Overview: Human Tendencies

In the Montessori view all humans share a set of innate tendencies that operate throughout life, guiding both human development and human behaviour. These include the drive shared by all humans to explore and investigate the environment and the need humans have to orient themselves to the environment in an ordered way.

Throughout history and in all parts of the world, humans have communicated with each other, and they have measured their world and calculated quantities. Humans need to be active and to work. This work often involves repetition, which leads to exactness, precision and self-perfection. Humans also tend to imagine things not immediately present to the senses. To feed their imagination, humans build a mental inventory of ordered ideas they have abstracted from their environment. Abstract ideas are the basis of human reasoning and judgement.

Because these tendencies are found in all human beings, regardless of their age, and the place and time in which they live, Dr Montessori called them ‘human tendencies’. To optimise learning and development, Montessori educators take these tendencies into account as they design learning environments for each plane of development.