Short Essays: Human Behavior

Human behavior is such a unique and interesting phenomenon to comprehend. Unlike nature which follows an understood law and pattern, human behavior takes unexpected routes and choices which makes it impossible to predict and place given a diachronic timeline. And the source of this randomness is due to the nature of human behavior itself: Human behavior, is entirely made up and nurtured.

Influence, stemming from one's connections and communication, will mould one's behavior from an empty slate to a work of art. Who I interact with will determine the kinds of behavior I portray.This implies that humans are constantly under construction and are changing with each new interaction. If a person is born in a particular society, especially a closed one, they tend to form a specific kind of behavior modeled around the people in that society.

But the absolute mind-boggling thing is that humans are also in-built with the mechanism to choose the kinds of influence they are going to be exposed to which would influence their behavior. This choice mechanism is actually an aftereffect of the broader ability specific only to human: the ability to create stories i.e. culture. 

Since we are all able to choose the behavior we want to adopt, given enough exposure to different kinds of influences around us, it is funny that people tend to stick to one kind of behavior vehemently at each stage of their lives. It makes sense though because having this same personality will make one an identifiable persona which others can identify with. If one keeps changing ones persona, people would not be able to identify that person and this confusion would create distrust and doubt in that person mainly because that person is unidentifiable. 

There is always one behavior that a person adopts, and that behavior is governed by the person's understanding of that personality. 'To know oneself' as the saying goes is not really to know about the natural behavior we are predisposed with. It is actually to get to know the created myth of the personality which you are going to choose to adopt. As you interact with society, you find out how your behavior and personality fits into the overall social fabric (which itself is ever-changing). You may say then, why then would people with personalities which are frowned upon by (their) society remain adamant to stick with that frowned upon personality? For example, gays or drug abusers in more conservative societies. The most crucial thing is to look at the social environment where that person comes from. There must have been an element in the people that they are in connection with which informs them that being that particular personality is alright and even good!
Usually, it is a primary influencer, someone close to them or someone they had interacted with when they were young. When we are young, we learn about a certain personality and unconsciously adopt it and develop them. Sometimes, I think, we fail to realise that we had adopted these personalities and instead believed that we had inherited it naturally, hence, we created a barrier of our own for us to move out of that specific personality.
But sometimes, we are predisposed with some genetic traits like skin color or facial features which already has been ascribed to it certain personalities. For example, in the lighter side of this spectrum, a tall person might be attributed to being good at basketball or soccer but on the more negative side of this spectrum, it can lead to stereotypes of whole ethnicities.

I think, as we are increasingly living in a globalised world where it is actually possible to interact with so diverse a number of people, we will get to experience a lot more personalities and learn more about others. It should be increasingly easy for one to feel confused about their role and place in the heart of a plethora of social groups and interactions and oftentimes, it is natural to stick to a certain social group which affirms one's chosen identity. The tradeoff is that you get to experience less. Your choices will then boil down depending on the society itself and your motivation to navigate through this world (what do you want to achieve etc). If globalization is a major influence in that society, it is better to be less stringent in your choice of personality/ behavior in order to adapt to different cultures and be accepted in wider circles but if the society is unconsciously subscribing to a strong in-group status culture in itself, I suppose it would be better to form and stick to a specific identity and conformity.