The following information is from a great book about self-improvement, entitled: 'The New Psycho-Cybernetics.' The author of this great book is Maxwell Maltz, M.D., F.I.C.S.:
In much the same way that you automatically obey or respond to the ring of the telephone, we all become conditioned to respond in a certain way to various stimuli in our environment.
The word "conditioning" in psychological circles grew out of Pavlov's well-known experiments where he "conditioned" a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell, by ringing it just before presenting food to the dog.
This procedure was repeated many times. First, the sound of the bell. A few seconds later, the appearance of food. The dog "learned" to respond to the sound of the bell by salivating in anticipation of the food.
Originally, the response made sense, the bell signified that food was forthcoming, and the dog got ready by salivating. However, after the process was repeated a number of times, the dog would continue to salivate whenever the bell was rung, whether or not food was immediately forthcoming. The dog had now become "conditioned" to salivate at the mere sound of the bell. Its response made no sense and served no good purpose, but it continued to respond in the same way out of habit.
There are a great many "bells," or disturbing stimuli, in our various environmental situations, to which we have become conditioned to and to which we continue to respond out of habit, whether or not the response makes any sense. But you are NOT a poor, dumb animal who must go through life so unwittingly and easily manipulated and controlled. You ARE a human being with creative powers, with the power of rational thinking, with the ability to assert yourself. YOU MUST DECIDE to be "worked like a dog" or to be your own person, to be controlled or to be in control. This is a decision with far-reaching consequences. It is the answer to the question, how can I get respect in a disrespectful world?
