Difference Between Behavior and Attitude

‘Behavior’ vs ‘Attitude’

Each person is distinct from one another, not only in our physical aspects but especially so in our behaviors and attitudes.

‘Behavior’ is an inherent trait of an organism, including man, towards its environment and other organisms. It is controlled by our endocrine and nervous systems and the complexity of our behavioral patterns are set by the complexity of our nervous system.

Our behaviors are either innate or acquired and learned from our environment. It is our response to the different stimuli and other internal or external inputs whether voluntary or not.

‘Attitude’ is how we react to these stimuli or input. We either have a positive or negative reaction towards an object, a person, place, thing, or event. It is how we judge these things and the way that they affect us that sets our behavior towards them. We develop our attitudes through experience and observation.

Attitudes change according to our experiences although hereditary factors may also affect our attitudes. Our attitudes can be influenced by these factors:

� Intelligence. Intelligent people process input more thoroughly and are less influenced by one-sided input.
� Self-esteem. People with moderate self esteem are more easily persuaded than those with a higher or much lower self-esteem.
� Credibility. The credibility of the source of the input, its expertise about the subject, and overall trustworthiness can affect our attitude towards the input.
� Presentation. How the input is presented is very important in the formation of our attitude towards it.

We may also have conscious and unconscious attitudes, rational, or irrational attitudes that involve our thoughts, feelings, and intuition. Extroversion and introversion are two types of attitude.

Extroversion is an attitude that is relaxed and confident. People with this attitude get their motivation from other people and tend to act first before thinking. Introversion is an attitude that is less dependent on external motivation. Introverts usually think before they act and are reserved, subtle, and prefer to work alone.

‘Behavior’ on the other hand can be common, acceptable, or unacceptable. We judge behavior’s acceptability by our social norms, and we naturally abide by these norms. It is considered a basic human action, and our behavior is dependent upon the behavior of others.

These factors can affect our behavior:
� Genetics. Biological factors can affect the way we behave towards certain things.
� Attitude. How we react to things can affect our behavior.
� Social norms. Whether we respond with a certain behavior or not depends on our beliefs.
� Control. Our belief on the ease or difficulty of a certain situation affects our behavior.
� Core faith. This includes motivation by our family, peers, the media, and society.

Summary:

1. ‘Behavior’ is an inherent trait of an organism while ‘attitude’ is a human trait.
2. Our behavior is controlled by our endocrine system while our attitude can be influenced by factors that can be internal or external.
3. Our behaviors are set by our social norms while our attitudes are set by how we perceive things.
4. Organisms may have similar behavioral patterns while humans have attitudes that are distinct and different from each other.

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