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Associations and the Conditioned Mind
Basic Theme:
The mind operates by an associational process in which the contents of consciousness generated by the senses, instincts, movements, emotions, thoughts, desires and intents and so on, interact with a vast associational network. The associational network consists of a set of linked nodes, in which the activation of one node leads to the activation of other nodes in the network to which it is linked, thus forming a chain of successively activated nodes and hence an association. The associations can be in a quiescent state, a state primed for activation by the activation of nearby nodes, activated, and dissipating in activation. Only a subset of activated nodes tend to lie within the perceptual field of the observer at any one time. The degree of intensity of the perceptual field will vary across the set of activated nodes and those nodes at the center of attention are perceived with the greatest intensity and hence are usually given the most importance at that time.
Associations primarily apply to thought but other types of associations are possible.
Thought - thought associations are the most obvious and most easily observable.
Thought - feeling associations.
Feeling - thought associations.
Instinctual - motor associations.
Sensory - motor associations.
Thought - motor associations.
Here we will be concerned primarily with thought to thought associations.
Implications:
1. A subset of the total information coming into our mind from the senses or a thought generated, etc. will activate previously stored associations and/or cause new associative links to form.
2. Activated associations can stimulate further associations.
3. "Thinking" can be passive, in which one association follows another in a near automatic and chain-like manner, activating previously stored associations in the network. This occurs when one is daydreaming or babbling, for example. Thinking can also be active, in which associations are searched for when not appearing spontaneously, such as when one is trying to remember something.
4. Associations take at least a small effort to be created in the first place.
5. Once an association is set up between one thought and another thought or between an environmental stimulus and a thought, feeling or behavior pattern, the reoccurrence of the stimulus will tend to cause the manifestation of that association.
6. Because of 5., routines and habits are easily established. When one enters an environment where one has previously been, the same environmental stimuli will tend to stimulate whatever associations have been previously established as a result of prior interactions with that environment. If this is a behavior pattern then that behavior will likely be the one to occur unless specifically deterred by an act of will or the occurrence of another stimulus (say a hunger pang arises suddenly). For example, one might enter one's favorite coffee shop and then decide to order one's usual beverage. Likewise this happens with sets of thoughts. A stimulus of one thought will lead to the occurrence of previously associated thoughts. Thus people will often repeat a story or phrase they have used before when the same or a similar triggering stimulus arises. This effect often produces the sense in conversation of people simply "playing tapes" stored in their heads.
7. The general predisposition of the mind to form associations allows us to learn large quantities of information and form behavior patterns. This is a useful quality but also has many side effects. The stored information and behavior patterns will tend to be activated automatically, i.e. subconsciously whenever the appropriate stimulus arises. This is efficient if the information is useful in a given context, say the skills needed to drive a car are activated when the context of driving arises, but also tends to make us very machine-like in our behavior, thinking and feeling. Since this activation stimulation occurs almost automatically, the predisposition to follow that association can only be broken or redirected by using an act of will in some manner. An example with which many people are probably familiar occurs when one has a usual route that one takes when driving from one's home to work. If one happens to be driving along that route but intends to go to a different place at some point, and the driver starts daydreaming or forgets about their current destination for some reason, they may find that they missed their turnoff and are headed to their workplace, simply by force of habit.
7b. Another related side effect will be the tendency to form inadvertent associations. We can be easily influenced by what other people or we ourselves, say in a given situation, since associations will often be formed as a matter of course from material presented in close temporal proximity. Thus if one person says "All Russians are communists" then that will be taken into one's associational network related to "Russians". Now unless one exerts one's will and modifies the association, perhaps by adding another thought or statement, such as "That idea is clearly wrong", then it will be put into one's associational network in a relatively unmodified fashion depending, of course, on how much one paid attention to the statement at that time, one's mood, etc. This points to principle 8.
8. Associations are mainly modified by the addition of other associations rather than the breaking of the association. Associations are difficult to break directly and to do so requires either a strong act of will in order not to follow the association or the strong application of focused objective attention to breakdown and melt the association. Most people use such approaches to break associations only on rare occasions. This is why it is often so hard to break routines and habits once they are established. So either a new routine is established or the old one is simply broken, but the former case is far more common than the latter.
9. A given stimulus can have multiple links to various nodes in the associational network. Most nodes do. In fact a set of nodes linked together in a single chain without any other links, effectively forms a single node. This is good when a linked set of behaviors needs to be activated, such as one's automobile driving ability or the ability to comprehend a written sentence. Thus in general, when a given node is activated, that node's links will be activated as well, and there will be competition between the various pathways for activation of the next node. Eventually one pathway gains dominance. How that happens needs further investigation since in principle one could easily have many nodes being activated simultaneously, but that doesn't seem to happen with regard to the thought process or motor movements, etc. We mostly only have one thought or action at a time and thoughts and actions follow each other in a linear series. So there must be some means of trimming the potential "associational explosion" that could occur in the activation of an associational network.
10. Given the difficulty of breaking an associational pattern once formed, the first association that is formed in a given situation will act to prevent the formation of different associations when the same stimulus arises. This fact explains an important aspect of life. Children have few preestablished associations, so the associations that arise initially form a pattern of associations that compete with all later patterns. Thus it is very hard to erase one's initially imprinted patterns unless one makes a specific effort to recognize and change them. This explains why people tend to carry a significant percentage of their childhood associations all the way through their lives. Any later beliefs are evaluated in terms of the previously established patterns and tend to be accepted or rejected on that comparison. Thus one's associational pattern's tend to shape one's behavior and thought patterns, and that in turn determines, in part, the associations that will occur later through addition to one's associational network.
11. Another important fact is that our ideas don't tend to change much unless one is exposed to other ideas or new information. This is why one's idea's about other people, races or cultures don't change much unless one is exposed to new information or actual experience with those other peoples, races and cultures. This explains the persistence of prejudice. If exposure to new information does occur then one is often forced to compare one's previously established patterns to that new information and change the prior associations consciously or sometimes subconsciously. Or failing that, at least new associations will have been established that will compete with the old patterns. Thus exposure to new environments, idea's and concepts is essential for change to occur in one's associational networks. This is especially visible when one leaves one's home environment and travels to a foreign country in which basic customs are different.
12. Conversely, changes in one's thought patterns can also be prevented from occurring by previously established patterns that cause behaviors that prevent contact or exposure to new environments. For example, established habits and routines will simply prevent one from meeting new people or going to new places or exploring new books or forms of entertainment, for example, since one will tend to stick to what one knows and thus simply experience the same or similar environmental stimuli over and over again.
13. When one is confronted with a new situation where one doesn't know how to act properly, precedence assumes great importance. Thus in looking for a way to deal with a new situation, one must either think of a new way or method, look to what has previously been done (precedence), or failing that, engage in some rather random behavior which will tend to be reinforced by a repeat of the situation.
14. If a random or senseless behavior occurs in the new situation, that behavior will tend to be reinforced and form a new pattern, when the stimulus repeats, simply because it happened to be what one did at that time. An experiment with chickens illustrated this effect clearly. Chickens were kept in cages and required to peck at a lever bar to get food. However the food was not always given when the chicken pecked the bar so that the chicken wouldn't clearly form the idea that "pecking the bar = food". It was observed in some cases that if the chicken had happened to scratch the ground before pecking the bar ( a common chicken behavior) and then gotten food they would tend to repeat the scratching before pecking the bar thereafter. They would repeat this behavior even when they got no food. Getting food later when the scratching was done and the bar was pecked would reinforce this behavior but not getting any food would not dampen the prepecking scratching behavior. Sounds like religion doesn't it? A desired result is attributed to one's own actions or those of the proper deity, but any undesired result is chalked up to the vagaries of nature or the improper performance of the behavior or some such vague notion , i.e. one's mind tends to go out of focus when one's associational patterns are challenged. For example, people will pray to God for certain benefits and be thankful if they occur, but if disasters happen, it is chalked up to the fact that "God works in mysterious ways". In the past at least, people were more consistent and considered disasters to be the product of divine retribution or disfavor. This example leads to the next principle.
15. When no associational patterns are present to guide one's behavior this is considered an extremely undesirable and uncomfortable state. Thus any pattern will be preferred to guide one's behavior than no pattern at all. This again leads to the dominance of initially established patterns, even if the pattern does not have any real value. It is also the reason why people that are confronted with a new situation can be easily dominated by someone who gives guidance or pretends to give guidance (like parents or prophets), whether that guidance is helpful or not. People will even actively seek patterns if none are obvious and this leads to easy manipulation by political leaders, prophets, salesmen, strong minded peers, etc. This also explains why there is always so much discussion and debate when a new situation with no obvious solution (like global warming) is confronted. When there are no previous guidelines, suggestions must be made and tested by thought extrapolations or deeds.
16. When one is confronted with a challenge to one's idea's, then if one doesn't have enough energy to deal with the challenge directly then one will tend to avoid, ignore or suppress the challenge rather than see if one's present associational framework can accommodate the challenge. Thus all stimuli that are presented to one can be sorted by their innate agreements or discrepancies with one's previously established associational networks.
17. Since it takes energy to change one's associational network and thus one's thoughts and behaviors, there is a natural resistance to doing so. This is also in part because the new idea's and patterns must be strongly enough presented so that one is not put in the state described in 15. by the abandonment of one's present associational networks. Thus any change required, must be convincing. There must be a great need (such as the threat of extinction if one stays on one's present course, or one has to deal with raising a first born child for example) before one will switch over to a new pattern. If a great need presents itself, one will be put into the situation where one knows one must change but the new pattern to be adopted is not obvious and thus the situations in 14. and 15. will occur. So people will tend to stick to the idea's and behaviors they have previously established if they can, unless new ideas are strongly enough presented OR a great need forces changes to occur. (But what about boredom and the need for innovation? This is a problem caused by a need for stimulation and an increase of one's conscious energy supply after certain interactions have become too mechanical to supply much energy or excitement).
18. When one confronts oneself, one finds a vacuum. We have no idea who we really are. In this regard we are in the position described in 15. Thus over time, we start to build up a set of ideas about who and what we think we are. In this project, we are often heavily influenced by the statements that people around us, such as our parents or peers, make about us in the early stages of our development. This shows the danger and so called psychological damage that can be done in the early stages of life (or when entering a new job or new relationship, etc. later in life) to the idea of who we think we are. Since this idea usually has no competing idea (unless one has a multiple personality) we often believe it is REAL rather than just being a constructed model. Thus we tend to form a so-called self-image which is simply the set of ideas we have formed about ourselves. Once a self-image is created, most of us will try to actively maintain and reinforce the self-image. Challenges to our established self image are very threatening because we will be put in situation 15. without it, due to our mistaken belief that our self image IS our self.
19. The formation and maintenance of a self image leads to a whole host of human behaviors:
a. Socialization, the process of attacking and molding others and one's own self image until there is a reasonable amount of accommodation between the interacting sets of self images. For example, one may have to learn proper manners to interact in a socially acceptable way in "polite society". Or one has to learn how to do one's job in a manner acceptable to one's boss and fellow employees when working in a large company.
b. The importance of self esteem in motivating one's actions. Unless one's self image can withstand attacks, then one will not be able to plot one's course very well through the social resistance offered by other people's idea's, when they defer from one's own.
c. The characteristic pattern of rebellion by teenagers or minorities, etc. that occurs in order to establish their own self identity after having passively accepted influences about who they are. Thus in being forced to become an adult one goes from a mainly passive state to a temporarily active state in forming one's self image. This is in part motivated by the realization that one will have to survive on one's own, especially in a society such as modern America, and thus you will have to make one's own decisions. Therefore, most people who are "well-adjusted" or adjusting begin to wake up to the fact that they need some sort of guidance. This leads to the establishment of one's identity in early adulthood through various experiences and encounters, the difficulty depending on how well adapted one is to the adult life one finds oneself experiencing based on earlier conditioning. A second period of self-identity crisis occurs with the so called "midlife crises" when our young adulthood self image, which has served us so far, gets increasingly challenged by the realities of the aging process. Another sort of "midlife crisis" occurs when our early dreams about life such as "finding my prince or princess", or "becoming famous", or "very rich", etc. begin to meet the reality that these dreams are probably not going to be fulfilled, or being fulfilled, turn out to be very hollow experiences after all. So one has to learn to deal with the fact that life often does not turn out the way one expected or thought it should.
20. Self-identities are of two types, at least. One has one’s basic, generic self identity that simply grows over time and a set of role playing identities. Role playing identities are those that serve a purpose and can be considered as tools for focusing one’s mind. Sometimes they are assumed consciously or may just be inadvertently accreted. Examples of role playing identities are those involving professions. For example, one might consider oneself an artist, which helps a person focus on and produce art, or the role might be that of a scientist, which helps one focus on and do science, or it could be that of a lawyer or priest or doctor or athlete or housewife or farmer, etc. These are useful to adopt and sometimes even necessary in order to perform a given type of job but they can come to consume a person if taken too seriously. A person can often have several role playing identities, for example, one for their main job and others for their hobbies or for social interactions that are activated in the proper situations. If the roles are activated in the wrong circumstances, such as people who can only “talk shop” in social situations, that might cause some disharmony and pain in one’s life. Knowing that one can actually adopt roles and change them is very important for mental health as is realizing that they are only tools or models that overly one’s deeper self. Of course, sometimes this kind of knowledge is used to adopt roles for the purposes of manipulating others but all role playing identities also involve a component of manipulating the other in addition to oneself.
21. Many social changes in modern culture have arisen simply by the realization that role playing identities are not fixed and can be changed. For example, one major change in Western society was that from a social class system where people were stuck in a given traditional class by birth or early circumstances to a more socially open and fluid society. Another was the change from the idea that there are certain fixed roles for women and men.
22. A formalization and crystallization process of one's associations and ideas can occur over time with familiarity. The more formalized one's idea's become, in the sense that they become more explicit and obvious to oneself, the easier it is to compare the formalized idea's to reality, change the idea's because one can now look at the idea's apart from oneself, cling to the ideas as a form of security, or refine and hone the routines that go with the idea's. For example, people often tend to refine their religious beliefs into a small set of statements that can then be questioned or challenged because speaking about (or acting on) the beliefs in many situations will lead to more chances of challenging encounters.
23. Science works because the idea's of science are constantly being actively formalized, actively compared to reality through predictions and the comparison of those predictions with experimentation and observation. They are then actively modified as a result of that comparison.
Racism, self image problems, prejudices, etc. are rampant in the world because the formalization, comparison and modification process is stalled by lack of exposure to challenging situations and the selective interpretation of events that do occur and they are hindered by a lack of new models to adopt in place of the old.
Exoteric religions, those that involve public rituals, intellectual beliefs and recommeded behavior patterns, often survive because there is no way of comparing their idea's to reality. No real challenge is possible and thus religious IDEA'S and superstitions can survive.
In other socially constructed institutions, such as economic systems, it is easier to compare them with reality in order to come to some evaluation of the worth of the system. Centrally planned economies or socialist systems have proven to be inefficient in the long term compared to free market systems because the forces involved in modifying behavior patterns and methods of production and distribution, such as free market competition, are much weaker. There is little incentive to improve the systems that have been set up previously. Hence inefficiencies persist on a long term basis. So systems require other systems for comparison purposes the relative value of various systems. Of course, the perceived value of a particular system will depend on other cultural and social values that can produce differing value criteria.
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