Classical conditioning, a psychological model that states when a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus, a desirable response can be achieved when the conditioned stimulus is presented after a period of learning. This theory has many real-world applications: from teaching dogs new tricks, to child rearing, to learning new skills; classical conditioning can be very useful.

When first learning about classical conditioning in lecture, a certain anecdote from my past immediately surfaced in my memory. During the summer leading up to my freshman year at Penn State, I worked as a camp counselor at an overnight summer camp, where I was in charge of about twenty middle-school aged kids at a time. One of the weeks I worked there, a foundation for Deaf and HOH children brought a group to the camp, and I was one of the counselors in charge of them. Communicating with them through words was very difficult, as none of them could hear well, and all were far too hyperactive to pay enough attention to read our lips or watch for our signing.  So, in order to get these kids’ attention, my co-worker and I came up with a series of obnoxious dances for activities such as mealtime, bedtime, or pool trips. Naturally, when the children experienced this for the first time, they were incredibly confused. However, by the second day, every one of them were conditioned to know that when I began to do cartwheels, it was time to calm down and head to the cafeteria to eat.

Classical conditioning is also responsible for my debilitating phobia of worms and dislike of apples. When I was a young boy, my parents grew apple trees in my front yard. Being hungry yet unable to reach any of the apples on a tree, I decided to select an innocent looking fruit from the ground. After taking a bite into the juicy apple, I looked inside to find half of a worm painfully wriggling around and proceeded to get violently sick. Because of conditioning, I get panic attacks at the sight of worms and still feel uncomfortable when apples are in the room almost sixteen years later.

It’s so impressive how our brain is able to associate otherwise unrelated objects or incidents and generate a response. Hopefully some day, I can undo the effects of classical conditioning on myself and be able to enjoy a refreshing apple or go for a run on a wet day without having to worry about seeing any worms.

In the past few years, I have come to believe that a large part of my academic life came to be as a result of the phenomenon that we have learned to be called “discerning false memories.” I can vividly recall my parents taking me to many Penn State football games and driving through campus when I was a very young child; it was these memories that conditioned me to aspire to go to Penn State during my elementary school years. However, when I went the 2007 PSU vs Notre Dame game with my parents, they asked me if I enjoyed my first Penn State football game. Of course I debated with them that they had taken me to many prior to that, but to this day they adamantly deny taking me to Penn State as a child.

I find it so bizarre that our brain has the ability to build these false memories and convince ourselves that they actually occurred. These false memories are the foundation of who I am as an academic today, and I cannot determine where they originated. As glad as I am that I ended up at Penn State due to these false memories, but they have also taught me to not always trust my own memory, which, to be honest, is a very strange sensation.

Functionalism is essentially the psychological theory that states that our minds and behaviors acclimate accordingly to our environment. It studies how the mind reacts to changes in its environment over time. This theory has been used to describe Darwinism, as both philosophies explain significant physiological/biological changes via responses to an ever-changing environment.

In my personal experience, Functionalism can easily be observed when traveling within the United States. It is common knowledge that each region of the country has its own unique dialects, social norms, and culture in general; much so to the point that outsiders can usually be identified relatively effortlessly.

For someone as myself, who has always lived in Pennsylvania yet travels across the country regularly, adapting to these different cultures is key. For instance, in the Northeast, aggressive driving is commonplace; speeding, tailgating, and their resulting traffic jams are the norm. However, as I have noticed when traveling in the South, this type of driving simply does not happen. Patience is not a virtue in the South, it is law. As a Pennsylvanian who spends much of his time in the South, behavioral adaptation greatly comes into play when trying to fit in socially. I have observed that, when at my house in Georgia, my family becomes completely different, behaviorally speaking. When in Pennsylvania, my family is typically high strung, fast moving, and all-around impatient. However, when in Georgia, this behavior is considered all but unacceptable; if we want to fit in with the locals, we have to adapt and conform to the conventional standards of social behavior there. As we come to spend more time there, I find myself adopting more and more of that region’s common habits and behaviors. This is just one example of Functionalism, which can be seen in action anywhere a social setting change is observed.