Unraffling the mystique

Behaviour is an observable physical (re)action. In short, something that someone does or doesn’t do. So not acting is also an act. For example, letting things be and relaxing on the couch. Therefore, telling an adolescent to get off the couch to do something is a contradiction. Lazing and daydreaming is as much behaving as sleeping or working. In fact it is impossible not to display behaviour. Doing absolutely nothing simply does not exist.

Neurologically behaviour is blocking (inhibition) or passing on (excitation) signals between the nerve cells. This is similar to breaking and accelerating. That’s why behaviour is often compared to the inner workings of a car. Breaking implies holding back and not responding. Visibly not reacting is also a reaction. Holding back is essential to control impulses, like not taking that extra cookie or crossing the street without paying attention. Breaking comes in handy to stop in time to prevent getting hurt or wounded. Inhibitions ensure we do not fly off the handle and cause harm. They protect us against rash decisions and foolhardy actions. Furthermore, they help to withstand temptations and prevent us from making the same mistakes over and over again. It is the way we control ourselves to show the proper restraint.

Accelerating is synonymous to taking action and picking up things. It is actively responding to something that occurs or taking the initiative to make things happen, and that can be anything. From making dinners to completing chores or even from talking to fulfil agreements. So what gets us from standstill into gear and allows us to skilfully drive our actions to achieve predetermined goals? All it takes is for the brain engine to be engaged to the body. Otherwise it is opening the throttle in neutral. Then nothing gets set in motion. What we then do is just fret and ponder without acting. This often happens when we are trying to break bad habits or attempt to overcome emotional turmoil. In this we need to bear in mind that holding back and giving gas are two separate operations, not to be seen as counterparts. Letting go of the accelerator is not the opposite of putting your foot actively down on the break. You just slow down to unwind. And releasing your break does not imply that you automatically start driving new actions.

So opening up the throttle and breaking each have their own pedal. They can be operated independently. The two operations do complement each other. The less someone holds back, the more that person will act and vice versa. Non-stop inhibition will make someone avoidant. Continuous transgressive action will lead to impulsive and reckless behaviour. That is why finding the right balance is critical. With the two operations of acting and holding back we have the capability to confront any internal or external conflict, both essential for behaviour change. Internal turmoil can be handled by telling ourselves to calm down when seized by emotion. We can also stimulate and encourage ourselves to perform better. Confronting the outside world is done to counteract ill desired developments, steer initiatives in a different direction or just to thwart what’s going on. But what happens when we go full throttle with the breaks on? Someone who does this will quickly get burnt-out, both physically and emotionally.

With behavioural change it is always the question whether more restrain is required due to lack of self-control, like in the case with bad habits or continuously reinventing of the wheel. Or whether the challenge is to start taking initiative, because someone has become so restrained that he or she no longer undertakes anything. This is commonly known as learned helplessness. Furthermore, overcoming resistance and taking the break off does not imply that someone starts to act differently. We see this in the endless discussions on what and how to change that only end in good intentions, without anyone taking action to practice new things. To change a working habit more is needed than talk, as we will see later on. But first let’s focus on the Behaviour Framework and see what causes automatic, attentive and autonomous behaviour.

Three Types of Behaviour

The behaviour framework provides a coherent view of the factors that make up and cause behaviour. It shows that behaviour is controlled subconsciously by emotion and not by our rational thought. The framework also illustrates that our subconscious is incessantly stimulated by what the senses pick up from the outside world, the signals from our body and the fleeting thoughts flashing through our brain. Environment, body and thought compete nonstop for the attention of our subconscious mind. The result is a fascinating interplay of automatic, attentive and autonomous behaviour.

Automatic behaviour

Automatic behaviour is a thoughtless or spontaneous reaction to things that occur, commonly referred to as acting on the automatic pilot. It begins with awareness of signals from the surroundings by our senses and works on recognition. Stimuli picked up by the senses recall memories of earlier experiences and learned knowledge. This occurs by associating what happens with what is recorded in the memory pathways of our brain. That is why the trained eye sees what the untrained eye misses. Just go into the jungle searching for exotic animals and you will need a guide to point out the unknown species that blend in perfectly with their surroundings. We are often blind for new things with our eye’s wide open. Most part of the day we repeat the conditioned past and react according to our programming to what happens. This reaction is unintentional, without having to think.

Attentive behaviour

Automatic reactions are efficient, but they may not have the desired effect. Our preprogramed subconscious gets bogged down quickly in unknown territory and when faced with many options and choices. When this happens it appeals to our conscious thought to help find the answer to how to deal with the situation. By coming up with answers to the issues that arise. So what happens? We start to talk to ourselves. The private conversation between our ears is a dialogue between our conscious and subconscious brain. Therefore, we primarily think in words, although we can also start to portray images. Just like projecting a film in our private cinema. Thinking in images helps to imagine how to act before we execute. By doing so we see the actions and rehearse an upcoming match or important presentation over and over again. We can also give ourselves instructions and encourage ourselves to do better. In the same way, we can recall emotions by imagining anger or picturing a certain scene in our mind. Simply by talking to ourselves and recollecting scenes. To summarise, attentive behaviour is thoughtful and automatic behaviour is thoughtless. Attentive is self-controlled, not to be confused with something or someone drawing attention. That is part of automatic behaviour.

Autonomous behaviour

Autonomous behaviour is the innate reaction to substances in and signals from our body. The autonomic nervous system controls a number of vital functions and body processes via the brain stem and spinal cord. Examples of these are the regulation of our heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, hormone and neurotransmitter levels, salivation and metabolism. These bodily functions and processes sent signals back to the brain, resulting in an interaction between brain and body. Part of these autonomous processes are our involuntarily reflexes. Just think of the way our pupils constrict and we turn our head away when a bright light shines directly in our face. Or how we pull our hand away from a hot stove or when hitting a sharp object. And what to think of how our mouth starts watering at the thought or sight of delicious and desired food. These reactions are not taught, but genetically preprogramed. What is (partially) learned are the conditions under which we react reflexively. This is learned through classical conditioning, also known as the Pavlov reaction. In simple terms, a connection is made in the brain between an event and an autonomous physical reaction. That is why classical conditioning should not be confused with instrumental learning, also known as operant conditioning. Instrumental learning applies to reactions where we have a choice in how to act.