Picture this, you’re at a regional business conference at a midtown 4-star hotel. It’s a nice hotel – nothing too fancy, but there are some lively neighborhoods close by with breweries, shaded cafes, and live music. Before you head out to lunch, you figure you’d attend a seminar called Why Organizations and Managers Should Know the “Dead Man’s Test” because it seems interesting enough to listen to while you group text your colleagues about where to go for lunch.
Well, before you dissociate too much, let me tell you about a certain American psychologist. This psychologist unknowingly created something so revolutionary, yet so simple, that it has spurred giant strides in behavioral psychology. Ogden Lindsley is that psychologist. He asserted that “nothing a dead body can do, should be construed with behavior”. Wow, that is a lot to unpack, so let’s deduce what this really means:
If nothing a dead body does is behavior, then everything a living body does is behavior. EVERYTHING. So, if a dead body can do it, it’s NOT behavior. And, there are always four functions (or reasons) dictating every single behavior someone expresses. These four functions are Attention, Escape, Access, and Sensory Stimulation.
Human beings are complex creatures – so complex that we’ve created entire societies with unique cultural norms and economies that depend on ethical labor and productivity (as ethical as our current economic system allows, of course). Managers and organizations would do well in understanding the complexity of human behavior and its four functions. This helps to better address what are called adaptive (appropriate for a situation) and maladaptive (inappropriate for a situation) behaviors, and to address root issues employees experience instead of behaviors expressed due to unsolved issues.
First, and perhaps most common, is the function of Attention. Humans are social beings and we need interaction and validation from other humans. An example of attention-seeking behavior brought on by this could be an employee joking with coworkers during lunch; as their laughter positively reinforces the joking behavior and grants the employee attention from their peers. Conversely, an employee dealing with an issue and sighs loudly, or maybe even slams notebooks or pens down after reading an email, would be seeking attention from their peers by expressing their frustration through these behaviors.
A manager’s job is two-fold: to see through these expressed behaviors and address the root issues an employee is experiencing, and to introduce adaptive behaviors when needed. So, if an employee is struggling and slams office equipment down, a manager could check in and seek to understand the source of the behavior. Afterward, the manager can reassure the employee that other behaviors could resolve the issue more effectively and could perhaps prevent future stressors.
Escape or the avoidance of stimuli is another common function of human behavior. I mean, we’ve all been there – we pretend to answer a phone call when someone who really loves to talk walks by, or we might look down to avoid eye contact when our managers ask for a volunteer to lead a project. Back when humans were hunter-gatherers, our complex social systems and strength in numbers protected us from predators. Now, our stressors come in the forms of finances, work performance, boredom, and even feelings of uncertainty in our jobs, but we still gather and organize in large groups. Humans are really good at telling each other when something bothers them. It might sound like a bad thing, but it’s actually super helpful. Being able to notice small details in how people act, figuring out why they’re upset, understanding when someone feels like they want to leave, and thinking about ways we can be better bosses or friends helps a lot. It’s one of the best ways to make places where we work better for everyone.
Let’s look at the example of a manager looking for a volunteer to lead a project and notices their employees avoiding eye contact or scribbling on their notepads. A manager who understands that leading a project could be a punishing stimulus might reframe the task – that is, they could take another approach by wording their pitch more intentionally instead. Their pitch might change to offering the project as a reinforcing stimulus by allowing those involved in the project to flex their skills.
We’re making good progress! Let’s look at another function of human behavior that really resonates with our sense of motivation: Access. This function focuses on our need to access physical stimuli, objects, or people. Someone acting on this function will express themselves in such a way to obtain something tangible. An example in the workplace would look like an employee who speed-walks to the break room to get the first slice of pizza… or an inside sales professional on a non stop cold calling spree trying to get that commission bonus. The employee on their way to the pizza acted on the Access behavior function to get the biggest slice, while the inside salesperson ramped up their cold-calling numbers to gain Access to a bonus and more commission.
Last but not least, we have Sensory. An example of this Sensory or “autosomatic” function in the workplace might look like an employee opting to make daily reminder calls in the morning because they just had their coffee, or a custodian digitizing past physical inspection reports because they enjoy the process and find it stress-relieving. Don’t confuse this for “recognizing your employees talents”. Granted, it’s always a great idea to build a more strategic workplace according to the strengths and deficits of your employees, but learning why an employee acts and behaves may reveal things like the project they’re on may not be challenging enough, or may be causing undue stress. And don’t forget, our unmet professional needs always result in some type of behavior.
This is a powerful and unsung skill that punches above its weight in regards to the changes you could see in the workplace. So why not have a helping hand in steering workplace behavior in a more productive and healthy environment?
And there you have it. We’ve covered the four functions of human behavior according to one Ogden Lindsley: Attention, Escape, Access, and Sensory. We’ve looked at examples of how behavior could manifest due to each one’s function. Managers and organizations at all levels could equip themselves with a greater understanding of not just an employee’s behavior – but the core of the behavior, or the reason for why they do what they do. Just as a doctor must partner with their client to diagnose a health issue, a manager has the unique opportunity to partner with their employees.
Oh, and your HR department may wonder why grievance numbers are down.
Just tell them it’s because of the “Dead Man’s Test”.
