The 15 types of behaviors, and their characteristics.

A summary of the types of behaviors classified according to various criteria, with their explanations.

Talking, laughing, crying, reading, eating... all these words have in common that they are verbs. They express action, and are carried out by something or someone. They are behaviors, and apart from those mentioned there are many more; in fact we are constantly performing some of them.

Throughout this article we are going to make a brief enumeration and explanation of the main categories. and explanation of the main categories or types of behaviors that are usually studied. that are usually studied.

What do we call behavior?

Before entering to value some of the different typologies of behavior and in spite of the fact that it is deducible from the introduction, it is convenient to make a small commentary with respect to the concept of which we are speaking. Behavior is understood or defined as the set of actions carried out by a subject, which may be human or animal, and which is the expression of his or her behavior in a given environment, situation or context. is the expression of his behavior in a given environment, situation or context..

Technically, everything we do is behavior. This can be easy to see when we perform an action on a physical level: we lift an object, we sit down, we run....

But nevertheless to be doing some behavior it is not necessary for it to be directly visible in the physical environment; even when we are completely still we do something: thinking, imagining, dreaming, doubting or feeling are still actions that we carry out, even if they are mental..

The different types of behavior

If we take into account that we understand as behavior any type of action or behavior performed, the truth is that we can realize the innumerable amount of situations and activities that we can be talking about.

In this sense, we can find a large number of possible classifications of types of behavior, based on a wide variety of criteria.. Here are just some of the most common and well known.

1. Innate or inherited behavior

Innate or reflex behaviors are some of the first types of behavior that we perform in our life, and are characterized for being those that appear in the person or being in a natural way and derived from our genetics, without anyone having taught them to us before. An example of this can be found in reflexes such as thumb sucking or sucking when we are babies.

They can appear after birth or even before (some behaviors of this type are already observed in the fetal stage).

2. Acquired or learned behavior

Another of the main types of behavior is acquired or learned behavior, which is defined as any type of action that does not arise naturally in the person or animal but is learned throughout life. This learning can be instilled by one's own experience or transmitted or modeled from the observation of the behavior of others.

3. Observable/manifest behavior

Observable or overt behavior is behavior that is can be seen with the naked eye from the outside. These are behaviors that we carry out and that imply some kind of movement on our part in relation to the environment around us.

They are the type of behavior that is usually considered as such, since they lead us to physically "do". they lead us to physically "do" some action or other..

In this sense, currents such as early behaviorism initially considered them to be the only type of observable and empirically demonstrable behavior.

4. Latent/covert behavior

As we have commented previously, things like imagining, thinking, remembering or fantasizing are acts or behaviors that cannot be seen with the naked eye from the outside. cannot be seen with the naked eye from the outside, but they are nonetheless acts that we carry out.. These are known as covert behaviors.

5. Voluntary behaviors

Another type of classification of behaviors that can be applied has to do with the presence or absence of voluntariness in the presence or absence of voluntariness in carrying them out.. Voluntary behaviors are all those that the subject who performs them carries out consciously and according to his will.

6. Involuntary/reflexive behaviors

On the other hand, involuntary behaviors are all those that are carried out unintentionally.

In general, this includes mainly reflex behaviors: withdrawing the hand from a burning fire, breathing or the set of reflexes we have since birth.

7. Adaptive behaviors

We understand as adaptive behaviors all those which allow the person who performs them to to adapt in a more or less efficient way to the environment that surrounds themso that their performance is an advantage and facilitates the survival and the adjustment and well-being of the subject.

8. Maladaptive behaviors

There are also behaviors that make it difficult for the subject to adapt to the environment and that can generate discomfort or make it difficult for him/her to function in the environment in which he/she finds him/herself..

These would be the so-called maladaptive behaviors, which tend to cause suffering and which it is generally desirable to modify (although sometimes it is difficult or the subject himself does not want to do so).

9. Appetitive behaviors

Appetitive or approximation behavior is the set of actions carried out with the purpose of approaching a determined objective. carried out with the purpose of approaching a determined objective, which motivates and activates the subject to act.which motivates and activates the subject to act.

10. Consummatory behaviors

It is the set of actions that we carry out in order to obtain the objective in order to obtain the objective, goal or gratification that moves us to act, and that allow us to end the action.and that allow us to complete a pattern or series of actions or behaviors to achieve it.

11. Passive behaviors

Passive behavior is understood as that set of behaviors linked to the way of relating to the environment that surrounds us. the environment that surrounds us and with the rest of our fellow men, characterized by a suppression or a series of actions or behaviors to achieve it.characterized by a suppression or minimization of one's own desires and needs in favor of those of others.

They generally appear due to a need or desire to be appreciated or to avoid the conflict that the expression of one's own will could entail.

12. Aggressive behaviors

Aggressive behavior is understood as behavior in which the obtaining of one's own benefit or the gratification of one's own needs is put ahead of the well-being of others, with indifference to the fact that this may be detrimental to others..

It is a dominant type of behavior that can be expressed by means of violence. Although evolutionarily they had a purpose (to defend themselves from external aggressions), this type of behavior can become aversive for the rest.

13. Assertive behaviors

Assertive behavior is that which has a balance between aggressive and passive: the subject defends his point of view and his interests, but taking into account and valuing the opinion and needs of others..

Allows negotiation and compromise, and integrates assertion and expression of needs and opinions with respect for others' needs and opinions.

Conditioned/responsive behavior

This type of behavior refers to that which the subject carries out as a consequence of the association made between its emission and the presence or absence of another appetitive or aversive stimulus.

It is a concept better known as conditioned response.studied by the behaviorist current of psychology and used by authors such as Pavlov with his classical conditioning.

14. Unconditioned/unconditioned behavior

Better known as unconditioned response, this is the type of behavior that the subject performs innately. behavior that the subject performs innately and naturally when presented with an appetizing or aversive stimulus, towards which there is a tendency to respond.The subject has a tendency to move towards or away from the stimulus, depending on the case.

15. Operant behavior

It is the name given to any type of behavior that is carried out with the purpose of obtaining or achieving a certain good, objective or goal.

It is also related to behaviorism, in this case to Skinner's operant conditioning with Skinner's own operant conditioningWe carry out a behavior due to the anticipation that its realization allows us to receive reinforcement or to avoid punishment.