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• Usually the youngest, the "mascot" of the family will exhibit this behavior
  
• Appear fragile, less mature, not ready to face hard realities of life
  
• People tend to censor information given them, so as to not overwhelm them
  
• Class clown or cut up
  
• Life of the party
  
• A natural wit, comic, or jokester
  
• Humorous or outrageous antics
  
• "Hell" raisers
  
• Create fun wherever they go
  
• Hyperactive with bursts of sudden and erratic behavior
  
• Annoying habits, squirming, interrupting, doing "crazy" things
  
• Showmanship, ability to entertain on the spot
  
• Hard to ignore; acting cute, helpless, or showing off
  
• Joke all the time, never appearing to take anything seriously
  
• Never taken seriously by others
  
• Nothing appears to bother them
  
• Distractors; do and say things irrelevant to what anyone else is doing or saying
  
• Incessant talkers
  
• Fragile people needing to be protected
  
• Attention getters
  
• Leave you off guard; never tell you what they are thinking
  

II. Feelings inside persons in the entertaining behavior role:

• Fear of impending danger to themselves, family, others
• Feel alone, helpless and confused
• Lack true information as to why things seem troubled in the systems in which they live, work, or learn
• Sensitive to clues about the "truth" of the existence of problems in their systems
• Frightened and anxious about the troubles and problems in their systems
• Fear for their own sanity since they seem to sense the existence of problems, but no one tells them the truth and they question their own perceptions
• Satisfaction from attention given to their "antics"
• Insecure in the system, which on the surface makes them believe everything is OK even though their "radar" tells them differently
• Never know what others are thinking
• Afraid of something, but are not sure what it is
• Sense of inadequacy
• Feeling of being unimportant
• Guilty for not doing enough to reduce the tension in their systems
• Low self-esteem when negative attention is given to their agitating behavior
• Afraid to look inside themselves

• Low self-esteem
  
• Helps those with the problem behavior to ignore reality
  
• Relief of tension for those in the ``troubled'' system
  
• Gains spotlight, taking it off of problems while evoking feelings of enjoyment or irritation by their behavior
  
• Behavior is hard to ignore; draws total attention to themselves
  
• Inability to concentrate on work or studies
  
• Hard to relax; can't control agitated behavior
  
• Stress-related physical illnesses
  
• Feelings of isolation, loneliness, and shyness
  
• Inability to establish close, intimate relationships
  
• Manipulation to control situation, eliciting the response they desire, diverting attention from real problem
  
• Limited repertoire of behavioral response to problems or conflicts; divert by humor or agitation
  
• Need for attention and social contact comes close to the compulsion level
  
• Never learned to cope with stress
  
• Trouble accepting other people's feelings
  
• Inability to express their own feelings
  
• Resort to chemicals to reduce stress
  
• Suicide can be an easy way out
  

IV. Some beliefs of persons in the entertaining behavior role:

• The most important task in life is to keep people happy.
• If you have people who are unhappy, it is your responsibility to make them happy.
• A joke a day keeps the doctor away.
• If I didn't laugh about it, I'd be crying all the time.
• Do whatever it takes to get a laugh out of them.
• Laughing and smiling by others is their sign of approval of me.
• My behavior must be OK because they laugh at it.
• You can get away with a lot as long as it is funny and entertaining to others.
• You help people by making them laugh.
• Keep your mind off your problems since you can't do anything about them.
• The only time I know they care about me is when they pay attention to me.
• Do anything for attention, positive or negative, as long as it is attention.
• When you are feeling blue you should always do something stupid or funny to hide your feelings.
• People won't like you if they know how you are really feeling or what you are really thinking.
• Don't trust anyone with your inner feelings.
• Smile all of the time; it makes you happy.
• Let everyone else take care of you, it is easier that way.
• It is better to get everybody smiling and laughing than to talk seriously.
• Everyone loves a clown.
• Take nothing seriously.

V. Turning negative entertaining behavior into positive potential: