General Psychology: the Study of Behavior Introduction General psychology is concerned with the study of human behavior. How man acts in public and in private, how he responds in certain situations, and even how he feels may be considered behavior. Part of man' s behavior. comes from heredity, and is therefore common to all men: when faced with what considered to be a fearful situation, all men will tremble. Most of our behavior, however, is learned. If two people are shown the snake, for example, their reactions might be very different. One person might curiously watch the snake twist and turn. The other person might run away as quickly as possible. The distinction between the types of behavior, hereditary and learned, is not always clear, for the effect of environment begins immediately after birth. One can also speak of a mixture of learned and learned, is not al ways clear, for the effect of environment begins immediately after birth. One can also speak of a mixture of learned and hereditary behavior. In fact none of our behavior. is completely free of society' s influence. Most animals are born with the capacity to live independently in the world soon after birth. Fish are born able to swim, and, within moments of birth, are behaving as miniature adult fish. Chicks start pecking at the ground for food shortly after leaving the egg. Although its legs are shaky at first, a pony can stand and walk soon after birth. While a kitten is born blind and helpless, within a month it fearlessly at tacks everything in its path. In comparison with other animals, man is born helpless and remains that way for an extended period of time. A human child must be protected from cold, cared about, and cannot even suckle without his mother' s help. One could hardly imagine a child of three totally independent, having to feed and care for himself. Yet, after living three years most other animals are mature. Why is man's maturation so much slower than that of most other animals? Limitations of Animal Behavior The behavior. of animals is largely what we call 'automatic' or 'instinctive'. Given certain environ mental conditions a female bird will start building a nest. Other female birds of the same species will carry out the identical activity at the same time. This behavior. happens when there is a proper stimulus, that is, something in the environment automatically stimulates the bird to act in a certain way. A great deal of a bird' s life is controlled by patterns of behavior. which are built into its biological system much as information is programmed into a computer. If the stimulus the present, the behavior. will automatically follow. For example, a female bird knows she must sit on her eggs until they hatch. If china eggs are substituted for her own eggs, she will continue to sit on them, waiting for the artifical eggs to hatch. She cannot be have in any other way. Adaptability of Man Instinct allows little freedom of behavior. A bird cannot 'decide' to build an innovative nest, but must build according to the fixed plan. The fixed plan is suitable for the environment in which the animal lives, but does not permit the animal to choose a new environment nor to change its environment. Man, however, is found in a wide variety of environments ranging from the very hot to the very cold, from the very humid to the extremely dry. He is found where caves provide natural shelter, where wood can be used to build houses, and where he must shape and bake the earth into bricks before he can use it to build a shelter. This is possible because most of man' s behavior. is not based on instinct and is therefore more adaptable. Instead of having the solutions to life' s problems programmed into his biological system, man has the intelligence to solve these problems and the motivation to seek the solutions. While other animals have strength or swiftness, man has his mind. This intelligence a