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Mini: Variables That Influence Behavior · Why We Do What We Do

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we do what we do? Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to Why we do what we do? Many I am
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  Speaker 1: your host, Abraham and I'm your oh Shane. We are
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  Speaker 1: a psychology podcast. We talk about all of the things
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  Speaker 1: that humans and non human animals do and an attempt
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  Speaker 1: to understand what we are doing psychologically speaking. And this is,
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  Speaker 1: as I said, a mini which means it is going
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  Speaker 1: to be a short form episode. We release these on
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  Speaker 1: Mondays where we do just a quick dive into a
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  Speaker 1: topic and then we move about, We move on, and
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  Speaker 1: so you can go about your day. And so that's
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  Speaker 1: what we're talking about today, and specifically we're taking on
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  Speaker 1: this concept called locus of control.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so I love the word locus. I think it's
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  Speaker 2: such a good word.
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  Speaker 1: It is and it just means point, yeah, like location basically. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a fancy way of saying location.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, location of control.
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  Speaker 2: I'm excited to dive into this one.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. So, how do we understand and evaluate the variables
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  Speaker 1: that determine our behavior and other people's behavior? And that is,
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  Speaker 1: where do we assign the cause and the cause effect
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  Speaker 1: relationship between things that happen and the effect they have
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  Speaker 1: on us? And then how we subsequently behave Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Now, historical explanations of behavior of attributed to our behavior
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  Speaker 2: to spirits, gods, monsters. Later we believed it to be
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  Speaker 2: our own spirits controlling our behavior. There's been lots of
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  Speaker 2: explanations and variations on that theme.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, like the form of our souls. Eventually we believed
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  Speaker 1: that humors and the body influenced our behavior, like bio
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  Speaker 1: and phlam and that sort of thing. And then we
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  Speaker 1: believed that instincts controlled our behavior. Everything we did was
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  Speaker 1: an instinct. And then we believe that our brains control
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  Speaker 1: all of our behavior. And then finally we believed that
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  Speaker 1: our genetics and our brains are responsible for all of
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  Speaker 1: our actions.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, So the locus of control is the idea that
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  Speaker 2: we perceive that our own behavior to be is influenced
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  Speaker 2: by our internal factors internal locus of control, or is
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  Speaker 2: driven by environmental factors external locus of control. And if
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  Speaker 2: you're listening to this as a behaviorist, you're probably going, well, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: okay's and we're going yeah, sure, But is important to
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  Speaker 2: understanding how we've arrived at this at this juncture.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. It is essentially that position, and I think
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people who are trained in that philosophical
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  Speaker 1: orientation to behavior are like, well, yes, but I think
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  Speaker 1: for other people this is a not super intuitive idea.
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  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the idea of internal factors
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  Speaker 1: controlling our behavior, it feels very intuitive. And I mean,
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  Speaker 1: for one thing, we all have the experience of having
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  Speaker 1: thoughts and emotions and thinking about things and then acting
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  Speaker 1: on those feelings thoughts and emotions. We have first hand
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  Speaker 1: experience with internal processes like our thoughts and subsequent external
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  Speaker 1: actions that happen after we have those thoughts, so we
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  Speaker 1: can easily point to the fact that, like, we feel
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  Speaker 1: like we have that internal control.
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  Speaker 2: Now, for another, we know that without our biological components,
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  Speaker 2: that is, if we didn't have genes in a brain.
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  Speaker 2: You know, if I didn't have pants in a brain,
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  Speaker 2: we wouldn't have any idea of what's going on. Genes
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  Speaker 2: being gns, right, we're talking about genetics. But it was
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  Speaker 2: funny thing about like I don't have brains or pants
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  Speaker 2: and now I'm out of control. Then we wouldn't actually
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  Speaker 2: have any behaviors at all. So the biology must be
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  Speaker 2: part of it at this point in time.
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  Speaker 1: And there was another school of thought that arose, so
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  Speaker 1: I illustrated or we illustrated. We talked through several examples
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  Speaker 1: like spirits, gods, humors, et cetera. But there was actually
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  Speaker 1: another school of thought here, and that is that our biology,
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  Speaker 1: which is to say, the genes and brain, that does
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  Speaker 1: give us the capacity to interact with the world in
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  Speaker 1: a particular way. I mean, if we can only see
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  Speaker 1: certain bands of light, which is the case for us,
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  Speaker 1: we can only hear certain range of frequencies of sound,
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  Speaker 1: which is the case for us. So like our biology
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  Speaker 1: gives us a particular capacity with which we can even
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  Speaker 1: interact with the world, and then our experiences shape our
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  Speaker 1: explicit individual behaviors within that given biological capacity.
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  Speaker 2: So basically that says the locus of control in this
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  Speaker 2: orientation is external. It's coming from outside sources. We know
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  Speaker 2: that if we change external circumstances, this will change behavior.
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  Speaker 2: We know that if certain opportunities are not afforded, certain
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  Speaker 2: behaviors will never emerge. We know that experience only happens
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  Speaker 2: in a contextual environment with variables capable of influencing our
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  Speaker 2: behavior and influencing our behavior directly.
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  Speaker 1: So I hear people who I think they take umbrage
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  Speaker 1: with this idea, they say like, well, I know that
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  Speaker 1: I thought something and then I did something because of
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  Speaker 1: that thought. I was planning something and then I executed
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  Speaker 1: on that plan. Sure, and when we reflect on the
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  Speaker 1: internal experiences we have, our thoughts, our anxieties, our emotions,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera, and the role that they play in our
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  Speaker 1: over actions, then we must also ask where did those
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  Speaker 1: thoughts and emotions come from? Right, if we trace them back,
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  Speaker 1: we will once again arrive at the external world as
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  Speaker 1: where that variable originated. So it's like, even though I
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  Speaker 1: think about like I had these thoughts about this thing,
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  Speaker 1: then I would respond, well, then that thing had to
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  Speaker 1: have existed first for you to have thoughts about it, Right,
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  Speaker 1: You had to start from somewhere and then you eventually
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  Speaker 1: got there and we eventually end up at ads.
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  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, Yeah, and ads have to exist for you to
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  Speaker 2: have a thought about ads existing.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly, I think therefore I am not ad anyway. So
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  Speaker 1: understanding this and trying to unpack an understanding of why
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  Speaker 1: and how we think about the external variables as being
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  Speaker 1: primarily responsible when we're thinking about the kinds of factors
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  Speaker 1: that influence our behavior.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, our behaviors and our actions, both our private
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  Speaker 2: thoughts and our observable behaviors are developed in shaped through
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  Speaker 2: a complex series of interactions with our environment and with
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  Speaker 2: our external world and against the capacities of our unique
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  Speaker 2: individual biologies. Basically that says is that we have to
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  Speaker 2: be equipped to be able to interact with the environment.
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  Speaker 2: For us to be able to have behaviors and have
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  Speaker 2: thoughts about what's happening in our environment, we need to
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  Speaker 2: be able to have basically the hardware to be able
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  Speaker 2: to connect with the world around us. Thus, even what
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  Speaker 2: I am thinking, silently, rehearsing, talking to my remembering, reminiscing
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  Speaker 2: any of those things, I am doing something with my
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  Speaker 2: brain that is the product of various experiences that gave
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  Speaker 2: me language with which I curate those thoughts and opinions.
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  Speaker 2: Without my biology, I cannot have the conversations or even
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  Speaker 2: the thoughts about the external world around me.
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  Speaker 1: And without my experiences to help shape that, then the
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  Speaker 1: biology wouldn't be doing anything. Yeah, Like, without experiences, our
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  Speaker 1: biology is not going to just spontaneously produce language, and
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  Speaker 1: without the experiences of those things that we're not going
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  Speaker 1: to be having thoughts about things we've never experienced, like
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  Speaker 1: I never think about that one time that I was
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  Speaker 1: stranded on Europa, because I was never stranded on Europa.
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  Speaker 1: But I also can't even think about Europa without having
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  Speaker 1: heard about what Europa is and having heard the name,
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  Speaker 1: so like, I have to understand that Europa is a
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  Speaker 1: place that is not Earth on which I could be
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  Speaker 1: stranded to even have said, I'm not having a thought
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  Speaker 1: about that place right. So again it speaks back to
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  Speaker 1: the fact that we have to we can always trace
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  Speaker 1: back the origin, the progender, the originator of these things
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  Speaker 1: to our experiences out in the world, and that we
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  Speaker 1: do need to have that biological capacity to process it,
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  Speaker 1: to organize it in some particular way. But how we
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  Speaker 1: do that is unique to our upbringing, in our language,
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  Speaker 1: our culture, and our experiences. So our actions might feel intentional,
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  Speaker 1: while our thoughts feel uncontrolled. And this is we're speculating
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  Speaker 1: a bit here, But I think it makes a lot
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  Speaker 1: of sense if we consider it like this. I think
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  Speaker 1: it's likely that we have a difficult time tracing the
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  Speaker 1: origin of our thoughts back to the external factor because
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  Speaker 1: unlike with our actions, there's no additional intermediate step with
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  Speaker 1: which we acknowledge the factors. The environmental factors and then
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  Speaker 1: decide to slot those into categorical thoughts. Right Like, we
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  Speaker 1: don't have the step where it's like we get to
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  Speaker 1: acknowledge the pre thought internal event that then became a thought.
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  Speaker 1: It was just external environment happened, and then we also
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  Speaker 1: had behavior with respect to that that happens to be
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  Speaker 1: inside of us, things that we're still doing, but we're
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  Speaker 1: still behaving with respect to that environment. Right then, when
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  Speaker 1: we do those actions, we act on those thoughts. We
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  Speaker 1: treat the actions as if the thought was the progenitor
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  Speaker 1: of that action. But again, the action we can trace
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  Speaker 1: back to the thought which was immediately available to us.
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  Speaker 1: So we understand like how we got there, but then
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  Speaker 1: we stopped there. We struggle to trace it back further
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  Speaker 1: to the environmental variable that actually then produced the thought
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  Speaker 1: or the action or both, and oftentimes they happen at
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  Speaker 1: the same time, right like. And so we have these
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  Speaker 1: mitigating sort of language things. We're engaging in language, and
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  Speaker 1: then we subsequently engage in other types of behavior. And
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  Speaker 1: when I say language, I'm talking about private thoughts right now.
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  Speaker 1: But those are not in and of themselves causes of behavior.
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  Speaker 1: Those are just types of behaviors that then can interact
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  Speaker 1: with a sequence of behaviors that are in themselves an
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  Speaker 1: ongoing interaction with our environment. But the locus of control
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  Speaker 1: for those thoughts and actions still rests and the internal
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  Speaker 1: the external variables that had to be there for us
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  Speaker 1: to ever get started on that whatever role we were on.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Absolutely so, pragmatically, it is useful for us to
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  Speaker 2: focus on the role of the environment and the influence
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  Speaker 2: of our actions to help people live the lives they
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  Speaker 2: would like to have. We can change the environment in
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  Speaker 2: a way that results in the behavior change that they
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  Speaker 2: want to see. We cannot change their behavior or their
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  Speaker 2: thoughts specifically, at least not directly. It might take some time,
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  Speaker 2: it might take some work, it might take some self reflection,
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  Speaker 2: and there's lots of things that can happen. We cannot
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  Speaker 2: enter somebody's brain and change their genetics and rifle around
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  Speaker 2: in there and do some type of total recall there like.
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  Speaker 1: We can't do that.
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  Speaker 2: What we can do we can do is we can
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  Speaker 2: alter the environment and improve their quality of life and
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  Speaker 2: work with them to figure out what their goals and
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  Speaker 2: their dreams are.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's say we have like a neighborhood like dumpster.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone sort of has to take their trash to this dumpster,
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  Speaker 1: and people are not correctly locking the dumpster, which means
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  Speaker 1: that like a bunch of wild animals are getting into it.
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  Speaker 1: What I cannot do is go into their heads and
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  Speaker 1: plant the idea and the belief and the promise that
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  Speaker 1: they will subsequently lock that dumpster, even if I say
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  Speaker 1: those words to them. What I can do is put
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  Speaker 1: an automatic lock on the dumpster so that as soon
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  Speaker 1: as it's closed, it locks again. Or I could put
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  Speaker 1: up a sign that says, please remember to lock the dumpster,
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  Speaker 1: and then that will influence those behaviors, because then there
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  Speaker 1: is some thing that is influencing what they do. But
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  Speaker 1: like I can't do anything to people's thoughts, what I
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  Speaker 1: can do is do things to the environment. And if
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  Speaker 1: I put up a sign that's changing the environment, that
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  Speaker 1: subsequently changes behavior. But again that's where the locus of
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  Speaker 1: control lies, and it's far easier to make the change
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  Speaker 1: there where we can then shape behavior in the direction
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  Speaker 1: that people would like it to go, than to try
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  Speaker 1: and go in and change anything about their thoughts. And
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  Speaker 1: we can try and get at it with language. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: that's essentially how a lot of talk therapy and psychotherapy
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  Speaker 1: works is to try and get after the thoughts with language.
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  Speaker 1: But that's only one part of the puzzle, and it
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  Speaker 1: can be a really important part. And I think I
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  Speaker 1: want to definitely espouse the benefits of therapy as a
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  Speaker 1: very good, positive force for good in many people's lives,
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  Speaker 1: and it should be coupled with actual concrete behavior changes
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  Speaker 1: as well that allow people to not just necessarily change
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  Speaker 1: their thoughts, but also have their other actions correspond with
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  Speaker 1: those thoughts. Cool, all right, Well, that is a short
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  Speaker 1: way of talking about a complex philosophical topic that you
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• 12:45
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• 12:49
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• 12:52
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• 12:54
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• 13:01
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• 13:05
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• 13:08
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  Speaker 2: Yes, love it.
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• 13:32
  Speaker 1: so much to my team for helping make this podcast
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  Speaker 1: a thing. Is there anything you'd like to add or
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  Speaker 1: anything I forgot before we wrap up this mini and
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  Speaker 1: send it away? Nope, got nothing else perfect. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for recording with me today, Shane. Thank you everyone for listening.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Why We Do What We Do mini is out bie
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: you've been listening to Why We Do What We Do.
• 13:51
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. I hope you have an awesome day.