Are you classically conditioned?

I suppose it's safe to assume we are all classically conditioned in many ways but I've recently started to identify some of them and when I do it's accompanied by a kind of Aha moment. It's kinda fun and a little scary.

two ways that I'm conditioned:

When I hear the sound of someone brushing their teeth from far off I become overwhelmed with a sense of dread. I'm sure this happens because when I was a kid the only time I ever heard this sound was when my family was all getting ready to go out somewhere and my mother still brushing her teeth would come to me giving me some last minute chore or tell me my clothes aren't nice enough for the occasion etc.

The sound of those generic thin metal blinds being opened very quickly makes me feel uneasy, lazy and unaccomplished. i believe this is the case because often as a kid i would spend days indoors watching TV or some kind of activity and my mom would come home and immediately open the blinds to "let some sunshine into the house" remarking how its such a nice day out and I've spent it all indoors.


I was wondering if anyone else has some of these they can share and if they have overcome any of them.

What is "classically conditioned"?

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Originally Posted by DarkComrade

What is "classically conditioned"?

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Google is your friend.

Basically, one stimuli accompanies another so often that you begin to associate the two; being presented with one stimulus can elicit the reaction one would expect from the other stimulus, without that other stimulus necessarily being present.

Once, when I was really sick and kept throwing up, mom used watermelon soap to wash out the vomit bucket between uses. Now the smell of watermelon soap makes me nauseous.

A few times when I was a kid, my really nice and loving big brother would pop balloons in my face. Now I'm unsettled by popping balloons if I'm too close to them. Gunshots are fine, fireworks are fine... Any other explosion or popping is fine, but the accompanying sting of the balloon skin (and the usually unpredictable and unpreventable loudness) haunts me. My friends and boyfriend have found out, and they can literally chase me to my room by threatening to pop a balloon. ;__;

Throwing up after consuming certain alcoholic beverages -> You will never ever like it ... I know how it feels!

Does waking up immediately the moment I hear my mum's voice (even if it's not directed to me) counts because I've always been scolded by her?

I tend to get depressed at 5pm+ and I hate to see the sun go under. Because back in the day (the sun goes under at 5pm here in winter) it meant around that time my mother would be drunk again. She would cry, get anger bursts and colorfully cursed at everything without direct reason. I longed so hard for the morning because she would finally be sober and she would be the sweetest and most loving mother on Earth. And so my best time of the day is in the morning.

I get nervous when the sun goes down, probably has to do with my Dad's alcoholism.

I just hate to get wet in the rain and whenever I hear rain,I get really upset

Nice thread, interesting topic.

The smells that books give off have always affected me and filled me with otherwise-lost memories of previous books that were printed in the same place (or with the same paper or whatever it is). Harry Potter books used to give me unbelievable nostalgia... I wonder if they still would. Whenever I open a new book, I smell it and let the memories seep in.

The sound of a train induces dread and loneliness in me because I used to visit my ex-bf via train. I hated going home so much I'd usually be holding back tears and that train sound would always accompany those moments. On the reverse, while leaving for his house I used to stay up all night and load myself with caffeine. So now whenever I feel caffeine and sleep lack I'll get the same feeling. I guess there are some positive associations with the train one too but the negative ones mostly overtake them.

That's probably the most intense, strange one. But, thinking about it, I'm sure we're all classically conditioned about everything somewhat. Even looking outside at this river, I feel a sense of calm as memories of swimming in lakes in my childhood come back. We have associations with everything, so much so that it almost seems to be a part of our brains' visual interpretations of the objects. Even looking at this garbage can, I know what it is because I have memories of using them before and I get feelings of how bad they can smell and their usefulness. But I guess 'classically conditioned' usually refers to associations that don't make sense, that aren't inherent in the objects or experiences themselves. There's no reason I should fear train noises now while I know I'm not going anywhere. But, in a way, the same thing is probably going on in the brain with the associations that make sense as with the ones that don't.

When I hear plates rattling, I immediately associate it with dinner.

after eating a meal, i have a massive craving for a cigarette

ugh

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Originally Posted by Dianeva

Harry Potter books used to give me unbelievable nostalgia... I wonder if they still would.

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Ha, I used to get the same thing from those books.

I think I've conditioned myself to become aroused while doing math work. It's actually quite distracting and annoying.

1. Swallowing anything that remotely resembles rizla results in me heaving for a good 5 minutes. An association between taking MDMA and throwing up once or twice.

2. Asphyxiation arouses me. I assume this relates to me wrestling an attractive older girl when I was very young. She smothered me.

3. The mere thought of me taking anti-histamines makes me drowsy.

Smells are especially big in terms of association with other memories, not sure why.

When I walk up to the second floor of my house, is has a certain smell in warm weather, and the moment I smell it all I can think about is Age of Empires 2. I was way into that game when I was younger, and back then that's where our only computer was (and now I can't imagine not having a computer in my room...and there was a time when I was amazed to have a TV in my room, imagine that).

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Originally Posted by Supernova

(and now I can't imagine not having a computer in my room...and there was a time when I was amazed to have a TV in my room, imagine that).

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Exactly the same for me.

A couple more I've thought of. I get terrified and want to run away or hide whenever someone gets angry, even if it's not directed at me. Probably from my mom yelling a lot while I was a kid. When a guitar is being played I get depressed, I'm not sure why.

Smells definitely. Just experienced this yesterday while taking my dog for a walk.

There was some faint smell, possibly from a tree but I can't be sure, that was exactly the same as a perfume this girl I loved used to wear.

There's also a smell of which I have no idea of the origin, that always reminds me of my Opa. It's a sort of musty, but not strong smell. Seems to come from nowhere occasionally.

I've actually noticed quite a few associations/conditionings I have. But can't remember them all.

Oh yeah! One is that beige type of colour that was standard on all classic computers.
Gets me really nostalgic for a time I barely experienced. Like, almost choking up nostalgic.

Some of these sound more like memory associations connected to scent (since scent is a marvelous memory trigger) than classical conditioning. (I have a few of those: orange cream scented candles remind me of Mario Kart 64, and lemon soap reminds me of Pokemon.)

Obviously discussing bacon makes me salivate. I'm salivating right now after typing bacon. Bacon bacon bacon!

The garage door opening excites me, I presume because when I was a kid, it meant my mom had returned home.

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Originally Posted by ThePreserver

Some of these sound more like memory associations connected to scent (since scent is a marvelous memory trigger) than classical conditioning. (I have a few of those: orange cream scented candles remind me of Mario Kart 64, and lemon soap reminds me of Pokemon.)

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Pretty much the same thing, no?

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Originally Posted by ThePreserver

Obviously discussing bacon makes me salivate. I'm salivating right now after typing bacon. Bacon bacon bacon!

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haha oh man, every time I open a Crunchie bar I drool haha. I have to make sure I swallow before I go to eat it otherwise I drool xD It's horrible, but uncontrollable.

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Originally Posted by Abra

Google is your friend.

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Lie my real friends don't spy on me and always want to know where I am and what I'm doing.


Anyways every time a car I'm in starts I have to put my seat belt on or I feel awkward and like my chest is falling open. I used to have to smoke a cig every time I ate a meal, but now I quit :)

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Originally Posted by ThePreserver

Some of these sound more like memory associations connected to scent (since scent is a marvelous memory trigger) than classical conditioning. (I have a few of those: orange cream scented candles remind me of Mario Kart 64, and lemon soap reminds me of Pokemon.)
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The taste off Doritos Habanero, not sure if they even make them anymore, Remind me of the movie Detroit Rock City, because the first time I ever had them i was watching that movie for the first time.

A smell I sometimes identify as lavender makes me all warm and fuzzy because when I was a kid, I collected My Little Ponies and they came with scented stickers back then. The sticker to one of my favorite ponies had that scent so now it makes me happy :)

In my teens and early 20's, I could not even discuss abortion without breaking down in hysterics. One day, I had a memory of being about 7 years old at a church we belonged to. All the kids were playing outside, but I went to one of the windows and tried to peek in. When the adults came out, they were crying or teary eyed, speaking of this great "evil" thing called abortion. I had no idea what it was, but the reaction of the adults stuck with me.

I have a slight bondage fetish because when I was about 4 years old, I decided to make some jello for my baby brother. I made a staircase out of my stuffed animals, lol, to reach the salt and pepper- you know, all the important ingredients :P. But when I came down, I noticed magazines at the bottom. In one of them were two pages with women on them. One was "dressed" as a cop and had a baton. The other was bald, naked and cuffed to a chair. To this day (I'm now 38 years old), I can see the image rather clearly.

I can't handle crowds in certain instances. I fall right to sleep, uncontrollably. I call that "chaos". My childhood was filled with chaos and I often escaped by sleeping.
On the other hand, if I'm sleep deprived, smaller crowds put me in a creative mood because to escape the chaos of school, I often wrote stories.

Really cool thread idea. I also share the window blinds one.

The smell of daffodils brings me a lot of joy, probably because I associate them with gardening with my grandmother.
When I see crystals catching light I feel very nervous because I broke a crystal sculpture of a lady who was a family friend when I was young.

Cars always remind me of my color blindness even if its obvious what color the car is. This is probably because when I was a kid we got a light green car which I would confuse with many other common colors. Our car was a rather unusual color and any silver, tan, and light brown (common car colors) would look the same to me. They still do but now whenever I see a motor vehicle, especially Hyundais since that's the car we had, I think of being color blind.

Also, pools depress me. Not because I have anything against them, in fact I enjoy swimming, but because it means its summer. On the reverse, a closed pool makes me smile. This is all because I love winter and don't enjoy summer. I don't hate summer I just don't find it enjoyable. Not sure if this one counts as being classically conditioned but it might :).