The psychology behind conditioning

We're currently 15 days into 2022, and it's been so far so good for me at the moment. I say that, because I haven't been feeling anxious about anything during that time. Hence, I'm in a good enough headspace to be doing lots of blogging.

So... as the above title says, I'll be talking about how the term 'conditioning' works. This is another thing which I've been studying about in my college course over the last couple of months. I find it really interesting, due to the fascinating psychological effects it can have on people and even animals!

   What is conditioning?

Conditioning is, you work out a way to train a human being or an animal, to do something to make them respond in the way you want them to. 

The way how classic conditioning is demonstrated, is by using Ivan Pavlov's dog food and bell training example:

He trained his dog to respond the the sound of a bell, then he put a bowl of food infront of the dog, so he can make it produce saliva. (This is potentially known as unconditioned stimulus) Eventually, Pavlov will have trained the dog enough times to be able to automatically respond to the bell and show hunger, by salivering at the expectation of food. (Potentially known as conditioned stimulus)

That is where the chemistry comes into play. Pavlov has practically trained the dog to get hungry every time it hears the bell ring, even if there is no food! 

This similar kind of conditioning can may also be used on humans.

   

What goes through the minds of those during conditioning?

When one is currently under the spell of conditioning, they would think to themselves first time: "What is going on here?" Due to them being oblivious to what is happening to them. After many many practises of the conditioning spell later... One will eventually understand the routine, and will therefore think: "Oh, I know exactly what will happen now when I do this, so I must react to it immediately" 

To put this in more basic terms, your mind has adapted expectation skills.

In contrast to all the above, conditioning also defines as you being born to do something. An example of this, would be to always have a positive attitude in life. My conditioning falls under, as being the best person I can be. 

I reckon that just about wraps up that topic now.

Thank you for reading through, please feel free to let me know your thoughts and I should be back again sometime soon.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!😊