This
week’s assignment was really interesting. Although at first, I was a bit unsure
as to how to approach it. Then I thought on most occasions, I try to present
myself in a poised and polished manner, so how about exhibiting a totally
opposite behavior. I decided to act rowdy and blatantly to see what the kind of
reaction it would incite. I received varied reactions ranging from shocking, to
perplexing to deep concern. I also observed that that it made no difference to
those who knew me little or didn’t know me at all. But to those who know me
well such as close friends and family members; it came across as a shock. In
fact a few of my friends showed concerns about my health and offered to sit
down and talk about the issues if I was having any. The overall experience a
little perplexing though, was yet truly laughable. But it made me think
intensely and analyze what behaviorism is all about and yes it truly is a skill
that is acquired through conditioning. We see the world from someone else’s
eyes. Our everyday actions and interactions are not based on our own
idiosyncrasies, but rather on other’s acceptance and/or societal expectations.
Our behaviors and mannerism are deeply ingrained in not our performance, but in
how we want to be perceived as. Not sure if it can be linked to the Darwin’s
theory of ‘the survival of the fittest’ because we as humans don’t want to be
labeled as a bad element of the society, so to avoid getting extinct we adapt
our ways according to others without even analyzing them. As kids we all like
to act whichever way we want, but are constantly corrected or reprimanded for
inappropriate behaviors. Thus as we grow we learn to ignore some of our
internal instincts and behave how we are expected to, in a civil society or I
should say according to the social norms and folkways. Some of these behaviors
are incorporated deeply in our conscious (and sub-conscious) minds as
‘unconscious incompatibilities’ that we are completely unaware of them. And to
change those behaviors into ‘conscious compatibilities’ we have to scrupulously
work on them and remind ourselves over and over again. This results in unneeded
attention and awkwardness, which I felt throughout this activity.
