Human Behavior
By definition, human behavior is the collection of activities performed by human beings and influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, and/or coercion. (Wikipedia, 2006). There are so many factors affecting human behavior that there hardly nothing left for his/her own choosing at all. A person usually is a part of a society. Each society consists of smaller communities, and communities, in their turn, consist of groups. It is commonly accepted that one has a role to play in every correspondent situation. Every role has its own set of norms and rules to be followed. For example, a man, playing a role of a good husband, should take his wife out on weekends and kiss her goodbye every morning. As a worker of the corporation, he should prepare financial reports on time and behave professionally and competently during a working day. As a member of the ex-bachelors-squash-club, he should exercise regularly, stay in shape, and have a good sense of humor. As a son, he should call parents on weekends and get together with family on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. As a member of the society in general, he should give presents on birthdays, send thank you notes after holidays, send condolences in case of acquaintance’s death, say hello to neighbors, and so on. Only in one case his human behavior is almost 100% a matter of his own choosing. This case might take place if this gentleman has enough funds to allow himself a vacation on uninhabited island in Pacific.
To each set of norms, there is a package of specific cultural and ethnic shades. For example, if our gentleman is English man, he would send his condolences by card. In the best case, he would call this family. If our gentleman is Spanish, he might leave work and spend two days with a family, helping around, cooking and supporting them morally. In intercultural communication studies, those two types of national personalities are called linear-active and multi-active (R. D. Lewis) Thus, the community, in which a person was raised, plays a significant role in his/her character and behavior modification. Community unites people by place of living, race, religion or job (Oxford Dictionary). Mormon girl, for example, would never swim in a regular swimming suite in the water park, while protestant girl will have no problem with it. The reasons for such behavior are hidden in the early life period of the both girls. Mormon community has strong religious beliefs about the acceptable social behavior, which includes extreme modesty, shyness, honesty and conservative closing in all situations. Protestant community has moderate viewpoint on everyday life, and the children are raised with a different world perception, where the inner purity and beauty play significant role, while outward expressions of it do not matter as much, as they do in Mormon community. The attitude of Chicago “dwellers” is different from Green Bay (WI, USA) or Shawano (WI, USA) for the similar reasons. 
Although a community puts a uniform on mind of its members, it gives back security and common good in turn. It is expressed in local community privileges, extra information, or sometimes – discounts. The most successful and popular people in communities and society had always been people who found a good balance line between maintaining their individuality, while wearing community’s uniform.
Bibliography:
1) Wikipedia (n.d.), the free Encyclopedia. Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
2) Richard D. Lewis, When Cultures Collide, London, 1999
3) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Sixth Edition. By Sally Wehmeier. 2001.