8. PROPER BEHAVIOUR AND DECISION MAKING
Meaning of behavior
Behavior is a result of a person's ways of doing things in a particular situation which is used to expose him or her to the outside society. Different situation can show the qualities of the people in doing things such as politeness, harshness, cruelty, envy and arrogance. The behavior of a person can change according to the mood, place or the person he or she is dealing with.
Factors that influencing our behavior
i. Genetic inheritance. Human beings inherit some essential features from their parents. These features may affect how individuals behave
ii. Parental care. Parents who are loving, hardworking, cooperative and caring may influence their children to have proper behavior.
iii. Economic status. Economic hardship is likely to prompt people to engage in illegal acts such as drug abuse, theft, corruption, prostitution and terrorism because of their economic status.
iv. Development of science and technology. The use of modern technological devices may lead people to have good or bad behavior. Access to information through social media network influence the behavior of users.
v. Ignorance. Some people behave improperly because of the lack of education. Education enable people how to behave properly.
vi. Peer groups. We tend to imitate and comply with the behavior of our friends at home, school or anywhere else. Sometimes owing to peer pressure, we follow their actions without assessing their strength and weaknesses
vii. Religious teaching. Religious teachings influence people to have proper behavior. People are taught to love each other, be tolerant, to endure hardship, to be faithful and forgive and be kind.
TYPES OF BEHAVIOR
There are two types of behavior, namely;
A. Proper behavior
B. Improper behavior
A. Proper behavior
Proper behavior, are those actions which are considered to be good and acceptable to be done and practiced in the society and make a person term as a good behavior. Examples of such actions that indicate proper behavior includes honesty, virtue, love, kindness obedience, sympathy, co-operation,
Origin of Proper Behavior
i. Good parental care and guardians. Children may have proper behavior due to the good learning obtained from their parents and guardians
ii. Mass media. Mass media such as radio and televisions may lead to proper behavior due to the good programs and articles which teach people good behavior.
iii. Proper education. People who have proper formal and informal education usually have the good behavior.
iv. Good friends. Good friends guide and counsel each other therefore, they can behave properly
v. Religious teaching. Those people who follow proper religious teaching behave properly in the society.
Elements/Indicators of Proper Behavior
i. Good appearance of a person. Good appearance of a person from his or her outlook, including wearing descent dressing make a person termed as he or she has the good behavior
ii. Maintaining respect in a community. Self-respect of a person as well as respect of others including parents and guardians and other people in the society indicate the proper behavior of a person
iii. Use proper language. This means not using abuse language or insulting others or any word that make people angry
iv. Hard working of a person. Working hard by spending time in positive and productive activities such as farming, fishing, trading etc may indicate the proper behavior of a person.
v. Showing good cooperation with others. Cooperation, such as taking part in a community activities like funerals, wedding and environmental conservation indicate the proper behavior of a person
Importance of Proper Behavior
i. Insure peace and harmony among the people. Proper behavior brings peace and harmony in the society since there is respect among the people
ii. Bring unity and cooperation among the people. Proper behavior brings cooperation among the people in the society as people will cooperate in the different and economic activities.
iii. Maintain the practice of human rights. Proper behavior brings the chance to the people in the society to be free to exercise their rights and fulfill their responsibilities
iv. Source of development in a community. Proper behave contributes in bringing the development and prosperity in the society through working hard
v. Prevent the occurrence of crimes. Proper behaviors reduce the rate of occurring of the social crimes such as theft, robbery, prostitution,
B. Improper behavior
Improper behavior, are those actions that are not considered and accepted to be practiced in the society. A person who has such bad actions is termed as a bad man in the society and uncivilized person
Causes of Improper Behavior
i. Heredity from the family. Some of the youth behave improperly because they inherit genetic features from their parents, or even adopting bad behavior within the family
ii. Lack of parental care. Some parents do not spend more time to teach their children good morals
iii. Poverty from the family. Economic hardship among the youth may force them to engage in illegal activities like stealing
iv. Influence of globalization. The development of science and technology make the youth to behave improperly because the use of modern technological devices such as smart phone lead them to practice bad morals they got from such devices
v. Lack of religious teachings. Religious teaching influence people to behave properly. Lack of religious teaching among the youth may lead them to engage in illegal activities
Consequences of Improper Behavior
i. Increase of social crimes in a community. They may lead the people to engage in illegal acts such as drug abuse, robbery, stealing homosexuality etc
ii. Decrease economic development. Those who have improper behavior may not be engaged in productive activities which raise the economy of a community.
iii. Family conflicts may rise. Improper behavior may lead to the family conflicts and in the community at large due to the frequent occurrence of disciplinary cases in the community.
iv. Causing health problems. Some of the improper behavior such as alcoholism, prostitution may lead to the spread of diseases which lead harm individual health
v. Can cause death. Those who have improper behavior may die early due to engaging in risky acts such as robbery, theft, drug abuse, prostitution and many others.
vi. Causing low efficiency and performance. Improper behavior decreases personal efficiency. People who are lazy, harsh and angry may not be efficient in their work.
Avoiding improper behavior
i. Starting healthy friendship with peers who have good behavior. This will help the youth to learn good behavior from them
ii. Being hardworking. Hardworking enables people to live happily. Working hard reduces dependence, theft and corruption.
iii. Seeking guidance and counseling. When you are facing challenges or problems which are beyond your control seek for guidance and counseling. One would find alternative ways of solving or copying with difficult
iv. Emphasizing good parental care. Parents and guardians should strictly involve themselves in giving discipline to their children because parents and other people are the first teachers who teach good values
v. Increase the provision of religious teachings. Religious teaching should be well promote to the young people, starting at their early childhood. Following religious teachings promote our spiritual well-being and encourage good manners.
vi. Self-discipline. Self-discipline will help you choose information which is appropriate and which exposes you to positive thinking so as to develop necessary knowledge and skills.
Rational decision- making
Rational decision-making are choices which an individual makes after thinking carefully about available options for solving a particular problem. This includes logical reasoning which is a process of choosing the best option from available options.
Rational decision-making steps.
i. Identifying the problem. Here is the issue a person needs to make a decision on it
ii. Gathering relevant information. Here the information about what you want to do are collected from various sources
iii. Develop alternatives. Here is listing all desirable alternatives that you think will help you to solve the problem
iv. Evaluation on available alternatives. Here a person assess the strength and weaknesses of each alternative then choose one which will help you to solve the problem
v. Take action. Here a person implements the strategy he or she has chosen
vi. Review the decisions. This involves assessing the choice made to determine whether the decision that was made has worked to solve the problem
Skills for making rational decisions
i. Active listening skills. This involves paying attention to what a person is saying or concentrating on one's own feelings. This helps an individual to make rational decisions consciously after understanding the message from either internal or external environment
ii. Time management skills. When making decision, one has to manage time. Poor allocation of time to your priorities will result in making irrational decisions, which may lead to making more mistakes.
iii. Sharing skills. Sometimes you need to involve others in making decisions in order to achieve personal or group goals. Making decisions may be difficult without involving other people who might provide more insights into the issue or problem
iv. Critical thinking. Critical thinking involves an individual's ability to analyze and evaluate ideas in a sensible manner. It involves independent thinking which helps us to make rational decisions after assessing possible alternatives
v. Creative thinking. This refers to the application of new ideas and ways of doing something or solving a problem. It involves making observing, analyzes, drawing inferences and developing effective communication.
vi. Problem-solving skills. This is the ability to come up with effective solutions to various challenges or problems. The problem can be financial hardships, family conflicts, health problems or academic problems. One has to understand the problem and come up with possible solution.
Importance of making rational Decision
i. Helps to build commitment. Rational decision-making helps to build a sense of commitment and cooperation among society members who are making decisions
ii. Proper utilization of resources. It facilitates proper utilization of the available resources like time, people, capital and land
iii. Helps to create peace and harmony. Rational decision-making promotes peace and harmony because it helps to prevent conflicts that could happen as a result of making irrational decisions.
iv. Promote individual development. Rational decision-making promotes personal development as it enables one to solve problem using alternative way which produce positive outcomes
v. Helps to reduce mistakes. Rational decision making reduces the number of mistakes which might lead to more problems. For example a student's decision to abstain from alcohol and drugs improves one's health.
vi. Help to develop confidence and happiness. People who make rational decisions are always happy and confident
Ways of avoiding irrational decisions
i. Seek relevant information. Our decisions are sometimes influenced by information that we receive from other people. Avoid taking any action based on hearsay, rather than seek adequate information about the issue before making any decision.
ii. Avoid making common mistakes. That may affect your ability to make rational decisions. Such mistakes may include not having enough time or information and paying little attention to reflect on a particular issue
iii. Learn from previous mistakes. In order to make rational decisions, one needs to look at past mistakes and find new strategies for solving the problems at hand
iv. Do self-assessment. Be confident and stable and do not allow emotions and feelings to influence your decisions
v. Observe time. Do not make decisions when you are tired or when you are not feeling well. Take a rest and refresh your mind. As you take a rest, think critically about the issue
vi. Predict outcomes. Foresee the possible outcome of any decision you want to make. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative in order to choose the right one
QUESTIONS
1. Define the following terms
a. Behavior b. Proper behavior c. Improper behavior. d. rational decision e. problem solving
2. Differentiate between proper behavior and improper behavior
3. "The behaviors of the youth in our community always change as the day going on". This was the statement said by the Minister of youth and development special groups. If you are required to explain root causes of this situation in Tanzania, which five points will you most consider?
4. In many societies today, there is the problem of many youth not behaving properly against their community members. Give five points to explain the factors that are to be considered by the people in a community in order to avoid this problem in Tanzania.
5. "Good morals among the youth in a community are the basic foundations for the national development in the country". In the light of this statement, give five points to explain the criteria for testing the degree of proper behavior among the youth in Tanzania.
6. In many societies in Tanzania, there are the challenges of the youth behaving properly. In five points, identify the importance of proper behavior among the youth in a society
7. "Many youth today are engaging in smocking and practicing other social crimes as their way of life". In the light of this statement, assess five root causes of improper behavior among the youth in Tanzania.
8. A discipline master of Busia secondary school has reported an increase of the disciplinary cases in the school due to the students' misbehavior. In the light of this statement, give five impacts of improper behavior among the youth in a society
9. You have been appointed to tell the youth on how to avoid engaging themselves in immoral behavior, propose five factors to be undertaken into consideration to control and correct the misbehavior of the youth in a society
10. Your village government is experiencing the difficulties in making proper decisions concerning various development issues in the village. How would you help the village government to improve decisions making process? Give five points