Last Update 01/12/08

For decades, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, philosophers, personality theorists, and sociological theorists have searched for their The Holy Grail: the psychology model that explains all human behavior.

Even though many continue to search for The Holy Grail, it has always been available to them. They just have to know where to look. The Holy Grail is found in the New Testament and...is explained, illustrated, and applied in the psychological model entitled The Natures of Mankind Psychology (NMP).

It takes an entire book to describe NMP. So, you can study The Natures of Mankind Psychology Model and Diagram in the book Natures of Mankind Psychology.

In addition, you can gain insight into how the Natures of Mankind Psychology Model works on this web site. On this page, we examine the Dynamics of some of the forces that influence us such as: Feeling think-patterns, the six-step mental process, the brain, observable behaviors, and body-emotions.

Webster defines force as: an efficacious (to produce a desired result) power; power to influence, affect, or control. Many people do not understand the forces in their personal worlds that influence how they act, feel, and think. They believe that the forces that influence their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are completely out of their control. Since they do not understand the forces that influence or control others and themselves, they do not know how to achieve victory over those forces and gain control over their actions, emotions, and thoughts.

However, it is possible to learn how to be victorious by understanding the dynamics of:

Feeling think-patterns,

the six-step mental process,

the brain,

observable behaviors, and

body-emotions.

Once you understand the dynamics among these forces, see how the relationships work, and start intervening in your own life, you will be able to gain contol over everything in your own personal world. Notice, I did not say gain control over the lives of others! But once you gain control over your own personal world, you won't care if you have control over others.

See the definition of Personal World, External World, and Real World by selecting the menu option General NMP Diagram on the left side of this page.

Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

But more relevant...are the following questions ...

What drives BEHAVIORS ... beliefs, thoughts, or emotions? Or, Do behaviors drive EMOTIONS? Or, Do BELIEFS drive emotions or behaviors? Who cares? What does it matter?

I guess it only matters if you want to gain control over your own personal life - your personal world. Or do you like everything and everyone controlling you? Or, do you like being out of control?

Do you know why you can't control others, regardless of what you do? You can scream, threaten, jump up and down, hit, and even kill others, yet they just won't give you the control you want!

As you study The Natures of Mankind Psychology Model, you will learn how God designed you to function in partnership with Him by overlapping your personal world with the external world. The diagrams will help you organize and understand the components - the many parts of the diagram. A component is a force in a Christian's life.

Before you can learn about the dynamics of your feeling thinking-patterns, your six-step mental process, your brain, your observable behaviors, and your body-emotions, we must define what they are.

Feeling thinking-patterns are all about how you "make sense of" and how you "respond to" what is happening in your life. Have you ever had an angry thought? How about a sad thought? We define these kinds of thoughts as feeling thinking-patterns. A feeling thinking-pattern is dependent on specific thoughts or perceptions; a feeling thinking-pattern comes from a conscious self-awareness and is based on mental choices; a feeling thinking-pattern are thoughts that are characterized by feelings such as fear, anger, anxiety, sorrow, depression, and the like. A feeling thinking-pattern is one type of a six-step mental process. A feeling thinking-pattern is part of your personal world and does not of necessity have anything to do with the external world because it occurs entirely inside your mind. NOTE: The mind is not the brain. See the section below entitled THE BRAIN.

Thinking-patterns might also be described as "mind sets" that are based on how we "make sense" of everything in our personal and external worlds. When we talk about feelings, we will be referring to feeling thinking-patterns. Therefore, when we talk about feeling thinking-patterns, we will usually be referring to thinking-patterns that have feeling components such as fear, anger, sorrow, and anxiety.

There are other kinds of thinking-patterns than feeling thinking-patterns. For example, there is the thinking-pattern that we use for solving math and science problems. There are thinking-patterns for driving a car or cooking a meal. Those thinking-patterns are not the primary focus of this book.

What process do you use to make decisions? Do you toss a coin or cast lots? You probably use a process similar to the six-step mental process.

A six-step mental process can be used to solve math or science problems, evaluate people and circumstances, and process feeling thinking-patterns.

A six-step mental process gives you the ability to change your personal world and changing your personal world is the key that opens the door to knowing the external world.

A six-step mental process is part of your personal world and does not of necessity have anything to do directly with the external world. The six-step mental process occurs entirely inside your mind.

You can change your personal world by changing your six-step mental process. When you change your six-step mental process, you also change your feeling thinking-pattern. When you change your feeling thinking-pattern, you change your belief system. For example, let's say that in your personal world, you have justified having a hostile attitude toward a co-worker. You can use the six-step mental process to change your personal world by changing how you "make sense" of the situation: (1) describe the relationship (analyze), (2) pray and ask God to reveal the truth to you about your relationship and you could review truths you already know about relationships (research), (3) come up with a new plan by telling yourself, "I can replace hostility and criticism with goodness and kindness" (hypothesize), (4) offer that plan to yourself (propose), (5) choose to try the new behaviors (decide), and (6) start practicing those new behaviors (initiate). More about these dynamics later...

Webster defines brain as: the part of the central nervous system enclosed in the cranium of man and other vertebrates, consisting of a soft, convoluted mass of gray and white matter and serving to control and coordinate the mental and physical actions.

The physical structure of the brain causes many of the differences you experience as a man or a woman. Have you ever walked into the den to talk with your boyfriend, only to discover that he is so preoccupied with watching television that he does not hear you? Have you ever asked your boyfriend to watch the neighborhood kids and cook an evening meal, only to walk in to find the kids outside playing in the yard? Have you ever wondered how your girlfriend can cook, watch TV, baby-sit, and talk on the phone at the same time? These differences, between men and women, are largely due to the differences in the male and female brain. While the gender differences help you to understand how males and females function, it only scratches the surface of explaining human behavior overall.

The brain and the body are part of the external world and little to do with your personal world except that they provide the physical support system for your personal world. They provide a link between your personal world and the external world, of which they are a part. The image of the brain in the diagram is there simply to illustrate that the mind and your physical body are totally separate, even though interdependent.

The New Testament does not teach anything about the brain, rather it focuses on the mind. However, the brain forms a link between the mind and everything else in the world. While the mind depends on the brain to be able to express itself, it is completely separate from the brain. God created the gender-based (male-female) brain to accomplish His purposes in us: first, as men and women and then as husbands and wives. These differences, that underlie the God established spousal roles, fall directly in line with the skills associated with gender-based brains.

Webster defines behavior as: the aggregate of observable responses of the organism in their interrelationships.

Your observable behaviors are those things that you do that you can perceive with your senses. Have you ever heard yourself talk? Ever see yourself turn the steering wheel of a car? Ever hear yourself sneeze? Of course you have.

Observable behaviors are those activities that you do with your body. Observable Behaviors are part of the external world and do not of necessity have anything to do with your personal world. However, nearly all observable behaviors are initiated by your personal world through the six-step mental process. Observable behaviors are outside your mind - your personal world.

The New Testament tells you that the behaviors of non-Christians come from their hearts: "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart" (Matthew 12:34) and "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness" (Mark 7:21,22) and "All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man" (Mark 7:23) and "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth" (James 3:14). (emphasis added)

The New Testament tells you that the behaviors of Christians come from their hearts: "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart" (Luke 6:45) and "Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart" (Acts 2:46) and "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed" (Romans 6:17) and "for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation" (Romans 10:10) and "So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Colossians 3:12) and finally, "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart" (1 Peter 1:22). (emphasis added)

You cannot change your observable behaviors directly because your behaviors come from your personal world: (1) your belief system (heart), (2) your six-step mental process, (3) your feeling thinking-patterns, (4) your random and purposeful thoughts, (5) the divine presence: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, (6) your divine nature (new self), (7) your "basic needs," and (8) your dead "old self." However, you can use the New Testament to determine if your behaviors are appropriate to God and then you can use those behaviors as indicators about what you need to change in your personal world. More about these dynamics later...

Webster defines emotion as: an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness. Have you ever experienced: weakness, emptiness, exhaustion, warmth, restlessness, calmness, tenseness, gastro-intestinal upset, constricted muscles, rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, jumpiness, impaired vision and hearing, and so forth? These are negative body-emotions.

The Natures of Mankind Psychology model defines emotion as: body-emotion. Body-emotion is the physiological responses of the organic body to feeling thinking-patterns; physiological responses taken as being independent of any reference to feelings or emotion as defined by Webster; the physiological condition; results of feeling thinking-patterns and/or belief systems that are experienced in the body; the body's reaction to thought processes.

When we talk about emotions, we will be referring to the body's responses to feeling thinking-patterns and/or belief systems as experiences of weakness, numbness, coldness, emptiness, exhaustion, warmth, restlessness, strength, calmness, tenseness, relaxation, energy, gastro-intestinal condition, muscle tone, breathing rate, heart rate, body movements, vision and hearing conditions, and so forth. Body-emotions are part of the external world and information about the body's condition is sent to the brain through the somatic input system.

Do you remember the thoughts and emotions you experienced when the little boy or girl made fun of you when you reached puberty? Did someone tease you about your height or weight? Do you remember how you felt? Your body reacted, did it not? You started breathing hard, your stomach knotted up, your heart beat faster, and you experienced a surge of energy. However, the children did not make your heart beat faster, stomach knot up, and so forth. Your body felt like this because of what you were thinking. Your thinking was based on what you believed about yourself and what those other boys and girls were doing to you. Your response, both mentally and physically, to those activities was your attempt to "make sense" of what those boys and girls were saying or doing to you.

You must realize: no one else can make your body feel any particular way. If you believe others can "push your buttons," then you give up the power to change or control your body-emotions. You become their slave. You become a victim. However, you do not have to put yourself at the mercy of others. Since your body-emotions are reactions to your own thoughts in your own personal world, your Christian Nature (new self) can enable you to master your body-emotions by enabling you to change your thoughts and beliefs, thereby, changing your personal world.

You can see and study the dynamics among all the components (forces) by selecting the menu option General NMP Diagram on the left side of this page.

So, what drives BEHAVIORS ... beliefs, thoughts, or emotions? Or, Do behaviors drive EMOTIONS? Or, Do BELIEFS drive emotions or behaviors? Who cares? What does it matter?

I guess it only matters if you want to gain control over your own personal life - your personal world. Or do you like everything and everyone controlling you? Or, do you like being out of control?

According to The Natures of Mankind Psychology Model, observable behaviors begin with a specific feeling thinking-pattern - a six-step mental process, that in turn, creates a belief in the belief system, that in turn, sends signals to the brain, that in turn, sends signals to the body - to produce observable behaviors and/or sends signals to the body - that generates emotions such as heart rate, muscle tension, etc. Then,the sensory input system picks up signals from the observable behaviors and body-emotions and, in turn, sends signals back to the brain and mind through the somatic input system...and the process starts all over again. It is actually more complicated than this, but this gives you a general idea of how the forces interact.

The contents of this web page are exerpted from Chapters 2 & 3, in the book Natures of Mankind Psychology.

© 2007 by Jerold L. Reed All Rights Reserved

Contact the New testament Psychology Institute for special permission to copy and distribute this information.