the fact that the majority of our thoughts and actions are on autopilot. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Our habits, routines, impulses, and reactions carry us through our lives so we don’t have to stop and think about it every time we wipe our ass or start a car.
When we don’t exercise proper control over our behavior, then it controls us. The problem is when we’re on autopilot for so long that we forget were on autopilot. Because when we’re not even aware of our own habits, routines, impulses, and reactions, then we no longer control them they control us.
For some types of behavior, like smoking, it’s easy to see the influence on our behavior. However, for most types of behavior, it’s difficult to figure out how much is really based on something we control and how much is really based on something that we just happen to be doing. Some of the things we do are natural, like walking to the store, and some are not, like smoking.
That’s why the study of respondent behavior can be so useful in the study of behavior, for it can make it easier to figure out how much we control and how much we just happen to be doing. The study of behavioral tendencies is called the “dynamic expectancy model.” This model suggests that people are always trying to maximize the value of their behavior, using the least effort possible.
You could say its a “no-brainer” to try to maximize the value of your activity. But the study of behavior can prove to be very difficult. It is much easier to measure the amount of time you spend on a task. It can be harder to determine that you have a tendency to do something as opposed to just having a natural inclination to do something. The study of behavior also doesn’t explain why some people do things and others don’t.
To study a behavior one needs to know what the person is doing on a given day and what they are doing on a given day. To measure the amount of time you spend on a task, you need to know that you are doing the task and that you are on the task. It is much easier to measure the amount of time you spend on a task when the task is consistent and you know what the person is doing.
So you need to know your subject perfectly well. This doesnt mean you need to be a scientist. This will often mean you will have to be a behaviorist.
Behaviorism is the study of behavioral tendencies. So if you want to know exactly what we humans are doing, you need to be aware of the very fact that you (as subject) are doing it.
So we’re going to talk about how to get that awareness to the point where we can take some action. You can do this by studying your own behavior. In the case of the study of respondent behavior, we want to study what people who respond to certain questions do. We want to study how the question causes people to act in certain ways. This is called operant behavior and we can learn a great deal about how people behave by studying them.
