Human Behavior and Victimology

Topic: Introduction to Human Behavior

Overview:
Human behavior is the capability of human individuals to react to internal and external stimuli
in their entire life. It includes the way they act based on different factors such as genetics social
norms, core faith, and attitude. Furthermore, the behavior is contributed by several factors or
traits possessed by each individual. The traits vary from person to person and can produce
different actions or behavior from each person.

Definitions of Human Behavior:

1. Human behavior is defined as the study of human conduct; the way a person behaves or
acts.
2. Human behavior is the study of human activities in an attempt to discover recurrent patterns
and to formulate rules about man’s social behavior.
3. Human behavior refers to the range of behaviors exhibited by humans and which are
influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, persuasion, and or
genetics.

BEHAVIOR:
• Any act of person which is observable.
• Observable responses of a person to his environment.
• Manner of one’s conduct.

2 TYPES OF BEHAVIOR
A. NORMAL BEHAVIOR It is the standard behavior, the socially accepted behavior because they
follow the standard norms of society.

B. ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR Behaviors that are deviant from social expectations because they go
against the norms or standard.
3 Levels of Behavior:
1. Vegetative level – refers to the nurturing and reproduction, mostly found in plants, in human
beings, for food and reproduction.
2. Animal level – refers to the movement and sensation, mostly the use of the sense, and sex
drives.
3. Rational Psyche human refers to values and morals, reasons, and the will (purpose and
freedom).

Molecular Behavior- Such things as isolated muscular movements or glandular secretion or to

the movements of the nerve, cells or muscles.
Molar Behavior- The behavior organized into meaningful sequences or patterns into activities
that satisfy the organisms needs, bring it closer to its goals or help to avoid anger.
Human Beings- Intelligent and social animals with the mental capacity to comprehend, infer
and think in rational ways.
3 Faculties of Man:
1. Will- freedom
2. Intellect- legal process
3. Soul- moral, spiritual

Approaches 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 those external activities of the organism that can be observed and
measured.
3. COGNITIVE- Concerned with the way the brain processes and transforms information in
various ways.
4. PSYCHOANALYTICAL- Emphasizes unconscious motive stemming from repressed sexual and
aggressive impulses in childhood.
5. HUMANISTIC- Focuses on the subjects experience, freedom of choice and motivation
towards self actualization.
Abraham Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
Aspects of Human Behavior:
1. INTELLECTUAL ASPECT- way of thinking, reasoning, solving problems, processing information,
and coping with the environment.
2. EMOTIONAL ASPECT- refers to feelings, moods, temper, strong motivational force with in the
person.
3. SOCIAL ASPECT- people interaction or relationship with other people.
4. MORAL ASPECT- refers to the conscience, concept on what is good or bad.
5. PSYCHOSEXUAL ASPECT- being a man or woman and the expression of love.
6. POLITICAL ASPECT- ideology towards society or government.
7. VALUE/ATTITUDE- interest towards something likes and dislikes.

ATTRIBUTES OR CHARACTERISTICS OF BEHAVIOR

1. OVERT BEHAVIOR – observable behaviors. (Ex. Talking, running)
2. COVERT BEHAVIOR- those that are hidden from the view of the observer. (Ex. Thinking)
3. SIMPLE BEHAVIOR- less number of neurons are consumed in the process of behaving. (Ex.
You are hurt and you scream)
4. COMPLEX BEHAVIOR- the combination of simple behavior. ( Ex. to be in love with someone)
5. RATIONAL BEHAVIOR- acting with sanity or with reasons. (Ex. a person is more likely to buy
an item at a lower price like items on sale because they believe it is better).
6. IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOR- acting without reason or unaware. (Ex. unreasonable behavior or
having no clear objective or meaning).
7. VOLUNTARY BEHAVIOR- done with full volition or will.
8. INVOLUNTARY BEHAVIOR- bodily processes that go on even when we are awake or asleep.

Measures to Assess Human Behavior:

1. DESCRIPTIVE METHOD- It describes the behavior.
a. Naturalistic Observation - observes the behavior in the natural setting of the
person’s background.
b. Systematic Observation - making use of the adjective checklists.
2. CLINICAL METHOD - Diagnose and treatment of serious emotion or mental disorders or
disturbances.
3. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD - Relationship between variables by way of experimental
(laboratory specimen are required for comparison and for contrast)
4. STATISTICAL METHOD- Making use of researches that were conducted or making use of the
Uniform Crime Report (UCR).

TWO BASIC TYPES OF BEHAVIOR:

1. INHERITED (INBORN) BEHAVIOR - Any behavioral reactions or reflexes exhibited by people
because of their inherited capabilities or the process of natural selection.
2. LEARNED (OPERANT) BEHAVIOR - Knowing or adaptation that enhances human being’s
ability to cope with changes in the environment in ways which improve the chances of
survival.
- Acquired through environment or training.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF BEHAVIOR
• HABITUAL BEHAVIOR
Motorized behavior usually manifested in language and emotion.
• INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOR
Unlearned and simply comes out of man’s instinct which can be seen among instinct-
instinct survival behaviors.
• SYMBOLIC BEHAVIOR
Behavior that is usually carried out by means of unsaid words and shown through
symbols or body signs.
• COMPLEX BEHAVIOR
Behavior that combines two or more of the classified ones.
• SENSATION
feeling or impression created by a given stimulus or cause that leads in a particular
reaction or behavior.

Human Senses:
• VISUAL- sight
• OLFACTORY- smell
• CUTANEOUS- touch
• AUDITORY- hearing
• GUSTATORY- taste

The following are the factors that shape and affect our behavior:
1. Heredity > Refers to the pre-arranged patterns as a result of a process of transmission of
genetic characteristics from parents to the offspring, includes the influence present in the
reproductive cells before the time of conception. Adopts the theory of atavism – born criminals.

2. Environment factors > Refers to all the conditions inside and outside of an organism that
is in any way influence behavior, growth, and development of life processes.

Question: What is the difference between Personality and Self?

Personality is defined as the characteristics sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional
patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors.

Self relates to how a person feels about themselves inwardly.

SELF- is the fundamental functioning of the self-structure that we make ourselves and our
world. Under Self, there are assumptions based on learning and of three kinds:

a. Reality Assumptions- assumptions about how things are and what kind of person we are.
b. Possibility Assumptions- assumptions about how things could be, about possibilities for
change, opportunities, and social progress.
c. VALUE ASSUMPTIONS- assumptions about the way things ought to be; about right or wrong.

CHAPTER 2
CAUSES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
1. PERCEPTION - Refers to the person’s knowledge of a given stimulus which largely helps
to determine the actual behavioral response in a given situation.
2. AWARENESS - Psychological activity bases on the interpretation of past experiences with
a given stimulus or object.
3. LEARNING/SELF - -Process by which an individual’s behavior changes as a result of
experience or practice

PEN MODEL
Personality dimensions that affect human behavior P-E-N MODEL OF PERSONALITY by HANS
EYSENCK.
1. PSYCHOTISM
- CHARACTERISTICS: cold, cruel, social insensitivity, disregard for danger,
troublesome behavior, dislike of others, attraction towards the unusual.
- EFFECTS: impulsive, aggressive individual without appreciable conscience or sense
of morals.
2. EXTRAVERSION
- CHARACTERISTICS: frequently seeks stimulation, excitement, and thrills.
- EFFECTS: get people in trouble, has the greatest role in crime and delinquency
3. NEUROTICISM
- CHARACTERISTICS: intensely reacts to stress, generally moody, touchy, sensitive to
slights and anxious or nervous.
- EFFECTS: enhances habits and influences the individual to behave in ways that are
considered anti-social.

According to Freud, the sex drive.

• Freud noted that, at different times in our lives, different parts of our skin
give us greatest pleasure:
• The oral stage lasts from birth to about 18 months. The focus of pleasure is,
of course, the mouth. Sucking and biting are favorite activities.
• The phallic stage lasts from three or four to five, six, or seven years old. The
focus of pleasure is the genitalia. Masturbation is common.
• The latent stage lasts from five, six, or seven to puberty. During this stage,
Freud believed that the sexual impulse was suppressed in the service of
learning
• The genital stage begins at puberty, and represents the resurgence of the sex
drive in adolescence, and the more specific focusing of pleasure in sexual
intercourse. Freud felt that masturbation, oral sex, homosexuality, and many
other things we find acceptable in adulthood today, were immature
 Henry Murray
• Henry Murray‘s theory was strongly influenced by Freud‘s psychoanalytic theory.
• The first principle in Murray‘s personality, which is the study of personality, is that
personality is rooted in the brain. The individual‘s cerebral physiology guides and
governs every aspect of the personality. Everything on which personality depends exists
in the brain, including feeling states, conscious and unconscious memories, beliefs,
attitudes, fears and values.
• The second principle involves the idea of tension reduction. It is the process of acting to
reduce tension that is satisfying, according to Murray, rather than the attainment of a
condition free of all tension. Murray believed that a tension-free existence is itself a
source of distress. We need excitement, activity and movement, of all which involve
increasing, not decreasing, tension. We generate tension in order to have the satisfaction
of reducing it.

• A third principle is that an individual‘s personality continues to develop over time and is
constructed of all the events that occur during the course of that person‘s life. Therefore, the
study of a person‘s past is of great importance. Murray emphasized the uniqueness of each
person while recognizing similarities among all people. As he saw it, an individual human being is
like no other person, like some other people, and like every other person.

Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

• People learn through observing others ‘behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors.

• Necessary conditions for effective modeling:

1. Attention — various factors increase or decrease the amount of attention paid. Includes
distinctiveness, affective valence, prevalence, complexity, functional value.

• One‘s characteristics (e.g. sensory capacities, arousal level, and perceptual set, past
reinforcement) affect attention.

2. Retention — remembering what you paid attention to. Includes symbolic coding, mental images,
cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal

3. Reproduction — reproducing the image. Including physical capabilities, and self observation of
reproduction.

4. Motivation — having a good reason to imitate. Includes motives such as A past (i.e. traditional
behaviorism), promised (imagined incentives) and vicarious (seeing and recalling the reinforced
model)