Everyone knows what behavior is but they just don't agree on it.

ABSTRACT: Studying "behavior" lies at the heart of many disciplines. Nevertheless, academics rarely provide an explicit definition of what "behavior" actually is. What range of definitions do people use, and how does that vary across disciplines? To answer these questions, we have developed a survey to probe what constitutes "behavior." We find that academics adopt different definitions of behavior according to their academic discipline, animal model that they work with, and level of academic seniority. Using hierarchical clustering, we identify at least six distinct types of "behavior" which are used in seven distinct operational archetypes of "behavior." Individual respondents have clear consistent definitions of behavior, but these definitions are not consistent across the population. Our study i

SUBMITTER: Calhoun AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10638025 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature