A dozen times this week, I have heard the word behave. A few times, it was directed to me as in "behave yourself" or " just behave." I recommended Robert Sapolsky's tome " Behave" to a colleague and have considered my behavior's why, big and small. Sapolsky says, "Our behavior is directly influenced by what happened in the last 5 seconds, 5 hours, 5 years, and the last 5 thousand years." Some of it is genetic, some learned, some an experiment, some normative, some countercultural. The past influences all our behavior, whether we are aware of it or willing to acknowledge it.
I can trace my impatient imperfectionist to my Scottish Highlander heritage and the neverending struggle for independence. My action bias likely flows from watching my grandmother talk about change and then act on changing things. The ease with which I make decisions may be primal or prehistoric, or it may stem from a fear-filled childhood that didn't fend well in indecision.
Today, I am seen by most as a provocateur. I take positions counter to the expected (sometimes as advocatus diablo and sometimes because the discussion is too tame.). I speak out against injustice and in favor of justice without missing a note. I cherish personal responsibility and accountability but can easily make excuses for my actions if I can merely justify them.
Often, I see misbehavior as a construct that challenges mythological wisdom and my behavior as representative of what might be rather than what should be.
Where do you lay on the behavior spectrum? Is it relative, objective, subjective, or conditional...?
B