Human Behavior

Definition
Anything an organism does that involves self-initiated action and/or reaction to a
given stimulus. It is composed of adoptive adjustments people make as they cope with one
another, with problems, with opportunities, and with working together-aspects, in a given
situation.
It is the sum total of man’s reaction to his environment

A. Two Basic Types of Behavior:

a. Inherited behavior
These are inborn behavior, any behavioral reactions or reflexes exhibited
by people because of their inherited capabilities or the process of natural section
e.g. the survival of species who are dependent on behaviors like breathing,
digesting food, mating and depending oneself.
b. Learned behavior
These are operant behavior which involves knowing or taking into
account, adaptations that enhance a human being’s ability to cope with changes
in the environment in ways which improve the chances of survival e.g. good
command of English, logical problem solving technique, job skills, and other
learned expertise that give people more control over their lives. It is this behavior
that sets human being apart from other animals.

B. Classification of Human Behavior (HICS)

a. Habitual = refers to motorized behavior usually manifested in language and
emotion.
b. Instinctive = they are generally unlearned and simply comes out, out of man’s
instinct, which can be seen among instinct-instinct survival behaviors.
c. Symbolic = are behaviors that are usually carried out by means of unsaid
words, and shown through symbols or body signs.
d. Complex= are those behaviors that combines two or more of the classified
ones.
C. Causes of Human Behavior (SPA)
a. Sensation = is the feeling or impression created by a given stimulus or cause,
that leads to a particular reaction or behavior, in short, the effects e.g. Visual
(sight), Olfactory (smell), Cutaneous (touch), Auditory (hearing), gustatory
(taste).
b. Perception = refers to the person’s knowledge of a given stimulus which
largely help to determine the actual behavioral response in a given situation.
 c. Awareness = refers to the psychological activity based ion interpretation or
past experience with a given stimulus or object.
D. Characteristics of Behavior
a. Primarily negative or primarily learned
b. Evoked by External stimuli or internal need
c. Automatic, voluntary, conscious or motorized
E. Attributes of Behavior
a. Duration – how long in terms of function of time
b. Extensity – size, distance and location
c. Intensity – magnitude, whether mild, strong and disintegrated
d. Quantity – whether normal, abnormal, misleading or unacceptable

Abnormal Behavior
= “A.B.” is a Latin initials which means “away from” , Abnormal behavior then
can be defined as a behavior which is away from or deviating from the normal
behavior. Normal Behavior on the other hand, is one that is within the concept of
a person as his own behavior which he or she sees normal, and that people who
behave as they do, are likewise normal and those that do not behave similarly
are abnormal. Abnormal behavior most of the time referred to as “sick” behavior.
It is associated to mental illness. Behavior which are ineffective, self-defeating,
self-destructive and which separates the individuals from those who are
important to him, are regarded as abnormal.

Guidelines for judging abnormal behavior

1. Appropriateness (includes assessment of not only the behavior itself but also
the situation in which it is happening).
2. Flexibility (Normal behavior tends to be flexible as a sign of healthy behavior).
3. Impulsivity (Normal behavior is more likely to be a result of a consideration of
its consequences, with important decisions being given careful thought before
implementation) Abnormal behavior, being uncontrolled or partially controlled
needs and drives, tends to be impulsive.
F. Causes of Human Behavior :
1. Sensation – feeing or impression of stimulus ( Visual, olfactory, cutaneous,
auditory, gustatory )
2. Perception – knowledge of the stimulus
3. Awareness – refers to psychological activity based on interpretation and
experience of the object or stimulus

How people interact:

 People interact by three psychological positions or behavioral patterns called
ego states:
Parent-ego state – protective, idealistic, evaluative, righteous, refer to laws, rules
and standard.
Adult-ego states – more upon reason, factual, flexible, views other as co-equal, and
reasonable.
Child-ego states – dependent, rebellion, selfish, demanding, impatient and
emotional.

How people transact :

Complimentary – if the stimulus and response pattern from one ego state to
another are parallel.
Non-complimentary – If stimulus and response pattern from one ego state to
another are not parallel.
I. The Biological Background of Behavior
The human being is the product of heredity, environment, and education (training).
At birth, man is consider black except for reflexes which are necessary for his
survival. Some of these reflexes are the following, sucking, swallowing, crying and
others,

Man’s eight (8) stages of growth:

1. Pre-natal stage – which is composed of:
a. Ovum period – first two weeks
b. Embryo period – second week to second month
c. Fetus period – second month to birth
2. Infancy stage – first two weeks after birth
3. Babyhood – second week to two years old
4. Childhood – which is divided into: (Early childhood, 2- 6 yrs old and late
childhood, 7 to eleven yrs)
5. Puberty – end of childhood and beginning of adolescence
Adolescence – which is divided into: (early adolescence, puberty to 17 yrs. and late
adolescence, 17 to 21 yrs)
1. Adulthood – 21 to forty yrs old.
2. Middle age – forty to sixty yrs. Old
3. Old age – sixty and above

. Developmental Tasks
Every stage of life has its accompanying developmental tasks. They are tasks
imposed on the individual by maturation and culture that prepare him for the next stage of
life.
. THEORIES OF LEARNING
. Connectionism Theory – by Thorndike states that practice strengthens the
association between stimulus an response by using the law of exercise. That this
connection between the stimulus and response can be strengthens further by means of
reward or satisfaction but can be weakened by punishment or dissatisfaction, through the
use of the3 law of effect. This theory in learning assumed that if a thing is to be learned,
there should be frequent repetitions of stimulus and response.
. Classical or Respondent Conditioning – by Pavlov which states that the association
between a conditioned stimulus and response is strengthened by repeated presentation
with the unconditional stimulus.
. Instrumental or Operant Conditioning – wherein the learning or stimulus- response
relationship is strengthened by immediately making a follow-up of the thing learned.

. FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING;

1. Motivation – arouses interest, provides an objective and direct towards a goal,
thus it facilitates learning.
2. Reinforcement - can be made through the use of audio-visual aid, reviews, drills,
and other means.
3. Extinction – means to let something die out or be forgotten by disuse if it will not
facilitate learning.
4. Association – meaning the more connection are made with a subject, the better it
will be learned and retained.
5. Interest – in a lesson will facilitate learning and serve as its own motivation, aside
from having the one teaching making the topic interesting.
6. Rewards or punishments – should be immediate for it to be effective and make
learning easy.
7. Regency – means that learning should be made recent in the minds of learners for
them not forget what they have learned.

. MOTIVATION
Motivation – is defined as behavior instigated by needs within the individual and
directed towards a goal that can satisfy the needs. Motivation may also be regarded as
explanation for action which influences behavior in many ways. All definitions of motivation
have certain things in common such as; it comes from within; it is directed towards a goal;
and it arouses interest in the activity.
Motivation is important because it controls and directs behavior. Behavior must be
controlled for the good of the individual and society. For human happiness, it is necessary to
control behavior. Motivation is also important in all aspects of man’s life.
 . Classification of Motives:
1. Biological drives – includes physiological, basic and primarily unlearned motives
e.g. water, food and other survival motives.
2. Psychological or social drives – they are secondary, acquired, learned, and
derived. e.g. motives to be rich, popular, balanced and other acquisition of
achievements.
3. Unconscious motives – includes mostly general drives such as curiosity, maternal
instinct and just being nice as a natural drive.

. PERSONALITY
Personality is defined as a pattern of habits, attitudes and trials that defines an
individual’s characteristics, behavior and qualities.
= A stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine the similarities and
differences in the psychological behavior, such as thoughts, feelings, and actions, of people.
It can be introvert, extrovert or ambivert. An introvert is one characterized by direction of
interest toward oneself and one’s inner world of experiences; the extrovert, characterized by
interest directed toward the external environment of people and things rather than toward
inner experiences and oneself; the ambivert is a mixture of between an extrovert and
introvert.

Personality is defined as a pattern of habits, attitudes and traits that defines an

individual’s characteristics, behaviors and qualities. Personality is more than charm, poise, or
physical appearance, this includes the following;
(a) Habits – reactions so often repeated that becomes a person’s fixed characteristic or
tendency.
(b) Attitudes - may either be positive or negative, favorable or unfavorable, learned or acquired.
(c) Physical traits – this includes facial appearance, height, weight, physical defects,
complexion, strength and health.
(d) Mental traits – includes our ability to control the mind.
. Mental abilities:
1. problem solving ability
2. memory and learning ability
3. perceptual ability
4. constructive imagination
5. special imagination
6. soundness of judgment
7. general adaptability
(e) Emotional traits – gives an individual the capacity to face different situations in life and still
Maintain composure.
 (f) Social traits – the individual’s ability to get along fine with others.
(g) Moral and religious traits – the standards of a person’s actions and behaviors.

. Social Learning Theories

This theory advocate that personality traits are the result of learning as one interacts
with people. Personality is mainly composed of habits and learned responses to stimuli in the
environment.

. Maslov’s self-actualization theory

Maslov maintains that man is naturally good and that self-actualization is his goal. And,
blocking this goal makes man frustrated and neurotic. Aggression and destruction are not
natural, but they are the result of an environment that prevents the attainment of goals. This
theory makes human needs comes first, followed by safety needs, then belongingness, self-
esteem and self-actualization comes last.
. Human needs – arises out of a person’s biological and psychological make up. They are the
following;
1. Biogenic needs – refers to the needs of the body existing primarily for the
maintenance of health and protection of the body against physical injuries.
E.g. need for food, air, rest, sex and avoidance of pain.
2. Psychogenic or sociogenic needs – includes the need for love, affection,
security, growth and achievement, and recognition from others.

According to A.H. Maslow, who introduced the hierarchy of needs, which ascends from
the basic biological needs present at birth to the more complex psychological needs which
becomes important only after the more basic needs have been satisfied.
Frustration occurs when a person is blocked in the satisfaction of a need. Man
becomes anxious and restless and tries to seek means of relieving these anxieties. So, he
tries to engage in various forms of activities intended to satisfy his needs and reduces his
tensions.

. Reactions to Frustration
People differ in the way they react to frustration. An individual’s way of reacting to
frustration is known as coping mechanism. Generally, people faced with frustration is
sometimes reacting to one or two ways; by fighting the problem in a constructive way and
direct way by means of breaking down the obstacles that stops a person from reaching his
goal; or by getting angry and becoming aggressive; or by running away from the problem
or flight, by sulking, retreating, becoming indifferent, and giving up without a fight. These
reactions to frustration are called fight-flight reactions.

. Frustration-tolerance
 Individuals also differ in their capacity to tolerate unadjusted states or tolerance to
frustration. Some people are able to withstand prolonged periods of tension without
showing signs of abnormality. Others become neurotic or psychotic, or convert their
frustration into anti-social acts or become alcoholics or drug addicts. Most people react to
frustration in the following ways;
1. direct approach
2. detour or change direction
3. substitution
4. withdrawal or retreat
5. developing feelings of inferiority
6. aggression, and
7. use of defense mechanism

. Defense Mechanism
They are unconscious psychological processes that serve as safety valves to provide
relief from emotional conflict and anxiety. Defense mechanism are forms of self-deception
which a person my not be aware of. They are resorted to whenever psychological
equilibrium is threatened by severe emotional injury arising from frustration. Among the
most common defense mechanism used are the following;
1. Identification – a process whereby an individual without awareness, satisfies frustrated desires
by psychologically assuming the role of another person.
2. Substitution - is resorted to, when an unattainable or unacceptable goal, emotion, or object is
replaced by one that is attainable or acceptable.
3. Compensation - a process whereby one makes up for some real o imaginary inadequacy by
doing well in another activity.
      4. Rationalization – it is a fallacious thinking intended to justify ideas and behavior in a way that
seems reasonable to oneself, although, they are intellectually justified and often socially disapproved
as well.
5. Displacement - this is where one transfer his emotion connected with one person or thing to
another unrelated person or object.
6. Fantasy or daydreaming – this is where an imagined sequence of events or mental
images that serves to express unconscious conflicts, to gratify unconscious wishes or to
prepare for an anticipated future event.
7. Projection - manifest feelings and ideas which are unacceptable to oneself, but
projected
onto others so that they may seem to have these feelings or ideas, that
free the
individual from the guilt and anxiety associated with them.
8. Reaction formation - is defined as the development of a trait or traits which are the
opposite
 of tendencies that we do not want to recognize. It is shown, when an
individual is motivated to act in a certain way, but behaves in the opposite way, and be able
to keep his urges and impulses under control.
9. Denial – when a person uses this mechanism, he refuses to recognize and deal with
reality
because of strong inner needs.
10. Repression – is an unconscious process where unacceptable urges or painful,
traumatic
experiences are completely prevented from entering consciousness
11. Suppression – is a conscious activity by which an individual attempts to forget
emotionally
disturbing thoughts and experiences by pushing them out of one’s mind
such as, when a person attempts to forget emotional pain by losing himself in his work.
12. Regression – when a person employs this defense mechanism, he goes back to a pattern of
feeling, thinking, or behavior which was appropriate to an earlier stage of
development, such as when a person demands for something from others and
when denied, uses tantrums to get it, as what he or she has done in early
childhood when parents give to demands of children by the use of tantrums.
13. Sublimation – is the changing of unacceptable id impulses or needs into socially and culturally
acceptable channels or means. It is also a positive and constructive
mechanism for defending against otherwise unacceptable impulses and needs.
Such as when a homosexual works as a physical therapist and finds sexual
satisfaction in performing his job, in meeting his needs and impulses.

When a person is frustrated in his attempts to adjust himself to difficult situation over a
long period of time, he may try to escape from conflicts by suffering from any of the following
mental disorders;
1. neurosis – a condition where a person compromises with reality by developing imaginary
ailments, phobia, obsession or compulsion;
2. psychosis – a mental condition where the person may withdraw from the real world into the
world of fantasy and make-believe, where a person’s hidden or unexpressed
desires can be fulfilled;
3. psychopath or sociopath with an antisocial personality – a mental disorder where one,
instead of compromising with reality, withdraw into his shell. The person may
go to the other extremes and may become very aggressive and cruel in his
behavior towards others. And, when his antisocial behavior comes in conflict
with the law, he becomes a criminal.
4. Psychoneurotic person – are those in the twilight zone between normality and abnormality.
They are not insane, but neither are they normal. The neurotic is always tense,
restless and anxious. Frequently, they have obsession, compulsion. phobia, and
 in some cases, amnesia. Anxiety is the dominant characteristic.

. Unhealthy Reactions to Frustration

Some individuals are incapable of making effective adjustments to their frustration. They
have not learned healthy and effective adjustment habits; hence, they are not emotionally
ready to cope with difficult problems confronting them. As a result, they may react to
frustration in a random, impulsive and inadequate manner that, does not relieve them o
tension, but in fact increases the maladjustment. Among these behavior pattern considered
as unhealthy reactions to frustration are the following;
1. Anxiety - manifested through apprehension, tension, and uneasiness from anticipation
of  danger the source of which is largely unknown or unrecognized.
2. Phobia - an irrational fear which is fixed, intense, uncontrollable, and most of the time
has no
reasonable foundation.
3. Obsession – is an idea that persistently recurs in a person’s mind sometimes against his wish,
though it may have no basis at all.
4. Compulsion – is an irresistible impulse to perform certain acts that are repetitive and ritualistic.
e.g. pyromania – the irresistible urge to set fire,
dipsomania – compulsive desire to take alcoholic drinks,
kleptomania – the urge to steal
5. Regression - a behavior pattern wherein a person returns to state of former adjustment and
attempts to experience them again in memory.
6. Memory disorder or amnesia - caused by painful memories associated with some shocking
experiences which are repressed and cannot be recalled.
7. Delusion – a false belief firmly held despite incontrovertible proof of evidence to the contrary
8. Hallucination – a sensory perception in the absence of an actual external stimulus.
9. Schizophrenia or dementia praecox – is characterized by disturb thinking.

. Sexual Deviancy – a sexual behavior that seeks stimulation and sexual gratification by means other
than heterosexual relation.

. Sexuality or heterosexuality – the only normal sexual relation between members of the opposite sex
that could lead to reproduction.

. Different deviant sexual behaviors:

1. Masochism – sexual gratification is attained through the pain inflicted upon oneself.
2. Sadism – sexual gratification is attained through the pain inflicted upon the sexual partner.
3. Exhibitionism – sexual gratification is attained by exposing some private parts of the body.
4. voyeurism – sexual gratification is attained by witnessing a nude man and woman in the actual
sexual act. The sexually deviant person is also known as Peeping Tom.
5. transvertism – gratification is taken from wearing clothes of the opposite sex and acting their
opposite roles.
6. Fetishism – sexual gratification is attained by substituting an inanimate object of love.
7. Lesbianism – sexual relation between a woman to a woman.
8. Homosexuality – sexual gratification is attained by having a sexual relationship with members
of the same sex.
9. Incest – sexual relation between persons with blood relationship
10. Pedophilia - a child molester that victimizes young boys that could lead to sodomy.
11. Bestiality – sexual relation with a living animal.
12. Necrophilia – sexual relation with a newly dead body.