Hands On : Human Behavior
Hands On : Human Behavior

June 8 - 12

June 8 - 12

Humans are animals too! Learn about human behavior with these fun experiments

After each test, ask yourself:

Were people born with this behavior or did they learn this behavior? Could they learn a different way to act?

Test 1: Which behaviors are contagious?

Sometimes when one person does something, other people will repeat the same behavior. See which behaviors are the most contagious.

Find people who don’t know you are doing this experiment. These could be people in your family or people or people you see on zoom or something like that.

Pick two or more different simple behaviors you can try like laughing, yawning, shivering, coughing, smiling or frowning.

Try doing each behavior when you see a different person. Give time (at least five minutes) between each behavior. For example, if you smile, wait a few minutes before you frown to give people time to react. Record how many people do same the behavior after you do it.

Which behaviors were the most contagious?

Do you think we were born to copy those contagious behaviors before or did we learn to do that?

Do you think copying certain behaviors helps us in someway? If so, how? If no, why not?

Test 2: Ball in the air game

Find out how practice changes our behavior with this simple game of skill!

This game can be played outside on your own or with others. The rules are simple - keep a ball in the air by taping it or hitting it with your hands. If you play with others you can all help to keep the ball in the air. You can’t hold or throw the ball.

See how many taps you make before the ball hits the ground the first time.

Keep playing as you see how many taps you can make before the ball hits the ground.

How did your ability to keep the ball in the air change as you played the game?

What helped you learn to keep the ball in the air for longer amounts of time?