HUMAN TENDENCIES

 Understanding Human Tendencies.

Dr. Maria Montessori determined that there are human tendencies that exist in each individual
which stimulate her/him within the society. Human tendencies are unchanging and individual.
They help humans to survive and adapt in a particular time and environment.
A dictionary definition of “tendency” is: A natural or prevailing disposition to move, proceed, or
act in some direction or toward some point, end, or result.
◦ Natural guides, that are essential for our survival and self-fulfillment.
◦ Serve as intrinsic power that guides humans to integrate into our surroundings.

 Who possesses these tendencies and since when?

As we use the term here, these Human Tendencies are innate, universal human traits. They are
considered to be present in every human being, of any time and place; they are present and
operative at birth; present and operative throughout life. These traits are intrinsic – belonging to
human beings by their very nature. They serve as intrinsic powers which guide individual
human development and motivate individual human behavior – in a particular direction; to
particular ends; and to fulfill particular, universal needs. We share some of these traits – some
would argue, many of these traits – with other species of life. That is not at issue here. The point
we want to consider is how humans experience these traits uniquely and specifically as humans;
and what this experience tells us about the natural human condition. We say that these Human
Tendencies are universal and constant; yet the observable behaviors manifested as a result of
these powers can seem very diverse. An example of this would be the diversity of human
languages – each of which represents an important aspect of the Human Tendency for
Communication. As we examine these Human Tendencies, we are challenged to differentiate
between what is essential and what is superficial or ‘accidental’ in human behavior.
 Why do we need to know about these human tendencies?
Human Tendencies are universal characteristics of all people across all cultures. They are
characteristic of every child born and allow us to meet our physical needs(food, shelter,
clothing, and defense) and spiritual needs (love, beauty, intellectual needs, and religion).It is
essential to understand that the Human Tendencies are notabilities we are born with, but
potentials to be developed. To the degree that we support the unfolding of these human

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 tendencies will determine how that human can make full use of these tendencies for the rest of
his life. The more we as adults understand about the Human Tendencies the more we can help
our children succeed- not only today, but also in their adult lives.
Two unique gifts are given to the human being
1. The intellect – reasoning mind
2. The will – love

These two gifts allow the tendencies to construct the human uniqueness. The tendencies are
factors that operate the vehicles of the intellect, enabling the human to learn about and
understand his environment. All humans have some typical characteristics in the human
tendencies. While individual outcomes can vary greatly, human tendencies are ordered to the
goal of fulfilling human needs.
◦ Because child, the human being possesses them.
◦ Renewed understanding.
◦ To the help the child.
◦ Modify our behavior, adapt.
◦ Reason out behavior.
◦ Respect it, satisfy.
◦ Not conclude.
◦ Apply in our work.
◦ The formation and continual development of the individual personality.
◦ The individual's continual adaptation as a person of their time, place and culture are
outcomes.
 Do we study all of the Tendencies?
Yes, we study the tendencies; those are relevant to serve the children of 6-12 years.
 List of relevant tendencies that we will consider.
1. Tendency to Explore.
2. Tendency for orientation.
3. Tendency to adapt.
4. Tendency of order.
5. Tendency for thinking.
6. Tendency to translate thoughts into action.

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 7. Tendency for concentration.
8. Tendency to repeat.
9. Tendency to strive for perfection.
10. Tendency for exactness and precision.
11. Tendency to correct errors.
12. Tendency for Abstraction / Imagination.
13. Tendency to communicate.
14. Tendency towards gregariousness.
15. Tendency for love and affection.
 Relationship among the tendencies.
◦ They are unchanging.
◦ They are committed to society and social responsibilities.
◦ It determines human behavior.
◦ It gives direction to human being.
◦ It also helps us to study in human psychology.
◦ It is driving force is day to day our life.
◦ They are self motivated.
◦ They are cengrestic, co-operative, harmony.
◦ They are contributing, holistic.
◦ They are interdependent.
◦ They are exploring.
◦ They are adversity.

 Description of each of the tendencies and how are they nurtured in the Montessori
Environment.

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 1. Tendency to explore: “A tendency for exploration is an inner force in every human but we
differ in degrees.”- Dr. Montessori.
Exploration is tendency of human being. Exploration beings with movement and sense. It is
important for human being it also comes to personal life. Need to investigate .It is not limited.
Exploration backed up by curiosity, we need information to explore historic, human values. It
differ indeed, it manifest one by one. Sensitivity of child of going on the age of 2.5 years to 6
years. It exploring by Sensorial and allowing to open explore. To prepare the environment of
montessori to accommodate the tendency. To examine the things, To investigate the things. This
tendency is the curiosity leading to explore and the desire to understand. It renders living better
materially and spiritually. We are all potential explorers with a tremendous desire to learn,
research, read and travel. As educators, we can easily see that children are the best explorers and
they must have the freedom to explore as rich an environment as possible. The more we
explore, the deeper we understand the world and the more we can improve the human condition.
The adult can support this tendency for the child by ensuring freedom of movement, freedom of
choice, and a beautiful and orderly environment.
2. Tendency for Orientation: This tendency is the ability to orient oneself in new situations. For
a child it means that she/he needs to know where and how she/he fits into a particular time or
environment and how to adapt. As educators, we must give the child the freedom and the
information necessary to his/her orientation without too much guidance. To be comfortable,
humans need to place themselves in relation to their environment. This is the inclination to find
a point of reference. Young children are very new to their environment and need a predictable,
safe and reliable space with minimal stimulation. In order to explore the tendency of orientation
is helpful. When you explore the thing should be orient. Orientation means to know bearing its
a basic fundamentals. Orient means east. We all need to feel the secure. You should familiar
with society. You build a relationship when you are secure. Human minds work with
orientation. You search for experience, compare and culture. Every child should be orient.
Mother is first orient for child. Security becomes stability/ confidence. When you have
orientation you will become independent, to give a direction.
3. Tendency to Adapt: “To her the word (adaptation) meant happiness, ease and the sort of inner
equilibrium which gives a sense of security to the child. It is based on the permanency of the
spiritual, ethical and economical equilibrium of the group-environment in which his family both

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 lives, and has a very determined social standing…. From this point of view the conditions of
our present make it much more difficult for the child to become adapted than formerly. Now-a-
days not only in one nation, but in the whole world society seems to be in a state of chaos, due
both to the impact of new and conflicting ideas which come from all sides – and to economical,
social and spiritual changes that have occurred in the near past. So the general feeling is that no
longer is anything permanent. All feel insecure: not only individuals, but also nations It is not
extraordinary therefore that in such conditions children find it more difficult to become adapted
than previously.” – Dr. Montessori. To adapt to culture, situation, problem. It helps to overcome
the problems. Man has adapted socially, geography and environment. Adaptation cannot be
limited. Adaptation helps to pick up the sensitivity.

4. Tendency for order: “Order is one of the need of life which, when it is satisfied produces a real
happiness.” – Dr. Montessori. The tendency for order helps in the understanding of one’s
surroundings. For a child it means s/he has the need for predictable events in her/his life; for
example, an ordered environment where everything has a certain place. As educators, we
provide an ordered environment with things in a well-defined place. Physical order brings
mental order. Order gives a young child comfort and freedom, which are essential for
engagement and learning. We should keep the environment in order for adaptation. Human
being discovered the order in the nature. Order gives function, sequence, classify certain things.
Below 6 years have absorbent mind, language, behavior, pattern, the child have every strong
external order. Order need consistency. Order is necessary for orientation, adaptation and
exploration. Internal order is order of thinking.
5. Tendency for Thinking: It is not an activity, when we are thinking different intrinsic. Our
thinking does not haphazard manner. Order and thinking is side by side. Order is essential it
helps to us think logically, sequence, abstraction, that we need to have freedom to think. In
elementary section thinking will be changed by 6 years child, the child will be given a
presentation to think. The thinking of elementary child will not be given complete information
about presentation because to think. Don't give the direct answer to child in elementary section.
6. Tendency to translate thoughts into Action : Activity is something every living creature does.
We work to improve our situation. All life exists because of the environment in which it lives
and we never simply stay in one environment because through work, we continually use and

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 change that environment. We work to construct what we need to be comfortable. It is the
intrinsic motivation to act in a purposeful and meaningful way that engages the whole self.
Children work to improve themselves and therefore will learn to improve the environment. A
child’s work is not to maintain life, but to construct it. Humans need to take hold of their
environment to understand it. To make things work for us, we must use the hand along with the
brain. This leads to self-control and self-mastery. It is the ability to move which involves both
the mind and body. A child is restless and needs constant activity which seems purposeless to
the adult. As educators, we must give the child the freedom to move around . It leads to
frustration i.e. why human beings need to work. Work of sanity. Physical activity leads to
thinking. Introvert needs work, works leads to thinking. Reality has to be confirmed your
thoughts into action. “What will people think?, Am I chitting? Is it fair or not?”. Decision
making is your thinking. Freedom to work and enjoy the work.
7. Tendency to Concentration: Once a natural interest for an activity or work has been
established, concentration is the collection of attention, energies, and faculties to accomplish the
work at hand. But concentration alone isn’t fulfilling. There is a need to perfect an action or
work which comes only through repetition. Concentration happens as the result of doing work.
At some level, the individual has some drive to be interested in his environment, to reach out
and touch it. Once that happens, he begins to concentrate, take focus, collect energies, and
repeat. Con- together/ complete is comes from roots center. All your energy focus converges
into something. Fix our concentration for some time, resist distraction. Concentration protected
by not disturbing them.
8. Tendency to Repetition: Repetition is necessary to internalize of concept. Learning happens
when you repeat and practice. Because of practice the child will learn. Never interrupt into the
child work with material. We don't force to repeat. This tendency is the ability to do over and
over again an exercise in order to reach perfection and to experience the joy of increased control
and understanding of one’s world. When a child is not satisfied with her/his performance in one
activity or does not get any joy from it, she/he will repeat the same exercise several times. As
educators, we must provide materials that are easily accessible and allowable to be used over
and over again. Repetition is given with variation. Variation will be given to internalize the
concept (memory).

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 9. Tendency to strive for Perfection: Striving towards perfection is a human tendency. That why
we repeat, why we strive for exactness. We strive for perfection to transcend ourselves and
connect with a perfect creator, but we must remember we can't be perfect, only God is perfect.
This tendency of perfection is not always seen in adults and is not part of American culture. We
live in a consumer society with the mindset that things are to be replaced with something newer
and better. It is the development of the person to a point that is satisfying to the person himself.
As educators, it is the aim of the Montessori teacher to teach the children so that they can
control themselves and this is done through the environment itself.
10. Tendency for Exactness and Precision: The action of exactness involves perfection. Exactness
and precision will be closure to goals. Exactness (and its synonym, precision) is very specific in
meaning: Strict accuracy and correctness; admitting no deviation; rigorous; meticulous To be
exact is to be precise, as opposed to approximate or vague. It takes us all the way back to
Exploration, and weaves its way through all of the constructions motivated by our Human
Tendencies. And it works through that passage which we call Communication. This is
essentially what Learning is all about: to align actions closer and closer to the standard which
defines a goal; to be more efficient, to conserve energy in accomplishing the action; to do it
faster, better than before, better than anyone else; to develop a capacity, clarify a thought, or
illuminate a vision beyond its present state. It is, as well, this tendency towards Exactness and
Precision which stimulates the refinement of a perception in order to construct an Abstraction
that we can trust; and it is this Exactness and Precision which makes it possible for the mind to
work mathematically. Human beings tend to seek exactness or precision. Children have an
innate tendency to seek “perfection” in their work. They use other tendencies such as
manipulation of objects, order, and repetition to achieve a satisfying sense of exactness.
“Sometimes very small children in a proper environment develop a skill and exactness in their
work that can only surprise us.” ~Maria Montessori

11. Tendency to Correct Errors: Error is a part of learning. Bettering the error, reducing the
error, human beings we repeat, control our errors. The children will repeat and repeat the
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 material to control their error. We should keep in mind to increasing the self-esteem/ dignity of
the child. Control of error is inbuilt of error. Manipulation and control of error go hand to hand.
Here we see the all of the tendencies work together. The child explores his environment and is
drawn to a certain material or task. He manipulates the materials. He imagines what he would
like the outcome to be. He repeats the manipulations seeking order and precision. He is not
satisfied until he feels he has achieved exactness. He controls his own error by noticing
imperfections. He continues to work, striving for “perfection.” This idea of perfection is in the
mind of the child, not something assigned by a parent or teacher. Children experience a deep
sense of satisfaction and joy when they are allowed to work until they have achieved what they
feel is perfection.
12. Tendency for Abstraction and Imagination: “The true basis of the imagination is reality” –
Dr. Montessori. Sometimes called “abstraction,” to imagine is to visualize something not yet
there. Children can imagine things in their minds and then create them if they have the right
tools and the freedom to express what they’re visualizing. Painting, crafting, drawing, music,
and storytelling are all constructive ways for children to use their imaginations.  It is the ability
to reason beyond the limits of the concrete as well as to generalize and interpret. This tendency
will not develop in a child unless she/he has had enough concrete experience. As educators, we
must allow concrete experiences through the materials in order for these to provide a solid

understanding of the concepts intended. Children are born with an innate need to touch, hold,
and shape their environment. Human beings are imitating by nature, beauty in nature. The child
below 6 will not be having conscious. Abstraction is to separate, to draw off, it can pure mental
intellectual. Abstract is to build concert experience.
13. Tendency to Communicate: Communication is a way to learn for a child. In Montessori,
the adult will not stop the child to talk. When communicate we respect the other
person, to know expression, able to have discussions. This tendency is the ability for
living beings to understand each other as well as to be understood. This takes the three forms of
speaking, writing and reading. As educators, freedom of speech, listening, and story telling help
enable speaking. Research and creative writing help to develop writing. Reading by the child is
nurtured through reading to the child by the adult, as well as preparatory exercises in the

classroom. Communication makes it possible for humans to share their inner thoughts and
feelings. It is also the way we pass information from one individual to the next. Children use
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 facial expressions, gestures, and speech to communicate their basic needs. Ultimately, the
child’s tendency toward communication leads him to the written word and reading.
14. Tendency towards Gregariousness: Gregariousness is the tendency for human beings to enjoy
the company of others and the want to associate with them in social activities. Gregariousness
gives people security, companionship, acceptance, and a sense of belonging. Gregariousness
refers to the warmth of the social world. It is the difference between studying alone at home and
studying in the library.  Gregariousness cannot be explained as interaction or coordination, and
neither can it be grasped solely as a normative aspect of the environment. This is why
gregariousness cannot be explained using the concepts of strategic equilibrium, shared planning
agency, joint commitment, we-intention, or second-person standpoint
15. Tendency for Love and Affection: It basis for living:

• Role of the Adult

• Conclusion
•
• Reference :
 https://ruffingmontessori.net/home/about/why-montessori/montessori-
articles/human-tendencies/
 https://www.scribd.com/document/224262140/The-Human-Tendencies
 https://silo.tips/download/the-human-tendencies
 https://montessorikidsuniverse.com/human-tendencies-and-montessori-
schools/
 http://meadmontessorischool.com/human-tendencies/#:~:text=Concentration
%2FRepetition%2FPerfection%20happen%20as,%2C%20collect%20energies%2C
%20and%20repeat.
 https://aimmontessoriteachertraining.org/human-needs-and-tendencies/

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