If a horse receives a mild electric shock from a metal plate on the floor of its stall every time a bell rings, it will very soon come to associate the bell with the imminent shock and lift its hoof to avoid it. Once this conditioned reflex has been established, the shock mechanism can be turned off, and the horse will continue to lift its hoof whenever the bell rings. And every time it does this, the “success” of the action, i.e., the nonoccurrence of the shock, further convinces it that lifting its hoof is the “right” reaction. It never learns that the bell is no longer followed by a shock. For all practical purposes, it has acquired a neurotic symptom, persisting in an action that once was appropriate but no longer is. And, it need hardly be said, this kind of problem is by no means limited to animals.1
How many of us are blindly repeating behaviours that, at one time or another, were advantageous (if not life-saving), without realising that the context in which these habits were developed has changed?
The examples are endless. Here are three.
- You develop an obsessive attention to detail due to growing up in a highly critical household. Now, as an adult, your perfectionism persists absent the external criticism that inspired it.
- You start drinking to ease the pain of a break-up, only to become dependent on alcohol to stave off future depressive episodes.
- At school, you were bullied for being overweight. You decide to improve your diet and take up cycling. Eventually you slim down, receiving praise for your new look. You now live abroad, away from your school bullies, but continue to obsess about your weight and body fat percentage, fearing that you will be judged negatively unless you look a certain way.
