Ethogenics (/ˌiːθəˈdʒɛnɪks/; "the study of behavior as generated by persons who exhibit a character, an ethos",[1] from Greek ἦθος ethos, "custom, character" and γένος genos, "birth, generation") is an interdisciplinary social scientific approach that attempts to understand the systems of belief or means through which individuals attach significance to their actions and form their identities by linking these to the larger structure of rules (norms) and cultural resources in society.
The origins of ethogenic social science are in microsociology and symbolic interactionism: in particular, Erving Goffman's dramaturgical sociology and Harold Garfinkel's ethnomethodology.
The main thesis of this work is that mind is no sort of entity, but a system of beliefs structured by a cluster of grammatical models.
Kenneth Gergen argues that scientific activity (theories) also plays a significant role in constructing the reality and values of individuals.
Societal power relations are affected by groups who try to impose certain frameworks for understanding selfhood, which then guide action (Gergen 1989).