Human behavior has been a topic for centuries. Why do we behave the way we do? While it largely pessimistic to believe humans do not have free will, I agree with the statement that our behavior is largely determined by external forces. Psychological and biological forces, along with our environment, drive our behavior.
There is a plethora of theories on human behavior, and a large quantity of them have shown that external forces cause us to act in certain ways. In psychology, operant and classical conditioning are empirically supported theories that address how we learn and act. One of the most famous experiments in psychology, maintained that behavior can be taught to occur similar to a reflex. Pavlov’s dog learned the conditioned response of salivating at the sound of a bell. The dogs had no control over their drooling, it was almost instinctual. This phenomenon has been found in humans too. The relatively nascent field of applied behavior analysis uses operant conditioning and principles discovered by Skinner to explain behavior. ABA Therapy has been widely successful in teaching autistic children prosocial behavior. This is done by using positive and negative reinforcement. Other research has found neurological pathways, brain structures, and hormones to be the cause of behavior. For example, the amygdala in the subcortical region of the brain has been discovered to be responsible for the emotion of fear. An experiment removed the amygdala of a mouse, and the mouse lost its fear of its cats. In fact, the mouse approached the cat as if to play. This goes against all reason that we have some control over our emotions, in turn controlling how we behave in certain situations.
Our environment also influences our behavior. Forces, such as laws, social expectations, and parenting, control how we act. Laws, although not always, prevent crimes from being committed. The fear of jail time, fines, and a criminal record is enough to keep many citizens from acting the way they wish. Most of the homeless population in this country do not steal consistently, despite the fact that they are starving. This is because there are laws in place and they are very aware of the consequences. Most of the time, it is enough to keep them from robbing the nearest convenience store. Social expectations also have a strong influence on us. One may hold back thoughts or dress a certain way in fear of being judged by their peers.. Lastly, how we are raised largely influences how we act. It goes back to centuries old debate of nurture vs nature. Psychological research has shown that parenting styles largely determine personalities later in life. Authoritative parenting styles lead to perfectionism while neglectful styles lead to insecurity and anxiety. Personality traits are essential to how we behave. Someone high in anxiety might avoid social situations and someone high in perfectionism may choose a less demanding career they can be perfect at.
In conclusion, we are shaped by forces outside ourselves. Although, we may have some choice in how we act, what we do is largely determined by biological forces and our environment. Research has proven this time and time again but has yet to prove the concept of free will.
Votes
Essay reference notes: This topic is refereed from another essay topic, developed by user: arzoo
Essay Categories
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 737, Rule ID: DOUBLE_PUNCTUATION
Message: Two consecutive dots
Suggestion: .
...y in fear of being judged by their peers.. Lastly, how we are raised largely influ...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, if, lastly, may, so, while, for example, in conclusion, in fact, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 25.0 19.5258426966 128% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 12.4196629213 64% => OK
Conjunction : 18.0 14.8657303371 121% => OK
Relative clauses : 7.0 11.3162921348 62% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 51.0 33.0505617978 154% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 70.0 58.6224719101 119% => OK
Nominalization: 10.0 12.9106741573 77% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2725.0 2235.4752809 122% => OK
No of words: 535.0 442.535393258 121% => OK
Chars per words: 5.09345794393 5.05705443957 101% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.80937282943 4.55969084622 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.9301210254 2.79657885939 105% => OK
Unique words: 278.0 215.323595506 129% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.519626168224 0.4932671777 105% => OK
syllable_count: 858.6 704.065955056 122% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59117977528 101% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 11.0 6.24550561798 176% => OK
Article: 6.0 4.99550561798 120% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 3.10617977528 64% => OK
Conjunction: 5.0 1.77640449438 281% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 6.0 4.38483146067 137% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 36.0 20.2370786517 178% => OK
Sentence length: 14.0 23.0359550562 61% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 33.330092435 60.3974514979 55% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 75.6944444444 118.986275619 64% => OK
Words per sentence: 14.8611111111 23.4991977007 63% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.30555555556 5.21951772744 44% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.97078651685 80% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 7.80617977528 13% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 10.2758426966 107% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 5.13820224719 175% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 16.0 4.83258426966 331% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.108100811548 0.243740707755 44% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0260031518988 0.0831039109588 31% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0323330600556 0.0758088955206 43% => Sentences are similar to each other.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0752089461296 0.150359130593 50% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0394637609484 0.0667264976115 59% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 10.0 14.1392134831 71% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 57.27 48.8420337079 117% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.8 12.1743820225 72% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.65 12.1639044944 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.55 8.38706741573 102% => OK
difficult_words: 143.0 100.480337079 142% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.0 11.8971910112 59% => Linsear_write_formula is low.
gunning_fog: 7.6 11.2143820225 68% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.7820224719 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Better to have 5/6 paragraphs with 3/4 arguments. And try always support/against one side but compare two sides, like this:
para 1: introduction
para 2: reason 1. address both of the views presented for reason 1
para 3: reason 2. address both of the views presented for reason 2
para 4: reason 3. address both of the views presented for reason 3
para 5: reason 4. address both of the views presented for reason 4 (optional)
para 6: conclusion.
Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.