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Behavior
 
 
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Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences
American and British English spelling differences

American and British English spelling differences are one aspect of American and British English differences.The spelling systems of Commonwealth of Nations countries, for the most part, closely resemble the British system....
) refers to the action
Action (philosophy)

In philosophy, action has developed into a sub-field called philosophy of action. Action is what an Agency can do.For example, throwing a ball is an instance of action; it involves an intention, a goal, and a bodily movement guided by the agent....
s or reaction
Reaction

Reaction may refer to:*Response to another event*Adverse drug reaction*Chemical reaction*Light reaction*Nuclear reaction*Reaction , as defined by Newton's third law...
s of an object
Object (philosophy)

In philosophy, an object is a thing, an entity, or a being. This may be taken in several senses.In its weakest sense, the word object is the most all-purpose of nouns, and can replace a noun in any sentence at all....
 or organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
, usually in relation
Relational theory

?:This article is about relational theory in physics and philosophy. There is a separate article about the relational model and Relational Philosophy as a category of Philosophical anthropology...
 to the environment. Behavior can be conscious or unconscious
Unconscious mind

The Unconscious is a term invented by the 18th century German philosophy romanticism philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge....
, overt or covert, and voluntary
Voluntary

Voluntary may refer to:*A word meaning "done, given, or acting of one's own free will", see Volunteer*Voluntary , a piece of music played as part of a church service...
 or involuntary.

nimals, behavior is controlled by the endocrine system
Endocrine system

The endocrine system is a system of small organs that involve the release of extracellular signaling molecules known as hormones. The endocrine system is instrumental in regulating metabolism, human development , and tissue and also plays a part in determining Mood ....
 & the nervous system
Nervous system

The nervous system is a Neural network of specialized cells that communicate information about an animal's surroundings and itself. It processes this information and causes reactions in other parts of the body....
. The complexity of the behavior of an organism is related to the complexity of its nervous system. Generally, organisms with complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn
LEARN

LEARN may refer to:* Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network, a website run by the Anti-Defamation League* LEARN diet, a brand name diet product...
 new responses and thus adjust their behavior.






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Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences
American and British English spelling differences

American and British English spelling differences are one aspect of American and British English differences.The spelling systems of Commonwealth of Nations countries, for the most part, closely resemble the British system....
) refers to the action
Action (philosophy)

In philosophy, action has developed into a sub-field called philosophy of action. Action is what an Agency can do.For example, throwing a ball is an instance of action; it involves an intention, a goal, and a bodily movement guided by the agent....
s or reaction
Reaction

Reaction may refer to:*Response to another event*Adverse drug reaction*Chemical reaction*Light reaction*Nuclear reaction*Reaction , as defined by Newton's third law...
s of an object
Object (philosophy)

In philosophy, an object is a thing, an entity, or a being. This may be taken in several senses.In its weakest sense, the word object is the most all-purpose of nouns, and can replace a noun in any sentence at all....
 or organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
, usually in relation
Relational theory

?:This article is about relational theory in physics and philosophy. There is a separate article about the relational model and Relational Philosophy as a category of Philosophical anthropology...
 to the environment. Behavior can be conscious or unconscious
Unconscious mind

The Unconscious is a term invented by the 18th century German philosophy romanticism philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge....
, overt or covert, and voluntary
Voluntary

Voluntary may refer to:*A word meaning "done, given, or acting of one's own free will", see Volunteer*Voluntary , a piece of music played as part of a church service...
 or involuntary.

In animals

In animals, behavior is controlled by the endocrine system
Endocrine system

The endocrine system is a system of small organs that involve the release of extracellular signaling molecules known as hormones. The endocrine system is instrumental in regulating metabolism, human development , and tissue and also plays a part in determining Mood ....
 & the nervous system
Nervous system

The nervous system is a Neural network of specialized cells that communicate information about an animal's surroundings and itself. It processes this information and causes reactions in other parts of the body....
. The complexity of the behavior of an organism is related to the complexity of its nervous system. Generally, organisms with complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn
LEARN

LEARN may refer to:* Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network, a website run by the Anti-Defamation League* LEARN diet, a brand name diet product...
 new responses and thus adjust their behavior. Behaviors can be either innate or learned.

In psychology

Human behavior
Human behavior

Human behavior is the collection of behaviors exhibited by human beings and influenced by culture, attitude s, emotions, Value s, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics....
 (and that of other organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
s and mechanisms) can be common, unusual, acceptable, or unacceptable
Deviant Behavior

Deviant Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal which focuses on social deviance, including criminal, sexual, and narcotic behaviors.The journal is published by Taylor and Francis, Inc., and was ranked 41st out of 46 psychology journals and 46th out of 90 sociology journals in 2004 by the Institute of Scientific Information Journal Cit...
. Humans evaluate the acceptability
Taboo

A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, society, or community....
 of behavior using social norms and regulate behavior by means of social control
Social control

Social control includes to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to Conformism and compliances to the rules of a given society or social group....
. In sociology
Sociology

Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that uses systematic methods of Empiricism and critical theory to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare....
, behavior is considered as having no meaning, being not directed at other people and thus is the most basic human action
Action (philosophy)

In philosophy, action has developed into a sub-field called philosophy of action. Action is what an Agency can do.For example, throwing a ball is an instance of action; it involves an intention, a goal, and a bodily movement guided by the agent....
. Animal behavior is studied in comparative psychology
Comparative psychology

Psychologists and scientists do not always agree on what should be considered Comparative Psychology. Taken in its most usual, broad sense, it refers to the study of the behavior and mental life of animals other than human beings....
, ethology
Ethology

Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a branch of zoology .Although many naturalists have studied aspects of animal behavior through the centuries, the modern discipline of ethology is usually considered to have arisen with the work in the 1930s of Dutch biologist Nikolaas Tinbergen and Austrian biologist Konrad Lorenz,...
, behavioral ecology
Behavioral ecology

Behavioral ecology is the study of the ecology and evolution basis for animal behavior, and the roles of behavior in enabling an animal to adapt to its environment ....
 and sociobiology
Sociobiology

Sociobiology is a Neo-Darwinism synthesis of scientific disciplines that attempts to explain social behavior in all species by considering the evolutionary advantages the behaviors may have....
.

Behavior became an important construct in early 20th century Psychology with the advent of the paradigm known subsequently as "behaviorism
Behaviorism

Behaviorism or Behaviourism,also called the learning perspective is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do ? including acting, thinking and feeling?can and should be regarded as behaviors....
". Behaviorism was a reaction against so-called "faculty" psychology which purported to see into or understand the mind without the benefit of scientific testing. Behaviorism insisted on working only with what can be seen or manipulated and in the early views of John B. Watson
John B. Watson

John Broadus Watson was an United States psychology who established the List of psychological schools of behaviorism, after doing research on animal behavior....
, a founder of the field, nothing was inferred as to the nature of the entity that produced the behavior. Subsequent modifications of Watson's perspective and that of so-called "classical conditioning
Classical conditioning

Classical Conditioning is a form of associative learning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov . The typical procedure for inducing classical conditioning involves presentations of a neutral stimulus along with a stimulus of some significance....
" (see under Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov

For other uses, see Pavlov.Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a Russian Empire, and later Soviet, physiologist, psychologist, and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for research pertaining to the digestive system....
) led to the rise of operant conditioning
Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning in that operant conditioning deals with the Behavior modification or operant behavior....
, a theory advocated by B.F. Skinner, which took over the academic establishment up through the 1950s and was synonymous with "behaviorism" for many.

For studies on behavior, ethogram
Ethogram

In ethology, an ethogram is a catalogue of the discrete behaviors typically employed by a species. These behaviors are sufficiently stereotyped that an observer may record the number of such acts, or the amount of time engaged in the behaviours in a time budget....
s are used.

Outside psychology


Behavior as used in computer science
Computer science

Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems....
 is an anthropomorphic construct that assigns “life” to the activities carried out by a computer, computer application, or computer code in response to stimuli, such as user input. Also, "a behavior" is a reusable block of computer code or script that, when applied to an object (computer science)
Object (computer science)

In its simplest embodiment, an object is an allocated region of storage. Since programming languages use variable#Computer_programmings to access objects, the terms object and variable are often used interchangeably....
, especially a graphical one, causes it to respond to user input in meaningful patterns or to operate independently, as if alive. The term can also be applied to some degree to function
Function (mathematics)

The mathematical concept of a function expresses dependence between two quantities, one of which is known and the other which is produced. A function associates a single output to each input element drawn from a fixed Set , such as the real numbers , although different inputs may have the same output....
s in mathematics, referring to the anatomy of curves.

In environmental modeling
Environmental science

Environmental science is an expression encompassing the wide range of scientific disciplines that need to be brought together to understand and manage the natural environment and the many interactions among physics, chemistry, and biology components....
 and especially in hydrology
Hydrology

Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout the Earth, and thus addresses both the hydrologic cycle and water resources....
, a behavioral model means a model that is acceptably consistent with observed natural processes, i.e. that simulates
Simulation

Simulation is the imitation of some real thing, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviors of a selected physical or abstract system....
 well, for example, observed river discharge
Discharge (hydrology)

In hydrology, the discharge or outflow of a river is the volume of water transported by it in a certain amount of time. It is contrasted with inflow ....
. It is a key concept of the so-called Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE)
GLUE (uncertainty assessment)

In hydrology, GLUE or Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation is a method to quantify the uncertainty of model predictions. The method has been introduced by Beven and Binley ....
 methodology to quantify how uncertain environmental predictions are.

See also

  • Animal behavior
  • Applied behavior analysis
    Applied Behavior Analysis

    Applied behavior analysis is the science of applying experimentally derived principles of behavior to improve socially significant behavior. ABA takes what we know about behavior and uses it to bring about positive change ....
  • Behavioral bias
  • Behavioral economics
  • Behavioral sciences
  • Behaviorism
    Behaviorism

    Behaviorism or Behaviourism,also called the learning perspective is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do ? including acting, thinking and feeling?can and should be regarded as behaviors....
  • Experimental analysis of behavior
    Experimental analysis of behavior

    The experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to school of psychology founded by B. F. Skinner, and based on his philosophy of radical behaviorism....
  • Forms of activity and interpersonal relations
    Forms of activity and interpersonal relations

    Forms of activity and interpersonal relations in sociology can be described as follows: first and most basic are animal-like behaviors, i.e. various physical movements of the body....
  • Human behavior
    Human behavior

    Human behavior is the collection of behaviors exhibited by human beings and influenced by culture, attitude s, emotions, Value s, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics....
  • Human sexual behavior
    Human sexual behavior

    Human sexual behavior or human sexual practices refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their human sexuality. It encompass a wide range of activities such as strategies to find or attract partners , interactions between individuals, physical intimacy or emotional intimacy, and sexual contact....
  • Instinct
    Instinct

    Instinct is the inherent disposition of a life organism toward a particular behavior. The fixed action patterns are unlearned and inherited. The stimuli can can be variable due to imprinting in a sensitive period or also genetically fixed....
  • Motive
  • Normal (behavior)
  • Psychology
    Psychology

    Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
  • Radical behaviorism
    Radical behaviorism

    Radical behaviorism is a philosophy developed by B. F. Skinner that underlies the experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology. The term 'radical behaviorism' applies to a particular school that emerged during the reign of behaviorism....
  • Reasoning
    Reasoning

    Reasoning is the Cognition process of looking for reasons for beliefs, conclusions, actions or feelings. Although reasoning was once thought to be a uniquely human capability, other animals also engage in Animal_cognition#Reasoning_and_problem_solving....
  • Rebellion
    Rebellion

    Rebellion is a refusal of obedience. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors from civil disobedience and mass nonviolent resistance, to violent and organized attempts to destroy an established authority such as the government....
  • Taboo
    Taboo

    A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, society, or community....
  • Theories of political behavior
    Theories of political behavior

    Theories of political behavior, as an aspect of political science, attempt to quantify and explain the influences that define a person's political views, ideology, and levels of political participation....
  • Work behavior
    Work behavior

    Work behavior is a term used to describe the behavior one uses in the workplace and is normally more formal than other types of human behavior. This varies from profession to profession, as some are far more casual than others....