Thursday, October 16, 2014
Classical Conditioning in Domestic Violence
What is domestic violence to do with learning right?
For one, this is domestic violence month. Secondly the survivors of domestic violence have a long road ahead of them to heal and be normal again. When I say domestic violence I am talking about domestic violence in the context of changing the behavior of the survivors. If there is a way to undo the damage of abuse by applying the learning theory, may be the survivors can escape the trauma of their experiences easily.
It is said that abused people develop PTSD, which is at a higher rate compared to military personal developing PTSD after the war.
So for an abused person their fear, their reactions to environments, their anger in situations consumes them. Most of the time facing the day today is a nightmare.
Why is that?
It is said that classical conditioning involves a response over which the learners have no control. When a person is abused their emotions, logical mind, and body start responding to certain events are involuntary. They lose control over everything. They are always responding and reacting because the conditional response makes them to anticipate and prepare for the worst. Their attitude also changes, All these happen because of association with fear.
So if we agree that classical conditioning plays a role why is it hard for the survivors be normal once they leave the abuser or the situation.
I think that is where the spontaneous recovery happens. Spontaneous recovery is recurrence of the conditioned response after a rest period. Though the response is weaker it still happens. That is why it is hard for the survivors to move forward.
When the abuser cannot leave the abuser or the situation their conditional response may develop into generalization. Generalization happens when the conditional response happens to other stimuli the same way,
When the response of the abused person is generalized can they be called as victims even though they are alive?
What learning theory can one apply to make these victims a survivor again?
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I get ask all the time, if a person is unhappy in an abusive relationship, why don't they leave. I try to explain to them exactly what this article says, but what most people don't realize is that most victims, especially those of the higher level are lifetime victims who suffered abuse as children. In many ways, we are all conditioned to perform good or bad behaviors from the moment we leave the womb. Depended on the responses we get from our first caregivers will determine our disposition and vulnerability to victim-status.
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