Final answer:
The Mandt System asserts that behavior is a tool people employ to achieve a certain end or to distance themselves from undesired situations, individuals, or locations. Behavior can serve strategic purposes, such as goal attainment, or expressive purposes, which manifest personal identity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Mandt System teaches that behavior is what people employ to get and/or get away from something, someone, or someplace. The term 'employ' implies a strategic use of behavior as a means to an end, similar to how one might strategically take actions to achieve objectives. For instance, a student might study diligently not just for the sake of learning, but to attain a high grade, while someone else might participate in an election both to support a candidate and to express their personal identity to their peers.
This approach is consistent with the Determinist view in that if conditioning's or 'buttons' are known, one can 'push' these to elicit a preprogrammed response. Therefore, in behavior, there is often an overlap between strategic (instrumental) and expressive (emotional) reasons driving the acts people perform. For example, a person may act strategically by deliberating over the most effective means to gain a desired outcome, whereas the same person might express certain traits or beliefs through their behavior, not solely for the objective but to express their identity.