My Pavlov's Response

Ivan Pavlov was the first man to  describe the "classic conditioning" phenomenon.    You may remember learning about him, or not.  He observed that when a dog saw food, he began to salivate before even eating the food.  Pavlov began to add extra stimuli (i.e. the sounding of a metronome) as food is introduced to the dog.  After a few repetitions of this type of conditioning, he tested the subject's salivation response after adding the extra stimulus only (sounding the metronome without the food).  Sure enough, the dog began to salivate, even without the presence of food. 

(Picture came from here)

After months of exposure, I have found that I also have been classically conditioned.  You see, I have an iPhone.  Whenever I have a new e-mail, or a missed call, or a text message, a little red circle will pop up with a number in it.  I will read every text message, listen to every voicemail, and view every e-mail, because the dot told me to.  I'll even download app updates just to get rid of those red dots.

  Now, if I see anything resembling this numbered red dot, I give it my undivided attention, and I do whatever I need to do to make that red dot go away.  If my husband knew the power of "classic conditioning" and the hold that it has on my psyche, he could probably get me to do a lot more of the chores around the house.  

You are probably asking yourself, "But, now that you've told the entire universe via the world wide web about your iPhoneiphilic weakness, won't he find out?"

Therein lies the power of conditioning.  After many months of babbling and rambling on and on and on about blogging, I have conditioned him to tune me out as soon as I say, "Guess what I blogged about today..."

What is your Pavlov's response?