Meaning of Behavior (What it is, Concept and Definition)

Behavior is a term that characterizes any and all reactions of the individual, animal, organ or institution towards the environment in which it is inserted.

It deals with the way people or organisms act when faced with stimuli in relation to the environment, but they can also be performed accordingly with the various existing social conventions, where society expects people to act according to the standards in certain situations.

From a psychological point of view, behavior is the way human beings act in relation to their environment. When a person has a kind of stable pattern, then we say that this person has a behavior.

Psychology is the area dedicated to studying the phenomena of human behavior. Behaviorism is the specific part that has behavior as an object of study.

See more about the behaviorism.

Therefore, there are several modes of human behavior that can vary with the circumstances in which they are performed.

Conscious behavior is that performed right after a thought process, such as when we greet someone we know when we meet this person on the street. The unconscious behavior, on the other hand, is any attitude that we carry out without stopping to reflect on it.

Private behavior is the action performed when you are alone or in the intimacy of the home, not needing to subject yourself to the prying eyes of the other people, different from public behavior, which is the action performed in the presence of other human beings or in spaces shared with others people.

It is also possible to value a behavior being good or bad, depending on the situation in which it is performed within established social norms, such as when a child disobeys an order from your parents, they can usually scold you for your behavior not being within the standards adopted by them, what we know then as punishment or punishment.

This punishment or reward mechanism for a certain attitude is related to the operating behavior process. In this process, an association is made between the behavior and the consequence for this behavior, as when a mouse laboratory, when he presses a blue button, he receives a pellet of food and when he presses a red button, he receives a shock electric. He then learns to press the blue button and avoid the red button.

The term behavior can also be replaced by synonyms such as performance, practice, habit, conduct, manners, action, among others.

Organizational behavior

Behavior can also be related to the way people behave in the work environment and the influence of these behaviors on the company's climate. It's called organizational behavior.

It addresses the set of behaviors and attitudes practiced by an organization's employees, at all job levels.

Learn more about Organizational behavior.

Consumer behavior

This is an important segment of the Marketing area, which analyzes the factors that lead consumers to make or not a specific purchase of a product or service.

It uses and combines techniques and elements related to the areas of Psychology, Economics, Sociology for understand the process that leads the individual to buy the product or service, whether alone or in a group.

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