Every human being in the world exhibit unique characteristics. These characteristics include the manner of acting in your personal happiness, being emotionally attached to a thing and/or subject, and thinking independently from cultural influences. Also, the notion, being a product of your Environment plays an important part in who you are as an individual. Worst case scenario, how will people adapt to change, and is it possible. Can someone lose themselves outside of their comfort zone. These are the issues I want to explore, simply to understand human behavior when in survival mode.
It can be said, whenever our survival is at risk, living beings are instinctively triggered into survival mode. Survival mode, however, isn’t only a manifested state of fear, or the primal terror of death, but a human behavior to cope with an unwanted reality. Whenever fear of survival becomes a subject of living, we as human beings behave in a manner out of fear and confusion, inevitably eliminating morality and ethics. For instance, given a situation of starvation in a dystopian world, on impulse a human being will do whatever it takes to secure a source of food no matter the consequences. In theory, we are biologically designed to survive by all means necessary, in a broad sense to continue the protection of our life. And even if it means sacrificing knowing what’s wrong and what’s right, the human ability to adapt clouds perception as a way to survive in a fallen world.
According to Dr. John Montgomery, The human body has a natural primal instinct to survive.  Dr. Montgomery  states, “The brain is, in effect, tricked – typically unconsciously – into unnecessary states of survival mode, such as fear of relinquishing, not because of actual survival-threatening circumstances, but because our brains confuse our evolutionary past with our modern circumstances.” Thus, for humankind it isn’t survival of the fittest, but purely survival, period. Ultimately, fear, doubt, human instinct, and fear of death; these all revolve around survival, which lets humans go over their limits and see what they’re really capable of. As a whole, survival is a combination of physical, mental, and emotional challenges, challenges that can change human behavior at such an extent that it can change a person’s character.
The behavioral theory, which is the interaction between the individual and their environment, focuses on measurable and observable behavior rather than mental and emotion behavior. So in the development in a person’s personality will solely be based on what the individual is able to absorb in their given environment. Once a personality is developed a person is able to know, perceive and accept what they believe to be their happiness. In Psychology, ‘A Journal of Discovery,’ by Stephen Franzoi, the reader is informed “in the forth and third centuries B.C., Plato argued that individual differences are largely inborn and due to heredity (nature), while Aristotle stressed the importance of environmental factors (nurture).” Whether an individual is a product of their environment, or a reflection of their peers, all individuals have unique traits that is created through natural selection.
Work Cited:
Boundless. “Maslow’s Humanistic Theory of Personality.” Boundless Psychology. Boundless, 20 Sep. 2016. Retrieved 21 Nov. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/personality-16/humanistic-perspectives-on-personality-78/maslow-s-humanistic-theory-of-personality-307-12842/
Brenner, M. (2016). Psychology Touts Selfishness for Survival. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/psychology-touts-selfishn_b_9659922.html
Desai, S. (2016). Humanistic theory. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/behavior/theories-personality/v/humanistic-theory
Franzoi, S. (2002). Psychology, A journal of Discovery. Cincinnati, OH: Atomic Dog Publishing.
Montgomery, J. (2012). Survival Mode and Evolutionary Mismatch. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-embodied-mind/201212/survival-mode-and-evolutionary-mismatch
1. I’m interested in exploring how human behave in a post- apocalyptic/dystopian setting, as a means of survival.
2. I’m fascinated with the psychology of a dystopian world.
3. It can be said, whenever our survival is at risk, living beings are instinctively triggered into survival mode.
4. Survival mode, however, isn’t only a manifested state of fear, or primal terror of death, but a human behavior to cope with a fearful reality.
5. Whenever fear of survival becomes a subject of living, humans beings behave in a manner out of fear and confusion, inevitably eliminating morality and ethics.
6. For example, The Walking Dead, and many other apocalyptic fiction , forces us to examine the extreme behavior humans are capable of under extreme circumstances.
7. More or less, in extreme stressful situation, people often do things they didn’t believe they were capable of in order to survive.
8. Besides, the human mind is an important aspect to explore when writing apocalyptic text.
9. Remember, every person is unique and handle situations differently.
10. In theory, we are biologically designed to survive by all means necessary, in a broad sense to continue the protection of life.