Day-27: Defining Human Operant Conditioning

So im going to take a moment here to explain some of the basics of human operant conditioning. The goal is to empower us with the obvious commonsense that we have adjusted our behavior to seek our own comfort and so within doing so we have essentially become passive and apathetic to Life. Since this requires Challenging, it will be difficult and so requires persistence. I could remember as a child I would fight for change in human behavior. So if you have such memories of yourself standing up because you knew something was wrong, I suggest you get back to that place where you were as a child and would be willing to face situations. This is a strength within the power of Honesty in Seeing Directly how things are and how things are Unacceptable, and So Take that Commonsense and APPLY IT. 

            I took a Learning class last semester the spring of ’12. I had throughout the class made many connections between The Real Self as a Self-willing individual who does not Have to listen to Reward and Punishment. But instead can follow Higher Ideals even those which may be uncomfortable.

            Punishment can be done in two ways, Positive and Negative Punishment. The terms positive and negative refer just to the ADDING of a Stimulus or REMOVAL of a Stimulus. What makes Punishment, ‘punishment’ is that it is DECREASING Behavior. The other Technique is Reinforcement, where Behavior is INCREASING and it too can be Positive or Negative which is the same ADDING or REMOVAL of a stimulus. So far these terms are broadly defined and importantly FUNCTIONALLY defined. So it is not limited to any organisms, being or situation. It is limited to CONSISTENCY of the Relation of an OUTSIDE Stimulus to Influence the Behavior of the Beings.

Some examples,

            If you present a shock to a being and if the being finds it Aversive then you should be able to decrease a certain behavior by presenting the shock when the being performs this behavior. This Aversive stimuli could be replaced by any other Aversive Stimuli FOR that individual/being. If the being does not find it aversive then the being won’t adjust the behavior because of the stimuli. What I just described is Positive Punishment, since you introduce a stimulus in order to decrease a behavior. (there is  a major Assumption here that will be addressed in Forgiveness sections)

            Positive Reinforcement is similar to the Positive punishment in that a stimulus is given when a behavior is performed. In this case it would be a Rewarding stimulus. This would increase behavior, but only if the Being finds it rewarding/desirable. (again look to forgiveness section)

           Negative Punishment involves providing a rewarding stimulus and then Taking it Away when a behavior is performed so the being would decrease this behavior.

           Negative Reinforcement involves providing a shock and taking it away only when the desired behavior is performed by the being so that the being would increase the behavior.

These are the 4 combinations of contingencies that Behaviorists have used to control behavior.  But what determines the Behavior the BEHAVIORISTS deem should be increased/decreased? The whim of the person could decide it. In a recent Film that I watched Human Resources:SocialEngineering in the 20th Century (click to watch) One prominent point in the film was that control was done was for Convenience of the person doing said controlling behavior. The person’s desires and wishes could essentially run amok with no real concern for the individual he/she is controlling. One point of evidence of how humans are currently evil inside is in video games where individuals could kill, murder and abuse one another verbally for fun. Same as found in Youtube comments and in certain public chat rooms. The point of Absolute control is revealing how humans are too self-deluded and lost in desires. The list could continue, war, violence, murder, rape, accepting starvation and poverty. All revealing that humans are lost in points of self-gratification, self-comfort, and self-concern. A very related Phenomena that occurs so often that it is essentially being studied in psychology as principle of human behavior is a combination of these three terms: Pluralistic ignorance, Conformity, and the Bystander effect.

             Essentially on the Behavioral Level, Humans do not take action that would support themselves/the group or another when there are Other people around when the TROUBLING event occurs. Have you heard about those events where individuals watch as some rape occurs in apartments across the street? This Behavior is soooo common that it has its own special terms. I suggest googling these terms to find out more. Essentially I have to say that humans need to realize that they ARE in need of support to Change. This point of conformity is not even questioned in Clinical Psychology as something that needs Correcting/facing. It is assumed to be something natural or Adaptive. But if you find yourself watching a rape or murder happen and not do anything then realize we must change. We as all humans must change. We should set up supports and openly face our Conformity, Pluralistic ignorance, our Bystander effect, and ourselves and see how we have missed the value of Life. So we can realize what life is and the value of life.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to be concerned with my own self-interest and self-comfort with the excuse it is adaptive or is serving what is best for all, when really to do what is best for all one needs to start with what is best for all and not with comfort or self-interest first.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to as an adult lose commonsense that I had as a child that every other experience of any and every other being is equal to my experience such that if I were in their shoes I would experience what they experience and commonsense shows me what Real discomfort is and Fake discomfort because I participated in both where I would use Fake discomfort to get my own way and further abuse the resources and things available so I can get more for myself, indicating that to even start with this whole process to know what is Fake discomfort one had to know what real discomfort was, as this is something all children learn and realize as being a part of being a child.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to seek my own comfort as to adjust my behavior to create comfortable experiences for me as to give up a solution to this mess as this world, because I already have started from a starting point of self-interest, namely my comfort.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to accept and allow the programming that appears innate in every being, that is why we are in the situation we are now, not in directive control of reality, but in a place of reactions and compromise and giving IN, the program being that of adjusting your behavior when you experience discomfort or comfort not realizing that this automation, this rule of living a life will enslave that very life according to what other beings manipulate as our comfortability, physical or mental, which is why money is the sole source of power and why many starving people are in a powerless position as they have no money and those who have money, us, are stuck and like the bystander effect, conformity, and pluralistic ignorance we do not step outside our comfort zone to help to end REAL discomfort and Not Fake discomfort which is nothing in comparison to Real discomfort, as we realized as children that saw the truth for what it was and discomfort/comfort for what it was.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to stand eternally as a solution for this mess we are in, by starting from the starting point of what is best for all, so equality and oneness. Thus I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to have accepted and allowed in this world the giving IN and giving UP by seeking only MY HAPPINESS, MY COMFORTABILITY, MY CONCERN, and have several justifications like, ‘everyone is doing it,’ ‘I am doing my part,’ and not see how we each have to commit with this one life to really bring about a world that can sustain life, support life, where life can thrive, which require total dedication and movement in a balance way where we essentially do everything that can be done that will move humans to see what we are doing and stand with us and we have to carry through and carry out the actual changes so they actually are suitable for life and in line with what is best for all, where all parts are considered in the equation, and so requires that we be Meticulous, Thorough, and Complete in this World Process.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing a world where the source of Mental Health, Clinical Psychology, does not even attempt to treat the phenomena existing currently in humans, known as CONformity, Pluralistic Ignorance, and Bystander Effect, which all have obvious detrimental effects to Life, where Humans Stop Caring for Life and Only Care for Self-Interest, In stead of Having Real Programs That stand for Life and Stand From the Starting Point of Considering Life and from there take the necessary steps to create a human that stand by for and as Life.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to extend this point of comfortability/uncomfortability as Internal Forces we accept and allow to direct us, to our relationship to animals, where within Disobedience we treat animals harshly when they are not under our control to get them under our control, not even considering we are starting from Self-Interest and not considering the animal in their position and what would assist and support the animal in Living a Life of Worth, and so do this to All Life on this Planet.

To Be Continued....