Classical conditioning holds that a neutral stimulus, when associated with a specific response, will over time become a conditioned stimuli which triggers a conditioned response. It’s basic cause-effect relationship analysis. Ivan Pavlov made it a household concept by studying the relationship between a dog’s salivation and the presence of food. “Pavlov’s response” is one thing when it is generated under controlled laboratory conditions. It’s another thing altogether when it occurs in “the wild”, where the impact of conditioned stimuli and its related conditional response often goes unnoticed in a world which overlooks these relationships until it is too late.
In the North End neighborhood of the city of Albany, a seedier section of the capital of New York State where old brick buildings dating back to the late 19th century stand in various states of disrepair, sits a four-ton, 28-foot-tall steel and fiberglass statue of a fox terrier named Nipper, the canine mascot of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).
Nipper was one of four identical monumental terriers which were perched atop the regional distribution centers of RTA Corporation, an appliance distributor which specialized in RCA products; others graced the skylines of Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. Overtime, the other Nipper statues succumbed to time and waning economic fortune, their buildings being abandoned and eventually torn down, together with the statues. Only in Albany did Nipper live on, and in the process became an iconic landmark of the city itself, which has adopted Nipper as its unofficial de facto mascot.
Nipper is named after a fox terrier owned by Francis Barraud, an artist from Liverpool, England who, in 1898, upon seeing Nipper listening to a wind-up cylinder phonograph playing a recording of his owner’s voice (Barraud’s brother), captured the moment in a painting, “His Master’s Voice.” The painting later was used as the basis for trademarks of several companies, perhaps none more famous than RCA.
The cause-effect relationship between an owner’s voice and a pet dog is well known to anyone who has ever owned a dog—the master calls the dog’s name, and the dog responds by running to the sound of their master’s voice.
Dogs are conditioned to comprehend changes in the tone of their Master’s voice, knowing when the master is pleased or angry, and responding accordingly.
This is the byproduct of what is known as “classical conditioning”. Right about the time Nipper was captured tilting his head to the sound of his master’s voice, a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, was conducting research into the salivation of dogs. After inserting a small test tube into the mouths of his canine test subjects, the dogs were then fed with a special mix of powder made from meat. The experiment was predicated upon the assumption that dogs would salivate when presented with the food. But Pavlov soon discovered that the dogs began salivating when they heard the footsteps of his assistant down the hallway, who was bringing the food. Pavlov soon realized that stimuli that the dogs associated with food would trigger the same physiological reaction as the food itself—the classic “Pavlovian response.”
There are many scientific terms which came into being because of Pavlov’s work, and the work of psychologists who followed up on his findings. These are:
Neutral Stimulus (NS), a stimulus that initially does not elicit a particular response or reflex action. For example, in Pavlov’s experiment, the sound of his assistant’s footsteps was a neutral stimulus initially, as it did not cause the dogs to salivate.
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS), a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any learning needed. In Pavlov’s experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus as it automatically induced salivation in the dogs.
Conditioned Stimulus (CS), a previously neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly associated with an unconditioned stimulus, trigger a conditioned response. For instance, in Pavlov’s experiment, the assistant’s footsteps became a conditioned stimulus when the dogs learned to associate it with food.
Conditioned Response (CR), a learned response to the conditioned stimulus. In Pavlov’s experiment, salivating in response to the assistant’s footsteps was the conditioned response.
Unconditioned Response (UR), an automatic, innate reaction to an unconditioned stimulus. In Pavlov’s experiment, the dogs’ automatic salivation in response to the food is an example of an unconditioned response.
According to Pavlovian theory, conditioned stimulus and conditioned response can occur in a vacuum, meaning that rather than being the byproduct of the intent of a laboratory experiment, the unpredictable reality of life can produce the same result, often without the subject realizing it.
Misophonia is a disorder where one has a decreased tolerance to specific sounds and things that can be sensed that are related to them. Misophonia is often triggered by post-traumatic stress. Many military veterans suffer from a form of misophonia; I, for instance, am triggered by the sound of helicopters.
We Americans like to see ourselves as happy go lucky people. An attribute that is often associated with Americans is their constant smile, and their willingness to engage in conversations with complete strangers as if they were life-long friends. While the United States is a diverse nation, possessing no single accent, the collective range of the American way of speaking is easily discernable as uniquely American, distinct from other forms of Anlo-Saxon linguistic expression.
Our speech has become a unique identifier and is often used to depict Americans when seeking to describe the “happy American” or the “ugly American”, and every variation of American in between. In movies American tourists are often identified by their uniquely American way of speech.
Using Pavlovian cues, the American voice, in and of itself, is a neutral stimulus.
Hunger, fear, anger, frustration, sadness.
These are emotions that can be triggered automatically by unconditional stimuli that are naturally seen as eliciting these emotions—the lack of food, war, altercations, loss.
Over time, if the unconditional responses which trigger the aforementioned range of emotions become linked to the sound of an American voice, then, according to Pavlov, we have achieved what is known as a conditioned response (the emotions) triggered by a conditioned stimulus (the sound of an American voice.)
So here is a Pavlovian experiment for my fellow Americans to consider:
We give voice to positions, ideas, and concepts using our unique way of speaking.
These positions, ideas, and concepts are heavily influenced by Russophobia, resulting in actions that produce events and actions inside Russia capable of triggering emotions which are the logical byproduct of unconditioned responses.
Over time, the people of Russia come to associate the sound of an American voice articulating these positions, ideas, and concepts with the events and actions which generate these negative emotions.
In short, the Russian people have developed a Misophonic reaction to the sound of our voice.
Think about it.
We are trying hard to repair relations between Russia and the United States.
We are trying to reach out to the Russian people to convince them that we are able and willing to live together in peace and harmony.
But the very sound of our voice triggers a response that is repulsive to the Russians.
We are our own worst enemies.
There are mixed opinions on whether a conditioned response can ever be disassociated with a conditioned stimulus.
In short, this means the sound of an American voice may always be found to be repulsive by Russians of the current generation.
We Americans need to do better.
We need to think of Nipper, and his adorable tilt of the head, and understand that the depiction we find so endearing was born of a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus based upon love.
If we can’t get the current generation of Russians to stop recoiling at the sound of our voices, then let us try to ensure that future generations of Russians will not have the same conditioned response.
The problem isn’t the Russian people.
The problem is us.
We need to do better.
We need to start viewing the Russian people as people deserving of respect, admiration, friendship, and love.
If we can do this, then we are creating a conditioned stimulus which is capable of producing a conditioned response, in short, a situation where the Russian people look forward to hearing, seeing, and meeting their American counterparts.
Because, at the end of the day, it is not about the sound of their voices that matters as much as the intent behind the sound.
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The Russia House had a special guest, Maria Zakharova, the Spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry. What started as a classic interview turned into a remarkable conversation that touched on the very essence of the problems that exist today between Russia and the West, emphasizing the responsibility on the part of the West for these problems, and underscoring how important it is to overcome Russophobia if solutions to these problems are to be found.
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