Four Types of Human Behaviour ?

Hello everyone and welcome back to my Simple English podcast. My name is Ruben and you are listening to the podcast which helps you to learn the English language by listening to me talking about different themes, different topics in slow and understandable English. In this episode, I will be talking about a bit of a different theme. I'm going to be talking about a book. A book that I am reading at the moment.

I like reading a lot. I don't know about you guys who are listening. Do you like reading books? I feel like quite a lot of people nowadays... don't like reading. I think especially young people, they prefer maybe to watch Netflix or to watch television or to go on social media on their phones rather than reading. books i am maybe quite old-fashioned uh we say we say something old-fashioned when it is a bit um not not not fashionable not the new thing uh to be to be reading but

Maybe this isn't true. Maybe it is just my friends, maybe. But anyway, like I said, this episode, I would like to talk to you guys about a book.

um that i found quite interesting um and it is a book about humans about people and it is about behavior it is about the way we behave the way we act the way we do things. And it says that there are four types of behaviour, four types of human action, four types of doing things. So you're probably wondering. What are these types and why is it worth talking about? Why is it interesting? Well, without further ado, let's get into the episode.

Well, this book is called Surrounded by Idiots. It is a funny name, not maybe a very nice name or a very... kind name, let's say. I'm sure you know the word idiot. It is not a word I would recommend that you use if you are learning English, except maybe with... your brother or sister, maybe, or maybe very close friends. An idiot, of course, is somebody who is not very clever, not very intelligent.

who maybe is very irritating for you, annoys you a lot of the time. And the book is called Surrounded by Idiots because... It's actually a quotation. It is an idea that one man had, a man, not the author, but another man who was friends with. the author, and he claims, he says, that he is surrounded by idiots. What does that mean? It means that all the people around him, when he is at work, all the other people...

that he works with are idiots. They are all annoying, they are all unintelligent, they are all stupid. He is surrounded by them, they're everywhere, and they are all idiots.

And, of course, that is not true. They are not idiots. They are not stupid people. I mean, there are some people who are stupid, but not everyone. And, actually... The reason that he thought they were idiots and the reason that sometimes lots of us think that other people are idiots. It's actually just because they are different to us. Okay? If you are in a situation and you have to do something...

and you have to make a decision. You have to choose, maybe I will do this. But there is somebody else, and they make a different decision. They choose to do something else. then you might think that they are an idiot. But they are not an idiot. Not necessarily. They are just different to you. And they have different behaviour. And that's what...

the book is about so it is called surrounded by idiots and then it has sort of a subtitle a smaller title below the main title which is the four types of human behavior And it is by an author called Thomas Eriksson, who is a Swedish author. So the book, I read it in English, but it is translated from Swedish, you know, the country Sweden in the north of Europe. And Thomas Erickson, the author, is an expert on communication, an expert on the way we communicate, the way we speak to one another.

He works with people at their work and helps them to communicate better. He has trained, he has worked with more than 5,000 people. so a lot of people and help them to become uh better leaders actually he works with leaders he works with uh sort of the the owners of companies, the bosses, and those sort of people. The top dogs, we can say. A top dog is an English expression, quite informal, but it means boss, leader.

the best dog, you know, the animal woof for dog. Anyway, that's that expression for you. But Mr. Ericsson has been doing this a long time. And during his experience, during the long time that he has done this, he has noticed these four types of behaviour. So four different ways of acting, four different ways of behaving.

He says these are not personality types. That is something a little bit different if you've heard of personality types. But they are actually simply types of behaviour, meaning different ways of acting.

He actually says that these four types, it is not black and white. What do I mean by it is not black and white? You are not just one type or another. You can actually have... mix you can actually display two two different types and sometimes even three and The purpose of the book is that by recognising these different types of behaviour, by understanding these different types of behaviour and knowing when we see it in other people, when we see other people,

display these behaviours and act in these different ways, we can interact better with them, we can communicate better with them, and we can understand people.

So it is it's very interesting And the way he describes these four types is quite nice because it is quite easy to remember and easy to see. These four types of behaviour, he describes them. He says that they are like four... Colours. Red, yellow, green and blue. So yes, these four types of behaviour, you might sometimes see people act in one way, and you can say, ah, that is red behaviour, or you might say, that is green.

or it is blue, or it is yellow. Those are the four types of behaviour and the four colours. Red, yellow, green, and blue. So, what is red behaviour?

Let's start with red. Red is interesting. I will describe red to you. I will say what red is like. Red behaviour. And then... maybe you will you will know that in your life you have maybe seen people who are red so what is what is red like well People who have a lot of red in their behaviour are, this is what Erickson says, he says they are task-oriented extroverts. Wow.

What does that mean? That is tricky, tricky English. First of all, they are extroverts. Have you ever heard of that word, extrovert? There are two words, you can learn them together. Extrovert. and introvert and they are antonyms they are opposites an extrovert is somebody who is very outgoing, very confident. An extrovert likes being around other people. They like being the centre of attention. They like everyone looking at them. They like...

maybe speaking very loudly. An extrovert is often quite loud. They like to be the leader. That is what an extrovert is. Whereas an introvert is somebody who is more quiet, more timid, more shy. and they prefer to maybe be alone a bit more, whereas extroverts like being around lots and lots of people. So it says a rad is a task-oriented extrovert.

So they are an extrovert, but what does it mean if they are task-oriented? Well, the book makes the distinction. It shows the difference between being... relationship-oriented and task-oriented. Oriented just means you are focused on something, that you are working on something. um and that that is your goal so if you are task oriented a task is of course just something that you have to do it might be something at work or anything really

If you are task-oriented, then that means you think a lot about the task. You think a lot about getting things done. Whereas if you are relationship-oriented, you think more about other people. You think, what do they think of me, maybe? You think about how can I make them happy? What are they? Are we good friends? Are we, you know. that is relationship oriented they are focused on the relationship whereas reds are not like that reds red red behavior is task oriented so they enjoy a challenge

They are very competitive. They like doing hard things and they often act quite quickly. They like getting things done. They like doing things. They are task oriented and they make quick decisions. So they do things very... fast, very quickly. Often red, red behavior, people with a lot of red in them tend to be leaders, they are the boss, they are the leader. So that is a red. Maybe you're thinking now you know a red. Maybe you have a friend who is quite red or maybe you are quite red.

Maybe you are very competitive, very hardworking, maybe, and very extroverted.

The next colour, the next type of behaviour is the colour yellow. Now, what is a yellow like? What is yellow behaviour like? How could I describe yellow? Well, yellows are... also extroverts so they they also like to be around people they are very confident but this time they are relationship oriented. They are focused on their relationships. So they really like other people. They love to be surrounded by other people and they really don't like being on their own.

uh they they tend to be a party person they love going to parties um you know a party where you go and you you dance and you um i don't know Whatever people do at parties, drink alcohol. But yellows love partying. They plan parties, so they are the one who arranges the party.

you who says oh guys guys let's let's have a party let's let's do a party they have lots of ideas yellows are quite creative they like creating things They have ideas, but the book says that they often have ideas, but they're never really... act they are not like reds because reds are task oriented and they like getting things done whereas yellows have ideas but they don't really get things done they prefer just

talking to people and saying ideas. Do you understand? So that is yellow. I mean, do you know somebody who is yellow? You might be able to recognise a yellow. You might be able to tell that somebody is yellow because they never stop talking. Maybe you have a friend who talks a lot. They are always... having new ideas and talking and saying things, they might be yellow, they might have a bit of yellow in their behaviour. Quite funny.

Green then, we will move on to the next colour. Because just like yellows, greens are also... focused on relationships they are relationship oriented so they really like their relationships with other people they care a lot they um it is their priority

they care most about how other people think and feel. But unlike a yellow, so the opposite of a yellow, a green actually shy a green is introverted so remember I said red and yellow were extroverted but green is introverted a green person might be an introvert meaning that they are shy and they might be quite quiet and not talk too much.

Until you get to know them. When you are good friends with a green and you have known somebody who is green for a very long time, then they start talking and they are... not so shy but at the beginning initially we could say at that start when you meet them for the first time you see them for the first time in your life they will be very shy. That is green behaviour. Green behaviour is actually to avoid risks. They do not like taking risks, they do not like doing things that are risky or...

that could go wrong. They like to stay safe. They like to play it safe as we sometimes say. They avoid taking risks and they do things that they know are secure. and and safe they avoid conflict with others they hate arguing with with other people because of course they are relationship oriented they care about their relationships and they don't want to

argue with other people. They don't want to have other people that are getting angry with them. So, Greens are very kind. Greens are really nice people. They really are very kind towards other people. But they... are normally a little bit lazy and they are very rarely the leader they are very rarely if you know a boss in a big company maybe it is very rare that the boss will show much green behaviour

boss won't be very green because green people are very rarely leaders. What do you think? Do you know somebody who is green? I think sometimes I am a little bit green. um not sometimes um there's a little bit of of green in me and um apparently uh the book says that green is the most common So lots of people are green. It might be that you know quite a lot of people who are green. It is the most common behaviour. Quite interesting.

So there we have spoken about red behavior, yellow behavior, green behavior, and there is one more behavior. Can you remember the color? It is blue. the color blue and blue is very interesting um because just like red blue Blue behaviour is task-oriented. Orient. Oriented, yes. Well, that means that... Blue behaviour is focused on getting things done and not so much on relationships, not so much on other people. Blue people...

are also introverts, like Green. They are shy, and they don't like being the centre of attention. They are not loud, but unlike Greens, they don't really care. about their relationships or not so much, it is not important for them. Blue behaviour cares more about the task, getting things done.

And so blue people can seem a bit cold. What do I mean by that? They can seem a bit cold. I don't mean they are sitting there shivering cold. No, they have not been... uh playing in the snow they have not been to england where it is very cold no um when when we say somebody uh somebody has it is cold uh we mean that their personality is called, it is metaphorical, and it means that they are maybe not very kind, they are not very... they don't...

show their emotions, they don't show their feelings, it almost looks sometimes like they don't have any feelings, they can be a bit cold, and that is sometimes blue behaviour.

uh they they might not um look very kind if you see somebody who is blue you might think they're not very nice they're a bit cold um and it is not because they are a nasty person but it is because of their focus it is because they care about the task they are task oriented and not relationship oriented and they are introverted they don't uh They don't mind being on their own. So, yes. Also, unlike Red,

Because remember, reds are also task-oriented. Reds like focusing on getting things done. Blue also like getting things done. But they do not act quickly. They don't do anything quickly. They are not in a hurry. They are not in a rush. those two expressions to be in a hurry or to be in a rush means that you want to do something very quickly that you must finish something quickly but that is not blue

Blue take their time, they do things very slowly, and they like to plan everything. What do I mean plan? I mean they like to think about everything and know what they are going to do before they do it. they act this means they can be afraid of new things they like green they do not take many risks they are not very adventurous, they do not like an adventure. So you might think they are a bit boring maybe, but...

That is just their behaviour. It is just maybe different to you. But they are very, very good at getting things done well. They might not do things very quickly, like a red, but when they do things, when they complete a task, maybe when they are at work, when they are working, they work very, very well. What do I mean? I mean they work to a very high quality. Everything is about quality for a blue. They don't believe that... well, they believe that there is a saying in English.

oh if it's worth doing it's worth doing well it's worth doing properly what does that mean that that means that if if you are doing something you shouldn't do it uh in a rush you shouldn't do it too quickly you should do it properly you should spend lots of time and make sure that you get it right all the details right to high high quality so it was probably somebody with

a lot of blue personality, very blue behaviour, who invented, who came up with that, who said that saying for the first time, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing properly. So yeah, maybe, I don't know, do you know a blue in your life? Maybe you can think of one, maybe you have a friend who is a blue. Or, I don't know, maybe someone in your school is blue.

Maybe one of the teachers, who knows. But yeah, let me know. Those are the four colours. Now, why is this? What is the point? Well, like I said before, if you understand these four different types of behaviour, these four different colours, then maybe you will better understand other people because when people do things that is different to you you won't think oh they are an idiot that person is wrong they are doing it wrong you will understand no

they are just doing it differently maybe because they have a different focus maybe they are more task oriented they care more about getting things done and maybe that is why they are a little bit rude or cold to you Or maybe they are more relationship focused, and so maybe that is why they are a little bit slow at getting the task done, you know. There are lots of possibilities, but...

That is what I gathered from the book. I'm not sure that I agree with all of the book. Tell me what you think, maybe if you have read the book. or if not, I recommend you read it. It is an entertaining read, it is a good read, a good book, but I'm not sure I agree with everything. I'm not sure I think it is all correct. because I think people are too unpredictable to be put into colours like that, to classify, to...

and say that their behaviour is red or it is green. I think sometimes you can, but I think sometimes people behave in lots of different ways and it changes all the time. won't stay the same. And so I think people are unpredictable, is the word I used. What does that mean? The word comes from the verb to predict. Predict meaning to...

say what is going to happen before it happens, to predict the future. If I predict a storm tomorrow... if i say i predict it will rain tomorrow and then it it rains then i predicted correctly but i think people are unpredictable that means you cannot predict them um so i think i am not sure I agree with putting people into categories all the time like this, but it can still be interesting, and when I think about it, I definitely do know some people who are blue.

some people who are yellow, some people who are red, and actually a lot of people who are green. So that is sort of right, I agree with that. But I think some people who might be red sometimes can act green. I think it depends on the situation. I think it depends which other people are around. But nonetheless... Anyway, I liked the book. And I hope that you have enjoyed this episode.

I hope it has been interesting for you, and I hope you have learned some new vocabulary. You have maybe learned some new words that you have not heard before in English. You can now say you are a task-oriented extrovert and impress your English friends with those words of vocabulary. They are useful words, extrovert and introvert, so maybe learn those words. But that is the end of this episode. Thank you so much for listening.

If you did like it, please leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And I will see you. Well, I will not see you, but you will hear me in the next episode. Goodbye.