11 Main Aspects of Human Behaviour | Psychology (2024)

This article throws light upon the eleven main aspects of human behaviour. The aspects are:- 1. Psychology 2. Personality 3. Interest 4. Attitude 5. Emotions 6. Wishes 7. Prejudice 8. Stereotype 9. Thinking and Reasoning 10. Frustration and Adjustment 11. Deviant Behaviour.

Aspect # 1. Psychology:

Psychology is the science of human behaviour, Behaviour of an individual refers to anything an individual does.

An act of behaviour has three aspects:

Cognition-to become aware of or know something,

Affection-to have a certain feeling about it, and

Conation-to act in a particular way or direction after the feeling.

Human behaviour may be covert (expressed inside) or overt (expressed outside). While symbolic adoption is an example of covert behaviour, use adoption is an example of overt behaviour.

Aspect # 2. Personality:

Personality is the unique, integrated and organized system of all behaviour of a person. Personality is the sum total of one’s experience, thoughts and actions; it includes all behaviour patterns, traits and characteristics that make up a person. A person’s physical traits, attitudes, habits and, emotional and psychological characteristics are all parts of one’s personality.

Genetically influence on personality is seen clearly in the effect of physiology on physique and temperament, their interaction, and the role of nervous system in the acquisition of personality traits.

The cultural influence commences at birth with the infant’s response to environment and continues throughout life as the influence of the home, community and society increases during growth and maturity of the individual. Parents, teachers and friends exercise great influence on the formation of attitudes and of the personality as a whole.

Some commonly used personality types are introverts and extroverts. According to Guilford (1965), the introverts are people whose interests are turned inward upon themselves and their own thoughts, whereas the extroverts are those whose interests are turned outward upon the environment.

The introvert generally shuns social contacts and is inclined to be solitary, whereas the extrovert seeks social contacts and enjoys them. Lying in between are found people who are neither extrovert nor introvert, they are called ambiverts.

Aspect # 3. Interest:

An interest is a preference for one activity over another. The selection and ranking of different activities along a like- dislike dimension is known as expressed interest. An interest is made manifest (visible), when a person voluntarily participates in an activity.

There is no necessary relationship between expressed interest and manifest interest, though in many situations they tend to coincide or overlap. Many individuals engage in some activities which they claim to dislike and just on the reverse, many people may refuse to engage in activities which they claim to enjoy.

Aspect # 4. Attitude:

Allport (1935) defined attitude as a mental state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive and dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related.

Attitudes have certain characteristics:

1. Attitudes are formed in relation to objects, persons and values. Attitudes are not innate, but are formed as a result of individual’s contact with the environment.

2. Attitudes have direction; positive or favourable, negative or unfavourable. They also vary in degrees.

3. Attitudes are organized into a system and do not stand loosely or separately.

4. Attitudes are rooted in motivation and provide a meaningful background for individual’s overt behaviour.

5. Attitudes develop through a consistency among responses. They are more stable and enduring than opinions.

6. Attitudes are prone to change. Changes in attitude may be brought about by training and, other instructional methods and aids.

Aspect # 5. Emotions:

Emotions denote a state of being moved, stirred up or aroused and involve impulses, feelings and physical and psychological reactions. A negative emotional response may lead to non-cooperation and non-participation in programmes, stoppage of work or even destruction of the work done. In a programme of planned change, the extension agent should take care of the state of emotion of the client system.

Guilford (1965) suggested the following rules for emotional control:

(i) Avoid emotion provoking situations,

(ii) Change the emotion provoking situation,

(iii) Increase skills for coping with the situation,

(iv) Re-interpret the situation,

(v) Keep working towards the goal,

(vi) Find substitute outlets, and

(vii) Develop a sense of humour.

Aspect # 6. Wishes:

According to Chitambar (1997), a wish is a pattern of behaviour which involves:

(a) Anticipated future satisfaction,

(b) Which the person believes is reasonably likely of attainment, and

(c) Towards which the individual usually relates some of his/her present behaviour.

While wish-goals are oriented toward achievement in the future, what is significant is its influence on behaviour in the present. Wishes are based on subjective judgement which may at times be irrational and otherwise faulty. At any one time, a person may have several wishes and it may become necessary to set priorities for their achievement.

Aspect # 7. Prejudice:

PREJUDICE means pre-judgement. Judgement before due examination and consideration of facts, and based on certain assumptions generally lead to the formation of prejudice. Prejudice is normally negative and difficult to reverse. Prejudices may lead to hostile attitude towards persons or objects. Expressing ill feeling or hostility towards some minority or caste groups, or an innovation are examples of prejudice.

An effort in reducing prejudice must start with the understanding about its origin. Personal contact, use of mass media, suitable enactments having penal provision, economic changes resulting in greater security etc. may help in reducing prejudice.

Aspect # 8. Stereotype:

Stereotypes are fixed images formed in one’s mind about people, practices or various other social phenomena on the basis of experience, attitudes, values, impressions or without any direct experience, Stereotypes help in knowing how people perceive various groups of people or practice or various other social phenomena.

Stereotypes have certain characteristics:

Uniformity-members belonging to a particular group share the stereotype.

Direction-may be positive or negative.

Intensity-indicates strength of the stereotype.

Quality-refers to content, the kind of image provided by the stereotype.

Aspect # 9. Thinking and Reasoning:

According to Garrett (1975), thinking is behaviour which is often implicit and hidden, and in which symbols (images, ideas, and concepts) are ordinarily employed. Group thinking, in which a number of persons participate in the solution of a problem, is usually more efficient than individual effort and is often more satisfactory.

In reasoning, the thinking process is applied to the solution of problems. There are, in general, two methods of solving problems-deductive and inductive. Deductive reasoning starts with a general fact or proposition, under which various specific items can be placed or classified.

Inductive reasoning, on the other hand, starts with observations and proceeds step by step to a general conclusion. Both methods are employed in most learning situations.

Aspect # 10. Frustration and Adjustment:

A common pattern of human behaviour involves hopes for future achievement. Such ambitions and goals are generally termed as wish. Frustration is a condition in which an individual perceives the wish goal blocked or unattainable. This creates some tension in the individual. When faced with such a situation, the individual tries to make several kinds of adjustments in the behaviour pattern. This is achieved through defense mechanism.

A defense mechanism is a device, a way of behaving, that a person uses unconsciously to protect oneself from ego-involving frustrations. This helps the individual to reduce tension. Following Chitambar (1990) and Krech and Crutchfield (1984) some adjustment patterns i.e. defense mechanisms are presented in brief.

Rationalization occurs when a person unconsciously explains the situation to oneself by reasoning that, after all the individual never did really wish to achieve the goal. Example, ‘grapes are sour’. Rationalization differs from alibis and excuses in that the first one is unconscious in nature, while the latter two are conscious.

Rationalization makes an individual feel comfortable by helping avoid unpalatable situations by justifying one’s own behaviour in conformity with the existing social practices and values. Hence, rationalization functions as one of the major obstacles to change.

Aggression is caused by frustration of dominant motives. Aggression may be turned outwards i.e. directed towards other persons, or directed inwards i.e. makes oneself responsible for whatever has happened, or may be repressed without any overt expression.

Aggression may be expressed in the form of anger, actual physical violence against objects and people, verbal attacks and fantasies of violence.

Identification is a common form of adjustment in which the individual lives through the achievement of others, participating vicariously (as a substitute) in their success. Parents could receive genuine satisfaction from their children’s success, which they themselves could not achieve.

Projection means transferring one’s emotion and ascribing the source of emotion to another object. Projection is a tendency to ‘push out’ upon another person, one’s own unrealized frustrated ambitions, or to attribute to another one’s own faults.

Projection may take two forms-(i) in order to escape from facing the reality that a person has failed, the individual may blame another or even a non-existent person or factor. In another type, (ii) the individual reasons that one’s own faults are also found in others to an even greater degree.

Fantasy or Day dreaming is a common form of adjustment to frustration. The individual enters an imaginary world in which the person’s all wish goals are realized. Compensation is a reaction to a feeling of inferiority. The inferiority feeling may be based on real or imaginary deficiency, which may be physical or otherwise, and compensation is an attempt to overcome or neutralize the deficiency.

Compensation may take two forms:

(i) Substitution-when a new goal is substituted for a goal which is blocked and

(ii) Sublimation-when the substitution involves moral consideration i.e. changing a particular emotion in a socially valued and socially acceptable way. An individual may work hard and try to shine out to compensate for one’s own deficiencies.

Regression means going back to a less mature level of behaviour. In certain frustrating situation, the behaviour of the individual tends to become primitive. The actions become less mature, more childish; the sensitivity of discriminations and judgements diminishes; feelings and emotions become more poorly differentiated and controlled, like those of a child. Example, a farmer dissatisfied with an innovation, may discontinue it and revert to the previous practice which may be old and uneconomic.

Repression is the mechanism by which wishes are not allowed to come out of the unconscious or thrown down into the unconscious. For example, a sex relationship not sanctioned by the society is generally repressed and gradually forgotten.

Aspect # 11. Deviant Behaviour:

Some individuals’ personality traits and behaviour differ considerably more than others’ from the norms. Such behaviour is termed as deviant behaviour and the individuals are known as deviants.

Three essential aspects of deviant behaviour are presented, following Chitambar (1997):

1. Deviation is culturally defined. The same behaviour considered as deviant in one culture, may be regarded as normal or highly valued in another culture.

2. Deviation develops through the process of socialization, in the same way as normal behaviour does.

3. Deviation is a matter of degree. If the personality traits and behaviour of individuals in a society are placed on a continuum, the majority would be near the centre, which would represent the area of accepted social norms. Outside this, will lie those individuals referred to as social deviants.

On one side-the ‘high side’-will be those social deviants whose deviancy not only is approved by society, but also secures for them status, high recognition and praise. These ‘desirable’ deviants can bring about rapid social change.

On the other side, lie those deviants who by virtue of the extreme difference of their personality traits and behaviour are conspicuously set apart and disapproved by the society. They are considered as ‘undesirable’ deviants.