Aircraft most definitely have tendencies. Ignore them at your great risk.
As in "landing light", another thread, or "Twitchy in roll direct", from 447.
Absolutely; experience of all relatively complex machines is invaluable for an operator to know its own quirks/peculiarities/'tendencies'. But when the tendency you are dependent on is that it "[goes] up at the rate I ask, down in a similar fashion ( with Left & Right similarly easily defined.)" then you are displaying a terrifying level of complacency.
You are paid to know what to do when it does
not "go up at the rate I ask, down in a similar fashion ( with Left & Right similarly easily defined.)" I think you'd probably agree, that's what makes skilled pilots relevant - otherwise a very basic computer could do the job.