CET 06211

Behavior And Profession Ethics

Personal Behavior Determinants And

Behavior Acquisition
The Determinants of Personal Behavior
• A determinant of something causes it to be of a particular
kind or happen in a particular way. Hence; Determinants of
personal behavior are things that have been proven to
influence behavior change or cause a certain trait of a
person.
• The determinants of personal behavior include:
I. Genetics
II. Social norms
III. Creativity
IV. Weather and climate
V. Religion and spirituality
 Behavior acquisition and modification
• Acquisition of a skill or a particular type of behavior is the
process of learning it or developing it. Hence
• Behaviour acquisition; refers to an early stage of the learning
process during which time a response is first established. At
this point in learning, the subject will begin displaying the
behavior when a stimulus is presented, so we can then say that
the behavior has been acquired.
• Behaviour modification; This is a set of techniques for altering
a person's behaviours, and their reactions to stimuli, through
positive reinforcement of desired behaviors, and negative
reinforcement of undesirable behaviors.
 Cont..
OR refers to the techniques used to try and decrease or
increase a particular type of behavior or reaction.
• Behavior modification; is a parenting technique that uses
reinforcement to reward good behaviors and discourage
unwanted ones. The following are the methods of
conditioning; positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement,
positive punishment, negative punishment.
 Components of behavior modification
• Positive-Reinforcement; Involves offering a reward for
positive behaviors to encourage your child to keep doing
them. “Positive reinforcement is probably the most
effective method of shaping behavior,” says Dr. Eichenstein.
“Children who are praised and are acknowledged for their
efforts are more likely to continue to want to do those
behaviors.” Take your son out for ice cream after he/she
worked hard to finish a difficult school project.
 Cont..
• Negative-Reinforcement; This method takes away something
unpleasant to reinforce good behavior. A child will clean his room
to get his parents off his back about the mess. His good behavior
is reinforced by the removal of his parents’ constant reminders.
In negative reinforcement, you’re not actually doing anything
negative the “negative” refers to removing something from the
equation.
• Positive-Punishment; This form of punishment presents a
negative consequence in response to a negative behavior
(“positive” refers to the fact that you’re adding a consequence).A
prime example is spanking. “Research indicates that spanking
can be detrimental to children and can increase aggression and
other behavior problems,” says Wolff. There are better types of
positive punishment, however. You can let a child experience the
 Cont..
• Negative-Punishment; Rather than introducing a
consequence, negative punishment takes something away in
response to a negative behavior. Take away privileges to a
person after misconduct or bad outcome. Or You can
remove screen time privileges if your son teases his sister
and vice versa. In this case, a more beneficial strategy,
however, would be to use positive reinforcement of giving
privileges to a person if he/she behaves well, as rewards are
generally more effective than punishment in modifying future
behaviors in a person/children.
 Stages of behaviour modification
• Precontemplation stage; At this stage, people are not yet aware of
the negative behaviour they need to change. They don’t see their
behaviour as a problem and aren’t interested in getting help. They
may become defensive if someone pressures them to change.
They also avoid speaking, reading, or thinking about it. They may
also absorb information about this problem from family, friends, or
the media, but won’t take action until they see it as problematic.
• Contemplation stage; At this stage, people are aware of the
negative consequences or problems. But they’re not yet ready to
change their unhealthy behavior. They do start thinking about it,
however. They know it’s necessary to change but aren’t ready. They
might weigh the pros and cons and whether the long-term benefits
outweigh the short-term effort. This stage can last a few days or
an entire lifetime, depending on the individual.
 CONT..
• Preparation or determination stage; This is the phase when a
person is ready to make a change. They become committed to
changing and motivated to take steps. They read, talk, and gather
information about the problem.
• Action stage; At this stage people use the strategies they learned
in the previous phase to start a new, healthy behavior. This takes
willpower, and there is a high risk of failure and slipping back into
old behavior and habits. It can help to avoid external temptation
and set rewards for achieving intermediate goals. The
preparation stage is crucial to the success of behavior change.
Skipping this stage can drastically decrease your chances of
success. The support of others is also essential at this stage.
 CONT..
• Maintenance stage; In this stage, people have made progress
and realized the benefits of change. They understand that
maintaining change will require effort, but they are aware of its
value. They create strategies to prevent relapse until the new
habit becomes familiar and natural.
• Relapse stage; This stage is when people slip back into their old
behaviors and habits. Relapsing is a normal part of the process
of change. The key is to identify the trigger that caused the
failure and look for new and better strategies for dealing with it.
Bearing in mind the benefits of the change help regain motivation
when restarting the stages of change model.
Thank you for being with me.