If you could think of why you believe in the things you believe in, can you justify why?
Think of the values you treasure the most, and really focus in on one for the sake of following along in this sort of thought experiment.
Before we begin the thought experiment, I did want to dive into what value is, and describe just how much our values make up who we are, whether we know it or not. We can argue about the following statement, so I will defend it rather sparingly: Most of the things and characteristics and actions we value stem from classical conditioning...Pavlovian style. Think of it this way: whenever you misbehaved in whatever manner most kids misbehave, such as lying or laziness, etc., it was typically met with either an alluring lecture or by punishment. This is, of course, the more explicit and direct effect of building upon values, whether we follow them today or not. Particularly from our parents or those whom we grew up or grew around with. I can argue:
- Values are not innate. You aren't born with values. In this respect, we employ the tabula rasa (Hello there, Locke), the only time we can credibly assert this truth. Given that values are learned through classical conditioning, we learn that certain values are more desirable than others. This is, in fact, is the crux of value development lies in nurture rather than nature. This trial and error in behaviors is the mechanism by which we account for values deeply ceded within us- often employed by the most myriad of techniques by those we looked up to or had a close relationship with.
Of course, values evolve every day, but specifically, we want to focus on the ones deeply cemented in us over time. Newer values, through the hard knocks of life, will be discussed in later parts of this thread.
The nature of these values embedded to us as a child is in some ways is completely dictated outside of our locus of control. Often these values continue reinforcement through many years. These values are not necessarily good. Nor are they explicitly reinforced, most of the time. Values can also be absorbed through osmosis means, for lack of better words. Observing the surroundings which envelope your existence and your perception of the world evolves your schema of how the world functions. Forming schemas is a natural way of psychological classification, sort of like we did when we were younger. At some point, every dog was a cat until someone said: “oh hey that's not a dog, it’s a cat!”... Then we finally learn that all animals are not indeed dogs (if you didn't know this until now, let this be a big shot of reality up your ass, in the nicest way). So how does have anything to do with values? Assuming that values and our development of them follow the same development as schemas, we gain insight into just how difficult it is to change a value, especially one that has been seen and embedded in your everyday life.
Part 2:
Why do people stick to the bad values, and why do we hold onto them so dearly despite consistent negative response?
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