Individual Behavior:

A Perspective
Professor Anurag Shanker

MBA University of London
What is Behaviour?
Most people use the word behavior to mean conduct


Psychology regards behavior as any observable activity by
human being


Most individual Human Behaviors result from a combination of
factors.


Stimulus
Response
Consequence
How can behaviour be observed ?
What is stimulus?


A Stimulus can be defined as the energy available in the physical
environment which impinge on an individual.



How do we recognise or ignore this energy ?




Response to the Stimulus:
Sensation (Information)
The response to the stimulus is
Sensation
At least 10 sensations have
been isolated

Vision
Audition
Olfaction
Touch, temperature, pain, taste
Common chemical sense
Kinesthetic sense
Vestibular sense - Sense of the
position of ones body parts
Audition Vision
Olfaction
Individual
Perception
Perception results from adding meaning sensation

Perception can be defined as the process of selecting,
organizing, and attaching meaning or interpretation to events
objects or people in the environment

Perception is said to have taken place only after the information
(sensation) has been interpreted

Perception plays an important role in the Individual Human
Behavior
Perception : Influencing Factors
Major Factors


Learning

Motives and Emotions

Maturation and Heredity
Learning
We learn through perception

Past experiences or previous learning affect present perception

For e.g. : Gun
Hunter perceives it to be an object that evokes excitement .

A person whose son is killed in a firing incident in the past
perceives it to be an object that evokes fear and pain

Motives and Emotions
Emotions and Motives have major influence on perception
For e.g.: Hungry people, tend to perceive food and related things
everywhere.

Prejudiced mind perceives selectively other people in ways that
support it
For e.g.:
A boy who is in love with a girl perceives her every action as
an indication of love towards him.
Maturation and Heredity
Maturity of sensory organs
Born blind cannot make sense of the visual environment, even
after getting vision with the help of a surgery.

After surviving for years in a lightless world, they have to unlearn
all their auditory and tactile

Need to accommodate the new visual frame of reference
Heredity
Human beings are born with talents, these need to be developed
through practice
Cognition- Thinking
Cognition represents the most complex form of a Human
Behavior

It is the highest form of mental activity
It is the basis for all human achievements
Concepts, problem solving, language intelligence and creativity all
are depend upon the ability to think
It is purposeful, mental manipulation of words and images
It helps the human to solve problems without any physical motion

Attitudes: Human behaviour
Attitudes are associations between attitude objects and
evaluations of those objects.

Attitude is nothing but the quality and direction of our thought
process through which we respond to the world.

According to most psychologists attitudes are learned.
How attitudes are formed?

Attitudes: Human behaviour
Attitudes are acquired through experience

Social learning: Acquiring attitudes from others
Classical conditioning
Instrumental conditioning
Modeling: Learning by example
Comparison and attitude formation
Genetic Factors

Attitude Formation: Social
Learning
When we interact with others or merely observe their behavior
attitudes are learned.

This is known as classical conditioning
Classical conditioning can occur below the levels of conscious
awareness even when persons are not aware of the stimuli
e.g. We can quote a real life situation here.
A young child, for instance sees her mother frown and show
emotional discomfort each time she encounters members of a
minority group- a particular racial group.


Attitude Formation: Social
Learning
A learning state to Right views .

This process is called instrumental conditioning.

By rewarding children with smiles, approval or hugs elders can
play a key role in this process.
e.g.: Parents applause every time their child dances for a popular
dance number, dancing becomes a habit for the child.
Positive reinforcement is the basis of this process
People repeat their attitudes when they receive reward and
recognition for their Right views
Modeling: Learning by example
Modeling is a basic form of a learning in which we acquire new
forms of attitude by observing others

Often children observe their parents and repeat what ever they do.
Parents need to be careful and conscious in the way they exhibit their
attitudes in the presence of children.
Normally parents deny children from doing lot of things which are fine
for themselves
e.g.: Telling lies, Smoking and Watching adult movies

It is very clear that children learn to do what their parents do , but
not what they say!!!!!!!!!!!

Attitude formation: Comparison or
Referencing
This refers to our tendency to compare ourselves with others.

We use this, in order to determine whether our view of social
reality is correct or not.

We often change our attitudes, so as to hold our views closer to
that of others

This process helps us to form new attitudes


Attitude formation: Genetic factors
We accept the fact that genetic factors influence the physical
aspects i.e.; Height, color of skin and eyes etc...

Similarly these genetic factors influence our way of thinking

Thought occurs in brain and it is also a physical part, as any
other part of the body which has influence of genes.

However, to some extent, genetic factors do influence attitude

Attitudes : Influence on Human
Behaviour
Does attitude influence Human Behavior?

If yes when and how?

According to Allport, attitudes are a set of tendencies and
predispositions which have major impact on Individual Human
behavior.





Attitudes : Influence on Human
Behaviour
Several studies have shown that there are major factors which
serve as moderators they influence to which extent attitudes
affect behavior.

Moderators : Aspects of Situation
They are purely

Situational
In fact, people cannot express their attitude, since that would be
contrary to the norms in a given situation

Attitudes: Influence on Human
behaviour
How do attitudes influence behavior?

Attitude influences perception


Personality- Human Behaviour
Clearly speaking, there is something inside people that makes
them think, feel and act in a situation

That Something Inside is what we mean by personality

Personality can be defined as the unique and consistent pattern
of behaviour , thoughts and feelings in a wide variety of
situations over a long period of time

Consistency is the KEY
Personality -Determinants
Biological factors
Genetics
Hormones

Physical environment
Climate

Psychological factors
Self-concept
intelligence
Personality Determinants
Familial Determinants
Child rearing practice
Influence on self-concept
Social class
Social stratification
Cultural factors
Values and Norms
Religion
Education

Personality - Types
Generally people describe persons or personalities as shy,
irritable, gullible, aggressive, dominant, sociable, easygoing,
jovial, cunning etc.

To put it in simple terms personality is the unique, relatively
consistent pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving


Our personality , otherwise is the behavior noticed by others

Personality-Types
Carl Gustav Jung, the famous psychologist in his theory stated
that individuals are either
Extroverted - Outgoing
or
Introverted - Shy
as a dominant function

He felt that the dominant function is so important, it over shadows
the all other functions in terms of defining a personality type.

Personality-Types

8 Personality types are:

Extraverted or Introverted
Sensing or intuitive (Gut feeling, Direct Apprehension of Truth)
Thinking or Feeling
Judging or Perceiving

The combination of our four "preferences" defines our
personality type
Personality-Types
Few points to remember
No individual will fall into one category
It becomes clear that we cannot box individuals into prescribed
formulas for behaviour
Each of us has a natural preference which falls into one category
(Native Personality)
Personality Type indicates how we are likely to deal with different
situations that life presents, and in which environments we are
most comfortable.
Learning about our Personality Type helps us to understand
why certain areas in life come easily to us, and others are
more of a struggle


Human Behaviour- Change
Change is the only thing that is constant



Human Behaviour is complex and it changes
by experience

Thank you