Train Your Brain: how to make yourself want sex

You are a sexy, sultry, delicious, hot nympho – you just don’t know it yet.

 

Now you know the truth about all those silly sex myths; you also know why you aren't in the mood. It’s time to learn how to re-claim your libido, and the first step is conditioning.

Remember Pavlov, the guy with the dogs and the bells? He was a Russian scientist who conducted experiments on dogs. No, nothing gross - he just fed them and observed their responses. At first, the dogs would drool in the presence of their food. Then, when the same lab technician fed them every day, the dogs started drooling as soon as they saw him. When Pavlov noticed this, he started calling the dogs to dinner every day with a bell. After a few sessions with the bell, the dogs didn't need to see or smell their food before they drooled - all they needed was the bell ringing before they started to salivate.

This type of associative learning is called conditioning (also known as classical conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning, or respondent conditioning). Another example is the Little Albert experiment. A psychologist named John B. Watson exposed a baby ("Albert", 11 months old) to a tame white rat. The baby played with the rat and showed no fear. Then mean Mr. Watson introduced a painfully loud sound every time the baby approached the rat. After a few times, the baby showed fear of the rat, moving away from it and crying. Although the rat had never hurt little Albert, he associated the rat with the loud noise.

Although this experiment wasn't exactly the nicest thing to do to a baby, it shows that the human response to a given situation can be altered through conditioning. When the dogs heard the bell, they knew food was coming: drool. When Albert saw the rat, he knew the loud sound was coming: fear.

 

And when you know an orgasm is coming: hello, libido!

 

If dogs and babies can be conditioned, so can we, ladies. (AND guys.) Conditioning is just repetitive, associated learning. A: you are confronted with a known situation. B: someone adds a consistent variable. C: you will experience a new, different reaction. We experience conditioning every day, whether we realize it or not: Here are some examples of everyday conditioning:

 

Situation:        Your child refuses to clean his room

Variable:        You offer an allowance every time he cleans up
Reaction:        Child associates doing chores with earning money

 

Situation:        Child acts up in a store
Variable:        Child gets TV privileges taken away every time

Reaction:        Child learns that acting up leads to no TV

Situation:        You go to a certain store

Variable:        You see a great sale every time you're there

Reaction:        You associate that store with great savings

Situation:        You go to a restaurant

Variable:        You get crappy service every time

Reaction:        You stop going there, associating that place with bad service

 

Situation:        You go to the in-laws'

Variable:        Every time, they criticize your marriage

Reaction:        You loathe their presence, fearing more criticism

Next: how condition affects sex and libido