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Patterns
There's a natural order to things, from laws man imposes on others to even nature itself like fractals in snowflakes. It's also not limited to general things. It even applies to people; it can be as simple as drinking coffee every morning or coming to work at 7 am. And a perceptive fellow who notices these things is at a distinct advantage.
Familiarizing one's self with the pattern of the person you're stalking goes a long way. These patterns can take the form of habits (such as chewing his/her hair whenever they're tense), speech pattern (for example, speaking slang most of the time), or even time-tested reactions (like almost always nodding before hearing the end of the question). A really emphatic person (or close friend) might even pick up these patterns themselves.
The point of identifying patterns is that it aids you in predicting the actions of the other person (which is vital in establishing empathy or in deducing what he/she will do next, especially in the situation of lacking information). It increases your chances of making an accurate prediction, although one must always note patterns aren't a 100% guarantee. They can be broken under certain circumstances and one should make allowances for anomalies (or exceptions). And don't forget that one can always choose to change the pattern they're currently following.
You might also ask, what if the other person is "unpredictable?". Well, unpredictability itself has its own pattern, although not as distinct as a person who's stable and does things by routine. One might surmise that an unpredictable or spontaneous person might do something unexpected when faced with a situation. And these kinds of reactions have a tendency to lean towards unconventionality. For example, one might ask a spontaneous person a yes/no question. If his unpredictable manner is at work, he might choose yes or no depending on which answer is less frequently given, or even answer outside of those two choices. That in itself is a pattern, although not as narrowed down as one who is conventional and "predictable".
While perhaps not everything has a pattern, a lot of things do have patterns. The difficulty is in locating and discerning these patterns. And since people behave logically to a certain extent (we're not slot machines!), there's definitely a pattern in your behavior and actions. |