Behavior is the way human beings and other organisms act. Action refers to what organisms do and, in the case of human beings, what they say. Some people use the word behavior to mean conduct—that is, how a person’s actions fit society’s idea of right and wrong. In psychology and other behavioral sciences, behavior is regarded as any activity of a person or other living thing. This article discusses behavior as action.
The study of behavior
Scientists study behavior in a variety of ways, which are designed to establish principles that can be used to explain, predict, or change behavior. Some scientists conduct controlled experiments in laboratories. There, they change one or a few conditions at a time to see what effect the conditions have on the behavior of an organism. For example, a scientist may feed one group of animals routinely, while another group living in otherwise identical conditions is deprived of food. Differences in the behavior of the two groups would indicate that hunger can influence behavior.
Other scientists study behavior by observing and recording it as it occurs in nature. However, scientists who conduct such studies have less control over conditions than do scientists who work in a laboratory. As a result, they have more difficulty knowing exactly what conditions may be influencing the observed behavior.
Scientists can also study behavior indirectly by observing the remains of activities preserved in the environment. For example, an archaeologist can learn about how people behaved in prehistoric times by examining skeletal remains and the evidence of their activities, such as tools and weapons.
Behavioral scientists study a variety of subjects. For example, experimental psychologists often study the behavior of animals in an effort to find clues for understanding human behavior. Social psychologists and sociologists study people in groups, such as social clubs, churches, or governments. Educational psychologists analyze student behavior, and industrial organizational psychologists investigate behavior in the workplace.
Factors that affect behavior
A number of factors can affect the behavior of organisms, including human beings. These factors include heredity, environment, and learning.
Heredity.
Scientists know that behaviors in many organisms are instinctive. Instinctive behaviors are not learned but are determined by the genetic makeup of the organism. Most organisms possess thousands of genes with many possible combinations of gene varieties. For scientists, determining the role of heredity in behavior is a complex and difficult area of study.
Environment.
Many conditions in an environment can influence behavior, ranging from basic needs, such as food and shelter, to more complex factors, such as family, education, or social support.
Learning
is a process through which behavior develops and changes within environments. Behavioral scientists have identified several ways in which human beings learn. One common means of learning is modeling, or imitation. Many of the things human beings do and say are a result of repeating what they have seen or heard. Instruction can also promote learning, and training can help develop newly learned behaviors.
Another type of learning is called classical conditioning—that is, learning through association. The research of the Russian physiologist Ivan P. Pavlov helped identify this form of learning in experiments he conducted in the early 1900’s. Actions that are not planned or decided beforehand are called reflex actions. Pavlov showed that certain reflex actions could be brought out by new stimuli. For example, a dog’s mouth begins to water as a reflex when the animal smells meat. Pavlov rang a bell each time he was about to give meat to a dog. Eventually, the dog’s mouth began to water when Pavlov merely rang the bell. Pavlov claimed that the flow of saliva had become a conditional response to the ringing bell. That is, the dog had associated the sound of the bell with the arrival of food.
Classical conditioning can occur through association with unpleasant stimuli as well. For example, a person may develop a phobia after a frightening experience with a usually safe object or situation. Phobias often develop this way. A person who has a bad experience with a cat may develop a fear of cats.
Operant conditioning is another form of learning that occurs in connection with the consequences of a behavior. During the mid-1900’s, the American behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner became well known for his studies of how the consequences of reward and punishment influence behavior. He found that rewards, or reinforcements, cause behaviors to be repeated. Positive reinforcement occurs when something desirable to the organism follows a behavior and increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated. Examples of positive reinforcement include praise or food.
Negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior is rewarded by removing an unpleasant experience. Behaviors that enable individuals to escape or avoid unpleasant experiences, such as driving early in the morning to avoid heavy traffic, are examples of negative reinforcement. Punishment discourages or decreases the behavior it follows. A punishment might be suffering pain or having feelings of guilt. One form of punishment, called response cost, involves removing something a person enjoys to punish an undesirable behavior.
Skinner concluded that positive reinforcement was more effective than punishment for teaching new behaviors. His work led to the development of several parenting, teaching, and therapeutic methods that use positive reinforcement. Psychologists and other mental health professionals have used behavior therapies based on Skinner’s principles to help individuals overcome behavioral problems, including anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
The nature/nurture debate
Scientists who study behavior often debate whether the major influences on behavior are the result of nature or nurture. Nature refers to behaviors that organisms are born with, or that are strongly influenced by heredity and biology. Nurture refers to behaviors that organisms learn within their environments. However, scientists often have difficulty isolating specific genetic and environmental influences on human behavior.
One way that scientists explore the roles of nature and nurture in human beings is through family studies. For example, scientists believe that shyness is often influenced by heredity. Scientists have observed that children of shy parents are more often shy themselves compared with children of parents who are not shy. However, other explanations cannot be ruled out. For example, the shy child of shy parents may have inherited that tendency, but the child’s shyness also could have been modeled from the parents’ behavior.
Researchers often compare the behavior of identical twins with fraternal (nonidentical) twins to study the role of nature and nurture in human behavior. If a behavior shows up much more frequently in a group of identical twins compared with fraternal twins, then scientists can conclude that the behavior is probably influenced more by heredity than environment. However, learning and other environmental influences can also be a factor if identical twins are raised in the same environment. Consequently, scientists often conduct studies comparing the behavior of identical twins raised in the same environment versus twins in separate environments to control for such similarities.
Scientists have determined that genes appear to strongly influence some human behaviors. But researchers are finding that nearly all behavior is influenced by some combination of nature and nurture. For example, certain people may inherit the genes to be outstanding pianists. But whether they become outstanding pianists depends on whether their environment enables them to learn and develop that skill. Most behavioral scientists believe that nature often provides the potential for behavior, and the environment often determines whether that potential will be reached.
