Human behaviour is the most complex and difficult to predict and understand because it depends upon many unpredictable tangibles and intangibles. Plato said. "Human behaviour flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge". But it is more than that. There are two factors involved that is to say, the inward factors and the other being the outward factors. Inward factors are those issues that affects a person personally which includes the psychological impact, the physical impact, emotional impact and any other impact that may affect him individually which may not show any outside signs but may affect his individual behaviour, good or bad or even indifference. The outward factors are those which are very much seen and perceived outwardly by others by way of the body language, speaking words, indulging actions etc. in consonance with the person's internal manifestations. The individual human behaviour is characterised by the civilizational culture, values and ethics to which he has been exposed under thetutelage of his mentor, first the parents and then others. A person is known by the company that he moves with, the environment to which he is exposed and the media by which he is influenced. Besides, circumstances to which a person is exposed and the challenges he has to face and the experiences he has to undergo, good, bad or ugly also have their impact on the human behaviour.
Philosophy and natural science have a great connection when it comes to study human behaviour. "Epistemology is the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge".Einstein advocated that epistemology and science "are dependent upon each other. Epistemology without contact with science becomes an empty scheme. Science without epistemology is—insofar as it is thinkable at all—primitive and muddled."("Einstein's Philosophy of Science". The Stanford Encyclopaedias of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. 2019. Wikipedia) Under Hindu scriptures of Vedas and Upanishads, the Brahman and Atman play a very important role to shape human behaviour. Whereas Brahman is the ultimate reality of human being in relation to the universe, Atman is connected with the self-realisation of human being. The human conscientiousness plays a predominant role in the attainment ofAtman and Brahman. Human behaviour is directly related to individual emotional and righteous feeing of right and wrong according to the distinct conscience thinking and the state of the quality of awareness within the human being that drives him to his actions. The Cambridge dictionary meaning of conscience is "the part of you that judges how moral your actions are and makes you feel guilty about bad things that you have done or things you feel responsible for." The legal meaning of conscience is "conscience: an internal sense of right and wrong. To respect differences between persons the law sometimes permits a conscience clause. Freedom of conscience is a human right." (Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006). The psychological definition of conscience states "Your conscience is what tells you whether an action is right or wrong. It is the reason you have guilt or remorse after doing something morally questionable, and the reason you feel relief or pride after telling the truth or giving to charity. It can also have an effect on decisions you are contemplating. If you just have a bad feeling about a possible action, your conscience may be telling you to choose otherwise. The sense of right and wrong is learned and deeply embedded, so someone with a very strict religious upbringing may have a more critical conscience than someone brought up with a looser moral compass."
There is yet another trait that is equally important as conscientiousness which influences the human behaviour is his consciousness. While Human behaviour is directly related his emotional and righteous feeing of right and wrong according to his conscience thinking and the state of the quality of awareness within the human being that drives him to his action, consciousness is a sense of awareness and understanding what is taking place around him. The dictionary meaning of 'Conscious' is "State of understanding and realising something" and "Consciousness is the state or quality of awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself.""It has been defined as: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind"
As far as Hindu philosophy is concerned, "The goal of life, then, is self-actualization – to become completely aware of and in touch with one's higher self – so that one could live as closely as possible in accordance with the Eternal Order of the Universe and, after death, return home to complete union with Brahman. Each individual was thought to have been placed on earth for a specific purpose which was their duty (Dharma) which they needed to perform with the right action (Karma)in order to achieve self-actualization. Evil was caused by ignorance of the good and the resulting failure to perform one's dharma through the proper karma."
"Karma, if not discharged correctly, resulted in suffering – whether in this life or one's next – and so suffering was ultimately the individual's own fault. The concept of karma was never intended as a universal deterministic rule which fated an individual to a set course; it always meant that one's actions had consequences which led to certain predictable results. The individual's management of his or her own karma led one to success or failure, satisfaction or sorrow, not any divine decree.
The transmigration of souls (reincarnation) was considered a given in that, if a person failed to perform their dharma in one life, their karma (past actions) would require them to return to try again. This cycle of rebirth and death was known as samsara and one found liberation (moksha) from samsara through the self-actualization which united the Atman with Brahman". (World History Encyclopaedia)
Humans being mundane people, they do not understand the intricacies of Philosophy, Psychology, and Epistemology etc. and the connected norms of conscience, conscious, self-actualization, Atman, Brahman etc. The more the intellectual disposition of the person is, the better he will understand the 'why' and 'how' of his behaviour.But most people being ordinary, they create their own dictum for their behavior or even adopt someone else behaviour pattern. If so, who decides the standards of human behaviour? It is the society and the community to which one belongs fixes the norms of behaviour through their community dictums and legal laws. The problem of human behaviour is that no standard or uniform behaviour pattern can be fixed because human behaviour is most fickle, inconsistent and difficult to predict. Between the good and the bad, only the circumstances have to creep in creating contradicting behavioural patterns depending on the situation prevailing then and how one perceives it.
Overtly or covertly the human tendency, in general, is to impress others in consonance with the old saying "first impression is the best impression" because we want validation and acceptance from others. In the process, we tend to project a different personality camouflaging our original person assuming the other person would like the projected image of the self more than the original nature with the result we distort our original personality. But ultimately the original self will prevail obliterating the distorted image which may be detrimental to our self. The distortion of the real personality of a person to impress others is nothing but hypocrisy and he tends to become a hypocrite and such people are dangerous. . Hypocrisy is an impediment to progress because there is always a hidden agenda. .
In the ultimate analysis trying to impress others by distorting our original persona assuming that the other person would be impressed with our pseudo-personality is a myth which brings us greater harm than good. Hence, it is better to be ourselves and deal with people as we are. Don't try to change yourself to impress somebody. But be just what we are. It is a fact that nobody is perfect and everyone has his own faults and fragilities and if we can accept them as they are and treat them accordingly, we can build up an enduring and endearing relationship among us for a better world of tranquillity.
I have reached my conclusion in my life after my experiences that it's no longer necessary to impress anybody. If anybody likes me the way I am and with all my faults and frailties, that is good for me and I am happy that I am not a hypocrite and as long as I also treat others the same way.
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