# Actual Freedom – Definitions

# Definitions ## Condition; Conditioning; Socialisation Condition: condition: a thing on whose existence or fulfilment that of another depends; a prerequisite; (in pl.): circumstances, esp. those necessary for a thing’s existence. (Oxford Dictionary). Conditioning: Conditioned behaviour: The word ‘conditioned’ has specific connotations, in behaviour theory, as behaviourists recognise two sorts of conditioning: classical (or respondent) conditioning and operant (or instrumental) conditioning. In the late 19th century the Russian physiologist Mr. Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning, while studying digestion, when he found that dogs automatically salivate at the sight of food – a simple reflex behaviour or an unconditioned response to an unconditioned stimulus – and if a bell was rung whenever food was offered the dogs began to associate this irrelevant (conditioned) stimulus with the food until eventually the sound of the bell alone could elicit salivation. Thus the dogs had learned to relate a certain cue with food ... and this process can be described as one of stimulus substitution. Another example is laboratory rats being conditioned to respond with fear to a tone by having the tone initially paired with the passage of an electric shock through a metal plate upon which the rat is standing – thereafter the sound of the tone is sufficient to produce the fear response – and the tone is known as the conditioned (or conditional) stimulus and the rat’s fear, upon hearing the tone, is known as the conditioned response. What operant conditioning works on is the principle of reward and punishment in order to shape behaviour ... a spontaneous (or operant) behaviour is either reinforced (rewarded) or discouraged (punished) so that the reinforced behaviour increases or the discouraged behaviour decreases. For example, a rodent is taught to press a bar for food by first being rewarded for facing the correct end of the cage; next being rewarded only when it stands at the bar; next only when it touches the bar with its body (and so on) until the behaviour is moulded to suit the task. Hence operant conditioning differs from classical conditioning in that reinforcement occurs only after the organism executes a predesignated behavioural act (and no unconditioned stimulus is used to initiate the specific act to be conditioned) and is contingent on the wilful actions of the subject. The same type of conditioning can also be applied to an action that allows the organism to escape from or avoid painful or noxious stimuli ... and it is this type of conditioning where most learning occurs. This sort of trial-and-error learning, combined with the associative learning of classical conditioning, can serve to link any number of reflexes and simple responses into composite chains which depend on whatever cues the world about provides. As the process of conditioning (training) animals has a distinct similarity to how parents/guardians and other well-meaning adults teach young children it is not all that difficult to see that every new generation – the latest recruits to the human race – are spoon-fed the veritable mish-mash of conditioning which constitutes the social mores (all the beliefs, ideas, theories, concepts, maxims, dictums, truths, factoids, philosophies, values, principles, ideals, standards, credos, doctrines, tenets, canons, morals, ethics, customs, traditions, psittacisms, superstitions, myths, legends, folklores, imaginations, divinations, visions, fantasies, chimeras, illusions, delusions, hallucinations and whatever other schemes and dreams, which presently constitutes human wisdom, there may be) in a process called socialisation. Socialisation: Socialisation (noun): the action or fact of socialising something or someone; spec. in sociology, the process of forming or adapting oneself to associations, esp. the process of acquiring the necessary values and behaviour modifications for the stability of the social group of which one is a member. socialise (verb): make social; make fit to live in society; spec. in sociology, transmit to (an individual) the cultural values and behaviour standards of the social group of which he or she is a member. (Oxford Dictionary). RETURN TO DEFINITIONS INDEX RICHARD’S HOME PAGE The Third Alternative (Peace On Earth In This Life Time As This Flesh And Blood Body) Here is an actual freedom from the Human Condition, surpassing Spiritual Enlightenment and any other Altered State Of Consciousness, and challenging all philosophy, psychiatry, metaphysics (including quantum physics with its mystic cosmogony), anthropology, sociology ... and any religion along with its paranormal theology. Discarding all of the beliefs that have held humankind in thralldom for aeons, the way has now been discovered that cuts through the ‘Tried and True’ and enables anyone to be, for the first time, a fully free and autonomous individual living in utter peace and tranquillity, beholden to no-one. Richard's Text ©The Actual Freedom Trust: 1997- . All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer and Use Restrictions and Guarantee of Authenticity