1. An adaptive control method for human in the loop systems comprising the steps of: (a) sensing human operator reaction to a disturbance in a control system; (b) characterizing an operator response to the disturbance; (c) comparing the operator reaction and the characterized response to produce a result; (d) modifying an initial control law based on the result of the comparison to create a modified control law; and (e) creating a control signal based on the modified control law.