35 Human Behavior Research Topics & Questions
Human behavior is what defines pretty everything in our life. Our psychology, our social strategies, everything that we consider fully our choice can be described in terms of human behaviour science. From the one hand human behaviour is one of the most studied things we know – we had all the human history to research and experiment. But from the other hand there are still so many unknown, controversial or outright paradoxical things in it that it’s very tempting to fill one of the blank spaces with personal research.
To write a truly great research paper you have to answer some questions to yourself. First one is: are you more interested in human behaviour when human is alone or in a big group? Group behaviour usually drastically differs from the individual one: psychologists and sociologists even have a separate branch of their subjects to describe it. Individual behaviour is less predictable and much harder to analyze and process, because every human is unique, but studying it is much more rewarding.
The second question is: how much the subject of your research depends on cultural context? The dilemma of nature versus nurture isn’t solved yet, but one human traits are universal for everyone of for a certain type of people, but others are highly variable due to the culture and family the person is raised in. It is not an easy question to answers and usually the answer is combination of innate psychological traits and their response to the outer cultural dogmas.
Useful information: Does a research paper need a thesis?
The third question is: is what your studying a healthy trait or a pathologic one? This question differs from one about norm: for example in modern society it is almost normal to develop neurosis and depression as a response to excessive stress, but it is definitely not healthy. Does the subject of your research helps people develop, feel better in long terms and enhance their connection to reality or not?
After answering these questions you are ready to narrowing the broad topic of human behaviour to one subject. Feel free to look through our sample topics to get inspiration!
- When human behaviour became human?
- What traits we consider typically human we can meet in animals?
- Nature versus nurture. To what extentthe natural behaviour can be corrected?
- The phenomenon of “Mowgli kids” and their behavior
- The stages of human development and their impact on behaviour patterns
- The impact of the family or parental substitutes on behaviour
- Mating rituals or chivalrous romance? How do people court their love interests?
- Habits and their development
- How advertising uses our typical behaviour patterns?
- The importance of happiness
- Games and behaviour. Why do we like to play so much?
- Cults and sects. How do people get involved?
- The psychology of the crowd. What happens to person inside the crowd?
- Does natural morality exist or is it a social construct?
- Sex, gender and behaviour
- Is it good or bad?
- The typical responses to danger: run, fight, hide. Are they hardwired into us?
- Nonverbal communication: is it international?
- Depression and its impact on human behaviour
- Do LGBTQ+ people have typical behavioural patterns?
- The impact of social media and Internet on behaviour
- Porn and sexual attractions
- What is bipolar disorder in terms of behaviour?
- Social hierarchy and behaviour
- Are behavioural patterns connected to self-esteem?
- Elderly people and changes in their behaviour
- Drugs that change behaviour
- IQ and EQ and their impact on behaviour
- Religion and behavioural norms
- Culture clash and behaviour of people of mixed origins
- Correcting dysfunctional behaviour
- Propaganda and behaviour
- Artificially created social groups and their behaviour
- Trauma, PTSD and behaviour
- Defensive behaviour
