Human Behavior
Anything an individual does that involves initiated action and/or reaction to a given stimulus
It is composed of adaptive, adjustments people make as they cope with one another, with
problems with opportunities, and with working together aspects, In a given situation
This refers to a voluntary or involuntary attitude of a person to adapt and to fit society's idea of
right and wrong.
Can be classified as either:
1. Overt actions which can be seen or observed by other people
2. Covert cannot be directly observed but can be concluded from external actions such as thoughts,
feelings, and other emotional expression
Two commonly seen behaviors:
1. Normal/ Accepted behavior - actions in accordance with the law and norms.
2. Abnormal behavior actions against normal behavior, criminal behavior to be specific.
C. Factors that Affect Human Behavior
1. Heredity - it is determined by genes. Genes are segments of cell structures called chromosomes by
which parents pass on traits to their offspring.
2. Environment - consists of the conditions and factors that surround and influence an individual.
3. Learning - is the process by which behavior changes as a result of experience or practice.
Two Basic Types of Behavior
Inherited - Behavioral response or reflex exhibited by people due to their genetic endowment or the
process of natural selection.
Ex: Breathing, ingesting food, avoiding waste, mating, and defending one's self.
Learned Behavior- Breathing, ingesting food, avoiding waste, mating, and defending one's self.
Ex: Verbal Communication, Logical problem-solving techniques, job, and skills, etc.
B. Viewpoints in the Study of Human Behavior
1. Neurological emphasizes human actions in relation to events taking place inside the body, especially
the brain and the nervous system.
2. Behavioral focuses on the external activities that can be observed and measured.
3. Cognitive is concerned with how the brain processes and transforms information in various ways.
4. Psychoanalytical emphasizes unconscious motives stemming from repressed sexual and aggressive
impulses in childhood.
5. Humanistic focuses on the subject's experiences, freedom of choice, and motivation towards
self-actualization.
D. Motivation of Human Behavior
1. The Needs Theory of Human Motivation
This theory states that throughout life; desires, wishes, and drives that are collectively called needs,
motivate every person. When not fulfilled, these needs place the individual under stress and in order to
relieve the tensions created, one has to strive for appropriate satisfactions.
These needs are arranged according to its hierarchy, to wit:
1. Physiological needs: hunger, thirst, and air, etc.
2. Safety needs: the need for freedom from threat and danger
3. The Sense of Belonging and Love Needs: the need for affiliation, belongingness, and acceptance
4. Esteem Needs: the need for achievements, strength, competence, reputation and status or prestige
5. The Need for Self-Actualization: the need for self-fulfillment to realize potentialities to become what
one is capable of becoming.
2. The Psychodynamics of Human Motivation
Psychodynamics, which literally means motivation to action, defines human behavior in terms of the
personality of the inner self. It also refers to the concept of subjective life and inner forces within, called
"mental personality". It postulates that the mind has three levels by which its psychic forces operate,
namely: the Id, Ego, Super Ego
H. Causes of Human Behavior
1. Sensation feeling or impression of stimulus
1.1 Visual - sight
1.2 Olfactory - smell
1.3 Cutaneous - touch
1.4 Auditory-hearing
1.5 Gustatory – taste
Causes of Human Behavior (SPA)
Sensation = is the feeling or impression created by a given stimulus or cause, that leads to a particular
reaction or behavior, is short the effects eg. (smell), Cutaneous (touch), Auditory (hearing), gustatory
(taste).
Perception = refers to the person's knowledge of a given stimulus which largely helps to determine the
actual behavioral response in a given situation.
Awareness = refers to the psychological activity based on interpretation or past experience with a given
stimulus or object
I. Attributes of Human Behavior
1. Duration- how long in terms of functions of time.
2. Extensity- spatial characteristics.
3. Intensity-magnitude, disintegrative.
4. Quantity- normal or abnormal, unacceptability.
J. Characteristics of Behavior
1. Primarily native or learned.
2. Evoked by external stimuli or internal need.
3. Automatic, voluntary, conscious motor, or intentional
Classification of Human Behavior (CHIS)
Habitual = refers to motorized behavior usually manifested in language and emotion
Instinctive = are generally unlearned and simply come out of man's instinct, which can be seen among
instinct-instinct survival behaviors.
Symbolic = are behaviors that are usually carried out by means of unsaid words, and shown through
symbols or body signs.
Complex = are those behaviors that combine two or more of the classified ones.