11 main aspects of human behavior

11 Main Aspects of Human
Behavior | Psychology
This article throws light upon the eleven main aspects of
human behavior. 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 Behavior.
Aspect # 1. Psychology:
Psychology is the science of human Behavior; Behavior of an
individual refers to anything an individual does.
An act of Behavior 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 Behavior may be covert (expressed inside) or overt (expressed
outside). While symbolic adoption is an example of covert Behavior,
use adoption is an example of overt Behavior.
Aspect # 2. Personality:
Personality is the unique, integrated and organized system of all
Behavior of a person. Personality is the sum total of one’s experience,
thoughts and actions; it includes all Behavior 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 favorable, negative or
unfavorable. 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 Behavior.

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 programs, stoppage of work or even destruction of the
work done. In a program 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 humor.
Aspect # 6. Wishes:

According to Chitambar (1997), a wish is a pattern of
Behavior 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 Behavior.
While wish-goals are oriented toward achievement in the future, what
is significant is its influence on Behavior 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 Behavior 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 Behavior 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 Behavior 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 Behavior 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 Behavior. In
certain frustrating situation, the Behavior 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 Behavior:
Some individuals’ personality traits and Behavior differ considerably
more than others from the norms. Such Behavior is termed as deviant
Behavior and the individuals are known as deviants.
Three essential aspects of deviant Behavior are presented,
following Chitambar (1997):
1. Deviation is culturally defined. The same Behavior 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 Behavior does.
3. Deviation is a matter of degree. If the personality traits and
Behavior 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 Behavior are conspicuously
set apart and disapproved by the society. They are considered as
‘undesirable’ deviants.
Original Source: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/psychology/11-main-aspects-of-human-
Behavior-psychology/89555
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