Conditioned Responses

At the turn of the century, a Russian scientist named I. P. Pavlov conducted what is now considered a classic experiment. He presented a neutral stimulus, such as ringing a bell, to hungry dogs, then followed it by giving the animals food. The food caused the dogs to salivate. With repetition, the neutral stimulus (the bell) became associated with the food and would, by itself, cause salivation. This type of conditioning is called a conditioned response.

Many human reactions and behaviors are a type of conditioned response. Consider the saying “Mom’s cooking tastes best.” Mom could be a terrible cook and the saying would still be true because her children would have been conditioned to her cooking. This explains why food in foreign countries often tastes “funny.” The same is true with clothing fashions. Pictures of clothes worn ten years ago look odd because we have been slowly reconditioning ourselves to the fashions of today. In fact, many daily activities such as driving a car have a host of conditioned responses associated with them. Without these patterns we couldn’t function in daily life.

One of the most important aspect of conditioned response reactions is that there is no logical thinking associated with them. They are automatic, unconscious reactions. A simple way to understand this is to pretend that you are connected to a device that can give you an electric shock, and that I will administer that shock every time I say the word purple. If I continue to do this, you will begin to twitch whenever I say, “Purple.” Then, even though I disconnect the wires, destroy the device, and explain that you will not be shocked any more, I can still say the word purple and you will twitch.

This is an important point because much of the popular psychology found in self-help books aimed at the general public today is insight oriented. This means that the authors of such books concentrate on explaining why you act and feel the way you do. The assumption is that once you understand the causes of a problem, the problem will disappear. Unfortunately, while insight is useful, insight alone usually does not change the way a person thinks and acts.

This does not mean that insight is worthless. Insight and knowledge have an important place, as can be seen in the example of playing a musical instrument. If you don’t know the basic principles of musical notation and proper fingering, you cannot practice correctly. While insight and knowledge alone do not provide you with the skills you need, they are a necessary first step.

Now let’s return to the electric shock example. If I continue to say “purple” over and over without giving you a shock, you will stop twitching after some time has passed. You will become desensitized to the word. Indeed, this is what happened in Kimberly’s case. Over time she again became comfortable in the various situations that had been triggering symptoms when she first came to see me. This is the second point about condition responses. It is possible to desensitize yourself so that a stimulus or “trigger” will no longer set off a conditioned response.

Two other points about conditioned response reactions need to be made. First, a conditioned response reaction can generalize. This occurs when responses similar to the original conditioned response begin to trigger the reaction. This is a common experience with many anxiety-related problems. For example. A person who has experienced panic attacks while driving on the freeway may begin to experience them with all types of driving.

The second point that need to be understood is spontaneous recovery. Once a person has desensitized to a situation, the old conditioned response will sometimes reoccur. Returning to the electric shock example, let’s say that you have fully desensitized to the word “purple” and are no longer responding to it. If, a few days later, I suddenly say “purple”, there is a good chance that you may react to it. However, you will quickly stop reacting if I continue to say “purple”.

Because anxiety sufferers don’t understand this process they often become very alarmed when old symptoms reoccur after a period of absence. If you don’t reinforce the symptoms with fearful thoughts, they will quickly go away. Unfortunately, many people begin to dwell on the old fearful thoughts and quickly re-establish the old conditioned response patterns. To prevent this, it’s important to remember that symptoms that recur after a period of absence are just a message that you have some business to take care of. It may simply have been that you were sick, hungry, or tired. Or, it may be that you are facing an issue that is difficult for you to deal with such as setting limits with someone who is threatening or making a difficult decision. It may also be that the symptoms are simply a message that you’re doing too much or that the pressures you are facing in your life are more troublesome than you want to admit.

(Excerpted from the books Anxiety, Phobias & Panic and
Overcoming Anxiety)

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