It
was extremely surprising to me to read that scientists were
successfully able to condition guinea pigs to become allergic to
odors simply by pairing these odors with a protein that induced
allergies. Seeing the evidence of how our minds are directed shaped
and manipulated based off of processes that we are not in active
awareness of, is truly astonishing. I am allergic to many things,
including almost all of nature. Pollen knocks me off my feet for a
solid two months, and simply stepping outside during allergy season
can ignite a sneezing, itchy, hive ridden reaction on my body.
Reading
this has made me curious as to how much of my reaction is the actual
pollen, and how much could possibly be the conditioned response to me
stepping outside during a time in which the substance I am allergic
to is likely to be in the air. In accordance to what these researches have found, just the sight of the oak trees could signal a reaction on my body.
Since
it seems that we can be classically conditioned in many ways, I
wonder if you would be able to trick your body and reverse certain
allergies, or ailments that you might already have. It seems kind of
wild, and while there are many genetic factors laced in with this
discussion, I have learned throughout this course that our minds
shape so much more of who we are and how we feel, than I ever thought
possible.
Comments
Post a Comment