Positive Atmospherics

Making Time Slow Down In The Hasty Search

November 7, 2017 in Baselining


.In today’s exercise, you will be learn how to slow down time while conducting the hasty search.

The Workout

  • This video was used in an earlier exercise and taken on the Pearl Street Mall (an outdoor mall) in Boulder, CO, during the middle of the afternoon on a weekday in the spring. We recommend you do that exercise first.
  • Watch the video 3 times
  • The first time: watch the video titled “Slow Motion” to observe each person that comes into the frame and note each behavior that you observe on them as you assign them to one of the four clusters.
  • The second time: watch the second video, titled “1x Speed,” and make the same assessments about each person in the clip, except this time it is at a normal speed.
  • The third time: watch the third video, titled “2x Speed” and try to note all of the same gestures, postures and expressions that you made in the first two videos at the fast pace.

Slow Motion: 1/2 Speed

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1x Speed

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2x Speed 

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Enhance The Workout
  • Repeat
    • The goal for this exercise was to become comfortable making observations at 2x, so that when observing people at the speed of life (1x), it will appear slower and more controllable than it would otherwise.
    • Repeat as many times as is necessary to make all of the same observations about the people at 2x speed as you can at 1/2 speed.
  • Reflect
    • What factors of the hasty search (both the “other indicators” and the behaviors) are you comfortable making and which are observations that don’t come naturally to you?  List these out.
  • Act
    • Identify an area where you can practice focusing on the elements of the hasty search that you are least comfortable making, and only those indicators, until you can recognize them through effort alone.

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Conduct A Hasty Search In An Outdoor Mall

October 24, 2017 in Baselining

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In today’s exercise, you will be practicing how to conduct a hasty search in an outdoor mall while establishing a baseline and looking for anomalies.

The Workout

  • As you watch the video, immediately conduct a hasty search of the area to establish an initial baseline and evaluate each person as being part of the baseline or an anomaly worth investigating.
  • Be able to articulate why your baseline was what you determined it to be and why anyone identified stood out from the baseline.
  • If you identify anyone, determine what you would do about the situation.
  • Write your answers on a sheet of paper before viewing our answers

View Our Answers

  • The baseline:
    • The area has positive atmospherics.
    • The area is clean (the delivery guy is concerned about having a mess in the walkway), the noise level is conversation (not confrontational and there is music playing), and orderly as people are walking at a relaxed pace and staying to the right side of the walkways.
    • I confirm that the baseline is positive atmospherics by assessing that most people are displaying the comfortable cluster of behavior.
  • The anomalies:
    • Because the baseline is positive atmospherics, I am searching for high intensity dominance and high intensity discomfort as anomalies.
    • The only display of anomalous behavior that I identify is the man that is observed on the left side of the frame at around the 0:30 point displaying dominance.
    • It is the man at the water fountain wearing a yellow tee-shirt, with a red long-sleeved shirt underneath, wearing the yellow or tan baseball hat.
    • His display of dominance is assessed as his left foot drops back into a fighting stance, as his elbows spread out and as his hands move into a knife hand/karate chop motion.
  • The decision
    • As this display of dominance is only directed at the water coming out of the drinking fountain, I assessed the person as not being a threat, despite the display of dominance.
    • The display of dominance, despite being outside of the baseline, was a false positive and no action was required.
  • Follow Up:
    • Add a comment with the assessments that you made, but that we didn’t make, so that we can check for those assessments and provide feedback on those specific observations.  We will add them to our answers in the post itself for future viewings of the exercise.
 Enhance The Workout
  • Repeat
    • Note the assessments that we made that you didn’t make, and re-watch the video to build your file folder for that specific behavior.
    • The goals for this exercise were to allow you to practice the steps that go into the hasty search and to make the search for anomalies within the baseline established through a hasty search more intuitive through repetition.
    • Repeat as often as needed to become comfortable with each step of the hasty search.
  • Reflect
    • What was easy for you and what was difficult in this exercise?  What did you do correctly and where do you need to improve?
    • Write these down to see progress made over time spent practicing behavioral analysis.
  • Act
    • This video was taken on the Pearl Street Mall (an outdoor mall) in Boulder, CO, during the middle of the afternoon on a weekday in the spring.
    • Identify an area where you can practice this exercise in real time to solidify today’s exercise with personal experience both in your professional life and personal life.
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