves with her ears.

Sexual patterns can be highly restrictive or even destructive:

• excitement occurs only in one specific way;
• as a result of psychotrauma, sexual deviations and deviations are formed, for example, in a man or woman an avoidant-evasive pattern is formed when physical intimacy is reduced to a minimum.

Thinking patterns

Thinking patterns are strategies determined by a combination of internal deep structures and actual real circumstances. More often, thought patterns are stable, and over time they are increasingly difficult to destroy, especially if a person is accustomed to being guided by relying on accepted standards and stereotypes. Positive patterns have already been discussed above, but it is also important to note the fact that even if a person thinks constructively, he is not free from patterns, and past experience, even successful, may turn out to be ineffective in a similar situation.

Relationship patterns

What does a pattern mean in a relationship? And again you need to look towards the family, the behavior model is transferred from the parental family to your own, and often this provokes conflicts. Everyone is familiar with examples when a husband or wife says “this is how it is in my family.” It’s good if this is the continuity of some traditions or universal human values, such as hospitality or gathering together on holidays.

It also happens that in the parental family the roles of “tyrant - victim” were adopted, where the role of the tyrant was the father who beat the mother. This is a reason to think about it - there is a high probability that a man who grew up in such a family will also raise his hand, but the scenario may be different, for example, a boy decides to be a defender of women - not like his father. Everything is individual. An interesting fact, noted by psychologists, is that couples are often selected in such a way as to realize each other’s scenarios (patterns).

Hypnotic patterns

A psychological pattern is a stable structure that is difficult to destroy; in the case of bad habits, this is clearly visible. Hypnotic patterns were successfully used by the famous psychotherapist M. Erickson. Using parables, metaphors, which are elements of suggestion, Erickson helped people recover and get rid of bad habits. During the session, a new constructive pattern was unobtrusively introduced into the person’s subconscious, which the person accepted as his own, and healing occurred.

Social pattern

Stereotypes, schemes and models surround a person everywhere. What does a pattern mean in a social context? This type of pattern is behavioral and is based on generally accepted standards of behavior in the society in which a person lives. Laws, rules, etiquette, cultural customs and mentality all together form the basis for the formation of a social or communicative pattern. Examples include the following:

• male handshake when meeting;
• observance of subordination in institutions;
• showing deference and respect to older people (give way, let them go ahead);
• observance of religious customs (a woman must enter the temple with her head covered).

Individual patterns

Patterns of human behavior are varied and depend on many factors. Individual pattern - what is it? This is a stable model of behavior, endowed with several functions at once: protective, replacement, communication. Individual patterns are:

• habits;
• personal preferences;
• everyday ritual actions (a kiss from a husband leaving for work, a cup of coffee in the morning to start the day, getting up on the right foot in the morning).

Pattern tracking.

Behavioral patterns are the basis of a person. Our brain is designed in such a way that actions repeated several times automatically become unconscious. On the one hand, behavior patterns brought to automaticity save energy. On the other hand, they prevent you from acting consciously, switching flexibly in different situations, and realizing yourself as an individual. Negative behavior patterns lead to stress, anxiety, neuroses and physical illnesses:

• The habit of scrolling through social networks before bed leads to lack of sleep, and the habit of eating on the go and skipping breakfast and lunch leads to surges in blood sugar levels, tremors, and dizziness.
• The habit of generalizing all events “I was unlucky today, that means I’m a loser” provokes a bad mood and depression.
• The habit of being rude to your opponent leads to problems at work and in your personal life.

Changing them is difficult, getting rid of them is even more difficult. By changing your behavior patterns, you can copy the patterns of successful people and achieve success. But changing the model is not so easy. Some behavior patterns become an extension of our personality and ourselves.

Conclusions:

• Psychological patterns are frozen patterns of action found in our life experience.
• The formation of psychological patterns begins in childhood and can be corrected at an early age.
• Our behavior patterns protect and limit at the same time.
• It is difficult to remove negative patterns; it is easier to replace them with positive ones.

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How to change patterns?

The transmission of behavioral patterns from generation to generation makes it difficult for a person to get rid of one or another accepted stereotype. But this can all be fixed. A person's conscious and subconscious minds are powerful forces that can help us think and behave in new ways. Thinking plays a huge role and can be both an obstacle to liberation from ineffective patterns and a helper.

How to change thinking patterns?

What does it mean - a destructive pattern? These are the thoughts and attitudes that prevent you from successfully solving any life problems. To develop new effective thinking patterns, you can try to follow the recommendations of a psychologist:

1. An experience or situation, upon closer examination, appears to be negative, but if you change your perspective and try to look at the positives, a new solution to the problem may be born.
2. Only one way and not another, either black or white, good and evil - all this can be called polarized or extreme thinking, characteristic of many people brought up in strictness, perfectionists, but life is more multifaceted, and not everything can be fit into a framework.
3. Inflating the problem to catastrophic proportions. Stop! It's time to stop, breathe out and not go deeper into panic, but think: “What can I do now, what is the next step to solve the problem, do I need help or can I handle it myself?” This method helps to get out of a state of helplessness and develops creative entrepreneurship.
4. Self-fixation or personalization. Many people seriously think that all the problems in their close circle are related to them. “I made him angry again,” “She feels bad because of me!” The important thing to understand here is that people have a right to their feelings, and it is their responsibility.

How to change behavior patterns?

Changing behavior patterns is difficult and time-consuming work on yourself. To do this, you need to start tracking your thoughts and reactions to events happening around you. What causes fear or stupor, and what causes aggression. Analyze: “How can I react differently?” All these primary reactions are patterns that need to be reviewed and replaced. It is important to remember the following:

• established reactions are not the only correct ones;
• apply a different reaction to the event, it is better to sit down and write in detail how “I will react differently”;
• when the opportunity arises, repeat a new pattern of behavior to reinforce it, watch how it works, change the nuances (a new habit is consolidated within a month).

User classification

In an era when the Internet can be found even in your refrigerator, a person has partially become depersonalized. On the Internet, no one will know that you are a cat.

However, on the other end of the line there is still a person (until the AI ​​systems pass the Turing test, but even then all will not be lost), who has his own habits, tastes, views and fears. Based on them, we, like psychologists, can both predict his behavior and manipulate him. As one of the bases for classifying user behavior on the Internet, let’s take a behavioral model that is familiar to us—temperaments.

Let's adapt it to the realities of the web:

1. Cholerics are activists. As a rule, such users want to quickly get everything they need from your product. They don't like to waste time. Looking for something, finding something, understanding something is not in their habits.
2. Phlegmatic people are unhurried. Before performing any action, be sure to understand. Can read agreements, all texts on pop-up windows. We are ready to devote our time to studying the product, but only if it is really necessary.
3. Sanguine people are hot. Such users should always be kept on their toes, because... when he loses interest, he simply “merges.” Like choleric people, they quickly react to all incoming information. The difference is that they easily accept their own mistakes.
4. Melancholic people are fearful. They are afraid to make a mistake. When a problem or complex action arises, they prefer not to deal with it, but simply close it and forget. Such users usually do not choose to pay by card directly on the website, because They are afraid, for example, of making mistakes when entering data.

Ideally, product design should take all of these types into account (with some exceptions, of course). However, you shouldn’t overdo it, because, as you know, you can’t please everyone right away. In the first stages of development, it is best to take weaknesses of all types and eliminate the possibility of their occurrence as much as possible.

Yellow Brick Road - Behavior Map

A map of behaviors and classifications can help analysts, designers and marketers divide their users into groups. Using this map, you need to group users according to certain criteria (gender, age, etc.), as well as prescribe appropriate behavior for these groups.

It may not be enough, but we already have input data. Let's go further. The online store is ready, the T-shirts have arrived at the warehouse. There will be an opening. After a while, it turns out that the female part of the audience, in addition to women’s ones, also looks at men’s T-shirts. We assume that girls are looking at T-shirts as gifts for their boyfriends.

The male part of users from time to time shows interest in T-shirts of a certain theme, for example, hockey and comics. For the first case, we conclude that the online store needs a block “As a gift for a guy”, where we will display the most popular T-shirts. We tie the second case to the release of the next film from Marvel or DC, and to the beginning of the championship.

Thus, as your business develops, the map will expand, you will make new assumptions about how your users will behave, about how to influence this or that group of buyers. The more data you receive, the more you will know about your customers, and the more accurately you can organize your advertising campaigns.