Why do Intelligent People Still Believe in Religion? Part 34. Positive Connotations and Belief | GinaConspiracy
In Reinforcement there are 2 types negative and positive Positive reinforcement is getting a reward or praise
Negative reinforcement is using the method removing or avoiding yelling or spanking Negative reinforcement has been shown through many studies to work well in the short term but be less effective over the long term Positive memories linked with learning tends to help solidify them into the long term brain while negative memories solidify easier into the short term memory because cortisol is needed for short term memory This is why you might be able to quote montey python verbatim when drug or just very relaxed but can't remember where you left your keys “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was created by human observation and intuition, but the actual scientific data is as it often is, counter intuative
Liberal churches use Positive reinforcement which keeps their people coming back long term Fundamentalist churches use negative reinforcement which if you are able to leave that church you will probably never come back Many of the more liberal religions tend to rely on positive reinforcement, feelings of spirituality, acceptance of science and evidence to prevent cognitive dissonance, live music, social acceptance and a warm environment If they fail at these things they lose people I in fact have received letters from people who are having trouble losing their faith because they have such good memories link with their religion
I had one who lived in Sicily in a mob heavy area His priest was loving and kind and beloved of everyone He was shot directly in the face by a mobster and did nothing to defend himself Everytime this subscriber thought about losing his faith he felt guilty and like he was betraying his priest because he was such a good christian I had to tell him that this man was a good person, not a good christian
This man would have been just as good regardless of the religion, just as there are bad Christians and bad atheists This must have helped him because he is now a very deep thinking atheist I have known many people with such positive connotations to their religion that they have no reason at all to leave it or bother questioning it There are probably issues they act hypocritically on but the forgiveness factor helps out especially if they doubt or show tolerance to their fellow human who does not believe They follow the blessed are the peacemakers and the meek passage, and are possibly oblivious to the parts where Jesus said I am not come to bring peace but a sword
The church provides a spiritual service just like any other spiritualist business and if they fail at providing that service then they lose business, as is happening in much of Europe right now Although I wish they didn't get to provide this business tax free In these churches even if the person leaves the church for a long period of time they will still have good connotations and will probably come back especially when age increases or they fall on hard times Negative reinforcement also has another problem involved with it that makes it less effective Many time a child or pet can become desensitized to the unpleasant stimuli making you have to up the anti and continue to make the punishment harsher until it borders on abuse and then nothing you do to the child will have any effect anymore
There are many better alternatives to spanking and yelling which I will not go into here, but look them up such as ignoring when a child is doing something for attention, or the one-armed bandit style of partial reinforcement Unfortunately when it comes to the use of hell as a negative reinforcement of behavior, abuse is most certainly what it is, even if there are no visible scars or bruises One final point on operant conditioning is the idea of Vicarious conditioning Mirror neurons give us the ability to feel like we are doing what something else is feeling or doing This has allowed us to learn a wide variety of things from stone tools to playing a complex piano piece
It has also allowed us to feel empathy for one another a be stronger as a group instead of a weak individual Vicarious conditioning is a powerful force especially when it comes down to the “do what I say not what I do” mindset of many parents A significant percentage of children of domestic violence go on to propogate spouse abuse The same is true with parents of smokers, compulsive gamblers, obesity and alcoholics Why? Because beside the probability of genetic predisposition, your mind has also picked up a lot of your parents habits, attitudes and philosophies on life
Also your mirror neurons are able to feel as if they have actually done what your parents just did Not being around violence growing up, I don't really know how to be violent or abusive If I was to do so, it would take practice and breaking through my comfort zone to to get myself to that point Children of abuse know the ins and out of abuse It is more a normal thing to them so using it is much easier than it could ever be for me
Breaking that normal of what you know verses a possible better lifestyle full of little unknowns that require practice makes one uncomfortable because it changes who they are and their self-image even if its being changed into a better person Weed is considered a gateway drug Why? Because to get it you have to go through a dealer and and break the law Doing these things desensitizes one to the threat of the law, and while they are at it you don't view a dealer as doing something bad The comfort zone of staying in the law is broken so why not try some other drugs while you are at? Most people I knew around me did not really seem to truly have joy about their religion
Their Joy and belief seemed forced My mother however expressed joy and love when discussing jesus which I learned to feel vicariously Also her reactions of negativity or sin and hell reinforced my fears of hell If not for my mother, I would have never found god to to make any logical sense Humor helped with the unlearning process and pushed me to question and get me past my comfort zone
One of my mother's responces effected me up to this point and I've only in the past year been able to get over Anytime a youtuber discussed being gay be it BionicDance or ProfMth I would feel an ingrained sinking sadness for them, like they just said they had cancer and were obviously beyond hope This is a response of judgment I learned from my mother vicariously Over the past year I have thrown science at the emotion any times it comes up Being gay is only sad because the person is not accepted and will probably experience persecution through their life
Evolution made them that way and going with the flow of nature always works better than going against it I have realized recently that when someone says they are gay I no longer get that feeling of judgemental sadness for them They are just people like me, just different Commericals use vicarious conditioning as well, using positive reactions in hopes that you will learn to pick up those emotions to their product as well Kids are faster at picking up vicarious conditioning so america aims many commericals at children
Because Children cannot accurately understand the difference between reality and fantasy, in many countries advertising to children is considered a form of child abuse In America it is a $50B industry Check out my video on brainwashing for how both advertising and religion use the negative reinforcement to get you to buy what they have to sell Ok guys the overcoming hadephobia may take me a few weeks as it requires going to the library and doing research there, none of the books I own going into the methods as detailed as I'd like and not being a psychologist I don't want to give out bad advice So stay tuned and I will get this video done soon
Take care!
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