The Why and How of Behavior

I think everyone reading this blog would agree that human behavior is both complex and fascinating. The “why” of behavior is, in fact, one of the four goals of psychology.  Is there some specific behavior that’s baffling to you? Does your significant other “drive you nuts?” Do your children act in an unruly and disobedient way? Do you find yourself pouting or sulking for no obvious reason? These are just a few of the questions that psychologists seek to answer.

Psychologists are so interested in behavior that they have designated this decade as the Decade of Behavior, and the APA has launched an “initiative to focus attention on how the behavioral and social sciences can help address many of society’s daunting challenges.” (Psychology,  Lefton and Brannon, 2008,  27).  In this endeavor, they hope to educate people to think more critically, become more effective employees, gain sensitivity to cultural diversity, and become healthier and better educated.

Think about this Decade of Behavior and some of the questions you’d like to see researched and share them with us. To get you started, below are a few I’ve been thinking about as they relate to students that I know. Please add your own, and let’s get a discussion going.

How can you get along with an impossible boss?
How can you get on a health plan (stop smoking, exercise more, lose weight, etc.) and stick to it?
What attracts people to each other?
What are some ways of handling stress?
What’s the best way to resolve conflict?
Is there a tried and proven way to toilet train an infant?
What are some ways to get people to overcome their fear of change?

Harold and Ilene

In Human Growth and Development, we’ve been discussing relationships. Topics include interpersonal attraction, the differences between what’s important to males and females, singlehood, POSSLQ (Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters), marriage, divorce, remarriage, blended families, secrets of a happy marriage, and so forth.  In discussing the D word (divorce), comments were “all over the board.”  Some were saddened by it while others commented that there were occasions when it might be a “necessary evil.” Still others said that there was NEVER a good reason for divorce. A couple of people remarked that America’s high divorce rate was one reason that they preferred the single life.

As the discussion progressed, I recalled a poem by Carol Lynn Pearson that describes a empty but committed marriage. What are your reactions to this poem? Should this couple have thrown in the towel? Or perhaps they should have sought marriage counseling? Do they sound like anyone you know? What would you do in a situation such as this? What you advise a friend who’s in such a relationship?

 TO THE TRUTH:
INVITATION THAT WAS NEVER SENT

Harold and Ilene Bradley
invite you to a garden reception
at t heir home to help them celebrate
fifty years of enduring to the end
even though
the end should have come
after the first year when it became clear
that they did not love each other
or particularly like each other
and had very little in common
and actually brought out the worst in each other
but were
too frightened to cut their losses
and move on.

She
in fact
remarked on their twenty-fifth anniversary
as they were eating seafood
”Do you the think the next twenty-five years
will be as bad as the last twenty-five?”
And indeed they were.

Your presence will be present enough
just as their presence has been
all that
Harold and Ilene
have given to each other these many years.

 

 

 

Decade of Behavior

I think everyone reading this blog would agree that human behavior is both complex and fascinating. The “why” of behavior is, in fact, one of the four goals of psychology.  Is there some specific behavior that’s baffling to you? Does your significant other “drive you nuts?” Do your children act in an unruly and disobedient way? Do you find yourself pouting or sulking for no obvious reason? These are just a few of the questions that psychologists seek to answer.

Psychologists are so interested in behavior that they have designated this decade as the Decade of Behavior, and the APA has launched an “initiative to focus attention on how the behavioral and social sciences can help address many of society’s daunting challenges.” (Psychology,  Lefton and Brannon, 2008,  27).  In this endeavor, they hope to educate people to think more critically, become more effective employees, gain sensitivity to cultural diversity, and become healthier and better educated.

Think about this Decade of Behavior and some of the questions you’d like to see researched and share them with us. To get you started, below are a few I’ve been thinking about as they relate to students that I know. Please add your own, and let’s get a discussion going.

How can you get along with an impossible boss?
How can you get on a health plan (stop smoking, exercise more, lose weight, etc.) and stick to it?
What attracts people to each other?
What are some ways of handling stress?
What’s the best way to resolve conflict?

Is there a tried and proven way to toilet train an infant?

Bank Balance or Beauty?

In Human Growth and Development, we’re currently studying adulthood, and one of the topics concerns interpersonal attraction, specifically as it relates to long term relationships. In addition to covering Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, we also look at the matching hypothesis, an evolutionary view, and such concepts as homogamy and proximity. Although many people think of love as being something mysterious and unexplainable, psychologists actually do have a number of ways to explain this powerful emotion.

 Whether you’ve read about the psychological explanations behind interpersonal attraction or not, I’d like to hear your opinions on just what it is that attracts two people to each other. Is it good looks? Or could it be financial stability, a pleasant personality, or a high IQ? Perhaps you could even share your own stories of when you first met your significant other.