I didn’t think that that would be the title to my first article but here we are.
Unless you have psychic abilities, you might be wondering “What does Vale mean by dog saliva?” I am not referring to a secret ingredient in a product you can buy, or that you should find the nearest dog and collect samples of their saliva (please don’t do that, that’s gross). I am actually talking about a psychology concept called Classical Conditioning, with the experiment commonly known as Pavlov’s Dogs!
Some backstory: there was this Russian guy called Ivan Pavlov who, years and years ago, was studying something that is irrelevant to you and your best self so I’m not even gonna go into it, but he was using dogs. Pavlov would feed the dogs, and the dogs, as dogs do would salivate once they noticed the food. But then, mind you he discovered this accidentally since HE WASN’T EVEN A PSYCHOLOGIST, that after a while dogs were able to find a pattern of behavior when they were being fed, therefore they would salivate even when there was no food.
For example, they would hear a specific sound whenever they were fed, and after several repetitions, they would think that sound = food, even if there was no food! This meant that the sound, by association, could trigger salivation, which was a wild discovery.
So, what does that have to do with you? The answer is EVERYTHING. The more I learn about human behavior the more I realize that humans are monkeys who forgot how to be monkeys. And, deep down, just like any other intelligent specie, we can be trained to perform a desired trait until it becomes a habit.
Let’s say that I want to start drinking more water. I first need to find something that means nothing to me, for example, the UT tower bells (I’m sorry for saying that, Hook’em Horns). This is called a neutral stimulus, and what I have to do is consciously, I have to take a sip of water every. time. I hear the bells ring, which is about every 15 minutes so at least I’m not dying from dehydration. If I do it enough times for a consistent amount of time, I will eventually do it automatically. I will just reach for my water bottle whenever I listen to my now conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus + or action, without even noticing what I am doing because it now becomes a habit.
You can apply this knowledge to basically any area of your life. Studying more, working out, eating healthier etc. This is the basis of challenges such as the 75 Hard challenge and why they could potentially work in the long run if you keep it up.
If there is any STEM-related topic you’re interested in and you’d like for me to explain dm me on insta: @valemarxx
Please use your new-found power for good and NOT EVIL. I believe in you.
Vale.