Neural-association work

Continuing my discussion from my last post on "P's of decision-making" Let us move forward to see what elements of pain and pleasure influence our decision-making behaviour. 

To understand this we need to understand the following concepts(Based on B F Skinner's reinforcement theory/operational conditioning):

a) Reinforcement: We use reinforcement when we want to increase the frequency of the behaviour. This boosts the behaviour. There are two types of reinforcements

    i) Positive reinforcement: Positive consequences that increase the probability of the behaviour I want

                                                 to see. 

    ii) Negative reinforcement: Negative consequences are withheld, thus increasing the probability of the

                                                    behaviour I want to see. 

b) Punishment: We use punishments when we want to reduce the frequency of behaviour. 

In the course of decision-making, we actually operate on the reinforcement principle only and not on punishment. 

    This topic took me to my school days when I cleared my 10th examination and was able to decide which steam I had to continue. In my school, we had science with mathematics and informatics practices, biology, biology with mathematics, and commerce.  I always wanted to study computer science so I tried to get good scores. At that time the teacher in the computer science department was partial(I felt like that). For this reason, I chose biology with mathematics. My brain was carried to this painful feeling of being neglected and ignored over the pleasure of learning something that charms me rules over. More than pleasure, it is our pain experience that leads our decision-making. More than intellectual calculation we use our emotional attachments to these events that lead our decisions.

    Having known which emotion is regulating my decision-making process, I can make better decisions. Let me explain this with an example

Junior A was working with Senior B on a project. Senior B instructed Junior A to manipulate data and present the accounts for approval. Junior A did not like this concept as it did not align with her value system, hence, she revealed this concept to the supersenior C to whom she submitted the work. This breaching of levels was perceived among seniors as a serious offence and they all boycotted Junior A. Sometimes passed by and Junior A needed help from seniors which she asked. The seniors remembered the shame that was brought by Junior A upon them and this pain made them not help her which could have been fatal for Junior A. Here, the seniors who are so experienced and full of wisdom chose to refrain from helping Junior A why? This is because they can feel the pain of shame overwhelm the pleasure of helping the junior. If I know what emotions as associated with my particular type of decision, I can work on my irrational thoughts leading to negative emotions and negatively reinforce them to yield better decision-making. 

For example, Author Antony Robbins said that he had seen his father taking beer and being ok and fine so he said to his mother that he wanted to take beer. At first, she was reluctant and she refused but he said that his father drank and he was okay. She knew that he was not going to stop even if she insisted. If he doesn't drink here, he will drink somewhere else since he has decided to do so. Understanding her resistant behaviour was because of the fear that he too would become an excessive beer drinker(Punishment move). Immediately, understanding the consequences of this move she shifted to a negative reinforcement move and that worked quite well. She told the author that you can drink beer provided that you drink like your dad. The author happily said yes because he has seen his father being quite comfortable after drinking beer. The mother put the condition that you have to drink six altogether. He said okay because he has seen it go well with his father(pleasure). As the author tasted it for the first time it was bitter and bad. He didn't want to continue but he just somehow finished the first can. Mom serves the next. He gently says, "No Mom, I am done."  Mom was adamant and made him drink the second and the third one until he finally threw out everything. This bad experience made the author decide not to drink beer ever in his life. 

    Understanding our own emotions upon which we enact and make decisions is the gem discovery for oneself. With the help of this knowledge, we can either positively reinforce or negatively reinforce a behaviour, thereby making wise decisions. 

I think it would be wise to consider a butterfly who hops from flower to flower because in each flower she finds the nector she is seeking. This is positive reinforcement which makes the butterfly decide to fly from one flower to another. 

                                                        Image credit: MV-Fotos on Pixabay

The point of discussing this was to make you all aware that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies and emotions to link to pain or pleasure whichever we choose. Thus, by changing what we link to pain and pleasure, we will instantaneously change our behaviour. 

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2024

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