Saturday, June 25, 2016

Vicarious Emotional Conditioning

Vicarious emotional responses, are classically conditioned emotional responses that result from seeing those emotional responses exhibited by others. In the book the example for this is given of the NS being Jelly fish, US the look of fear in others, and UR fear in oneself. This then leading to CS Jelly fish, directly to CR fear in one self. This topic stood out to me because it was extremely relatable in my case when my sister was younger she suffered from asthma, and because of this she developed a needle trauma. Approximately 17 years have passed and she still struggles to get blood drawn. Now I, being the younger sister and experiencing this growing up alongside of her, have developed the "fear" of getting blood drawn as well. Although, I have no reason to feel this way toward needles as I was not the one that in any form should have suffered trauma, but from seeing the way she reacted to them I developed the same fear. She'll poke fun of me here and there, but it makes complete sense that I acquired this fear by learning it from her, she does not even allow people to touch her in that area of her arm as it causes her to cry. Although, I don't go as far as crying when someone touches that particular area of my arm I do not enjoy it one bit. It amazes me how children soak everything in, and develop phobias, or fears they ultimately could possibly carry for the rest of their lives.

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