Classical Conditioning In Brave New World, By Aldous Huxley

Everyone has experienced classical conditioning and may not even know it. A common example is food: you ate something that made you sick and now you never eat it; you’re conditioned against the food because you had a bad reaction. In the most simple terms, classical conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning is learning a new behavior with different stimuli that create a reaction that can be repeated numerously through a recurring experiment. This kind of conditioning is seen in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and goes along with the theme, psychological conditioning is potentially dangerous, which I agree with.

In Huxley's Brave New World, chapter 2 consists of an experiment taken place with babies. In this experiment the babies are given books …show more content…
To further explain classical conditioning in a lighter tone, in a “Lumen Learning” article informing, “..conditioning has been used as a successful form of treatment..in substance abuse and smoking.” (Lumen Learning). These treatments include having a uncomfortable or undesirable stimulus which results in having a different perspective on the past substance abuse. This may sound like it’s practical but this is another form controlling a person's thought process, relating to psychology is potentially dangerous. In a “ConnectUs” article it explains how conditioning is not useful even if it’s for good. “It does not create new behaviors. ...connects a natural occurring response to a stimulus and deals with visceral responses.” (ConnectUs).
Adding to the idea that psychology can be harmful, a new response and stimulus may take away a bad habit but it doesn’t help create a new behavior or habit. The new conditioning only helps having a bad response to a stimulus rather finding a better solution.

Lastly, in a “WordPress” article by Lynn Munoz she informs that “Extinguishing …show more content…
This quote relates to Brave New World grandly. In Brave New World, everyone is conditioned to believe their caste is great and same with their life in this dystopia, but as they grew up they were conditioned to live a lifestyle that was not their own. When these citizens are

exposed to a gravely uncomfortable situation or feeling they take soma to release their toxicity.
Soma, in Brave New World symbolizes drugs we use today—prescription pills, marijuana, cocaine, codeine, alcohol etc.. or what would’ve been popular in the 1930s— morphine, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and tobacco. On the other hand soma symbolizes, control. The State controls their people in numerous ways, but soma a respectable choice the citizens can chose is almost like conformity, a form of psychology. Conformity relates to soma in a simple way, if one authority figure or one person gives out or takes soma then, everyone else will think they have to as well. Relating conformity and soma ties into the theme of, psychological conditioning can be potentially