Behavior is the way a person, animal, or thing acts or responds, especially in a particular situation. It includes both actions you can see and patterns over time.
“Behavior” comes from “behave” plus the noun-forming suffix “-ior.” “Behave” itself developed from older phrases about how someone “has” or carries themselves.
In science, “behavior” doesn’t just mean good or bad manners—it’s any observable action, like a plant turning toward light or a robot following a line. That broad meaning lets psychologists, biologists, and engineers all talk to each other using the same word.
‘Behavior’ has been pathologized differently across genders, with women’s and girls’ behavior often medicalized or moralized (e.g., ‘hysteria’) and men’s behavior more often framed as normative or excusable. In psychology and education, descriptions of ‘appropriate behavior’ have sometimes encoded gendered expectations.
Describe behavior in specific, observable terms rather than gendered stereotypes (e.g., avoid assuming assertiveness is ‘bad behavior’ in women but ‘leadership’ in men).
["conduct","actions","responses","patterns"]
Women researchers, educators, and clinicians have significantly advanced the study of behavior, often challenging biased assumptions in earlier work.
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