Going for walks

The main character, Alex, is forced to watch brutal video scenes while he is tortured by painful drug-induced symptoms. After having left the clinic, those symptoms now show up every time he becomes aggressive. Since the doctors also played Beethoven during the conditioning procedure, his compositions accidentally became a conditioned stimulus as well. A real tragedy: Alex, as Beethoven's biggest fan, isn't able to listen to the music anymore without having a breakdown. Now you are probably wondering if such a treatment as that found in A Clockwork Orange was also preformed in reality. In the 50s and 60s programs existed to cure people by means of aversion therapy from sexual preferences, which, at that time, were regarded as psychic disorders. In case of homosexuality, electro shockers were placed at that location of the male human body that is commonly known for being especially sensitive. The stimulus material was a picture collection of handsome looking men. Outside I was playing it cool, but inside, I was melting. We hit it off instantly. If she was really going to move into my home, I wanted to have an honest conversation about lifestyle, needs, values, and other important stuff. I suggested we sit down for a beer and get to know each other. I know that living with someone is a big commitment, and I wanted to make sure we would get along. As we sipped our drinks, we shared stories, asked questions, and talked honestly. We hit it off, and it wasn't long after she decided to move in that I invited her to go see a live band in Old City Philadelphia. We talked and laughed endlessly. It was a perfect night. I noticed that when the show began, we got closer to one another. We learn to do something new from watching others model the behavior. We unconsciously tend to mimic the nonverbal mannerisms of others.

We also shift our attitudes toward those of people we like. Social Priming Reminders of norms and values can influence behavior. Injunctive norms and descriptive norms can have different influences on behavior. Social Contagion Ideas, feelings, and behaviors can spread among people like wildfire. Social Construction Cultures prescribe particular norms for particular situations. And they had better not be your type: the penile plethysmograph gave an alarm when it registered any size changes, in which case an electric shock was immediately fired. It is more than doubtful that gay people left those conditioning labs as convinced heterosexuals. Aversion therapy has a very fundamental issue: it might ultimately be necessary to keep up the negative consequences forever. Because, if it stops, then it's possible that the tiger, that was tamed with so much effort, might go wild again. Relaxation techniques What is relaxation? A special mental and physiological state that most of us love to be in. But how to get there? Taking a hot bath while listening to smooth jazz? Going into the sauna and getting whipped with birch twigs? We were acting less and less like roommates having a night out and more and more like this was our first date. The night ended with our first kiss.

It didn't escape me throughout this entire experience that dating your roommate has disaster written all over it. Thankfully, my roommate was my soulmate. We spent every moment possible together. It all happened so fast. The next minute we were Christmas-tree shopping with our friends John and Tracy Kane. As I loaded the tree, John happened to see Tatyana talking with a little girl who was selling hot chocolate. John watched Tatyana give the little girl a $5. I knew that at that time Tatyana certainly didn't have any excess cash. These norms influence our behavior as the situation activates associated schemas. Similarly, our cultures teach us the generalized beliefs that accompany particular roles. Learning Outcomes Differentiate between informational and normative influence. List the personality and situational factors that influence our willingness to conform. Identify how the brain responds when we fail to conform and, thus, stick out from the crowd. Conformity is a phenomenon in which a given individual alters her beliefs, attitudes, or behavior to bring them in accordance with the behavior of others. Muzafer Sherif (1936) sought to study the possibility that even basic perceptions of events can be affected by efforts to bring one's own perceptions in line with those of others. To do so, he took advantage of a perceptual illusion first noted by astronomers. If a small, stationary point of light is shown in a pitch-black room, it appears to move. There are countless methods of relaxation. But if this is the case - why would there be any need for special techniques?

It's the simplicity. Sometimes you want to get relaxed, and there's just no opportunity to get a massage while you enjoy a glass of champagne. Systematic desensitization, as an example, required a relaxed patient, but behavioral therapists' offices and clinic rooms haven't always been places that charm you with their calming atmosphere. A very popular method is called progressive muscle relaxation, better known as PMR. It was developed 1929 by the American physician Edmund Jacobson. Here, single muscles (or muscle groups) are tensed for about 6 seconds, and then relaxed for about 20 - 40 seconds. The most important part is to focus on the difference between these two muscle states. The advanced user may even start to omit the tension part, and simply try to relax the muscles by pure will. She was working two jobs to pay the bills, and every dollar counted. Tatyana didn't know that John had seen this whole thing go down, but later, when John pulled me aside and told me the story, he said, In that moment, I saw her heart. I see why you love her. You can learn a lot about someone by how they act when nobody is watching. Little did Tatyana know that her $5 keep the change moment was important for our relationship. Her actions influenced John, and John's comment influenced me. One year after Tatyana moved in as my roommate, I proposed, and six months after that, we were married in her hometown of Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. People ask me today, How did you know she was the one? The answer, You'll know when you don't have to ask that question. Learning to listen to our hearts, especially with relationships, is one of the most important skills to develop. This false perception of movement is known as the autokinetic effect. The phenomenon whereby an individual alters his or her beliefs, attitudes, or behavior to bring them in accordance with those of a majority.

Sherif sought to determine whether other people could influence an individual's perceptions of how much the point of light moves. First, he had people individually judge how much the point of light moved. He got various estimates (see FIGURE 7. Then he put two or three people together in a dark room and had them call out estimates of how much the light was moving. He made the quite remarkable finding that people started out with varying estimates, but after only a few trials they came to agree on a particular estimate of how much the light moved. He also showed that if he planted a confederate in the group who made a particularly large assessment of the distance moved, that person could move the group norm to a higher estimate. Furthermore, if the confederate was replaced by new, naive participants, the remaining group members would sustain the group norm and bring the new participants on board with them (Jacobs & Campbell, 1961). This tradition continued over five generations of participants. And the expert version: doing all this in a situation that is not suited for relaxation at all: while standing, walking through a crowded street, or even while angrily sitting in the office after a horrible meeting. On YouTube you can find thousands of PMR instructional videos. The amount is so big that you may pick you preferences: male or female voice, time-saving 10-minute exercise or 30-minute extended version, with hypnotizing synthie-sounds in the background or pure-voice-mode, etc In the German PMR section, you may even choose to be addressed by the formal Sie or the more intimate Du. Many of those speakers talk in such a sedative way that you often get into a sleepy state very quick - irrespective of what exactly they are telling you to do. In behavioral therapy, PMR is probably the most common relaxation technique. Today, you will meet it not only in a psychotherapeutic context, but everywhere: in hospitals, universities, gyms, and even as part of the wellness program on cruise ships. The chances are high, that at some point in life you have already practised PMR. Hands: making fists. Pressing the elbows against the chair, the own body, or the ground. Moving the eyebrows up or down. When I wake up each day, I think that one of the most important relationships of my life is out there, and I may have the opportunity to meet them. GIVE AND TAKE