- Question
Can people change their behavior?
Can people genuinely change how they behave? This entry sets out the two positions on the question — that people can change their behaviour, and that they cannot — weighing habit and character against growth and will.
Position 1 of 2
Read this position →Yes, people can change their behavior
This position holds that behaviour is learned and sustained by circumstance, so it can be relearned. On this view people change when incentives, environments, habits and self-understanding change, and the capacity for such change does not expire.
Position 2 of 2
Read this position →No, people cannot change their behavior
This position holds that behaviour follows from temperament and long-settled disposition, which do not move. On this view what passes for change is a change of circumstance, a performance for an audience, or an effort that lapses under strain.