I’m interested. I am afraid of a specific thing (which I don’t mention because I have a weird and almost certainly baseless fear someone might use it against me), and though I don’t encounter it often (and am not afraid I might encounter it when it’s unlikely I will, so it’s not a severe phobia) I’d rather not be so afraid. I can easily imagine happily playing with it, but it doesn’t help in real life. What am I doing wrong?
Maybe your imagination isn’t vivid enough in the right way, or maybe you’re imagining it with the additional nonverbal thought “Yeah, but that’s not real. I could’t possibly actually play with it without being scared”. Do you know how to imagine it and get scared? If you want, we could gchat or skype or something and see if we can fix this.
I don’t think that’s true. Not sure how to test it.
It was a bit of an overstatement. The actual experience of using heroin will be a stronger motivator than the imagined experience, but the bigger part is that he currently has negative associations with heroin and will act in ways to keep those negative associations. In theory, you could probably pay him enough money and promise him good enough rehab later that he’ll want the addiction to get the reward, but it’s not a very practical test.
the additional nonverbal thought “Yeah, but that’s not real. I could’t possibly actually play with it without being scared”.
Possibly. When I imagine approaching and playing with it in a controlled setting, I imagine myself being nervous, but not scared. I expect desensitization therapy would work, but only if I actually did it, not merely imagined doing it.
Do you know how to imagine it and get scared?
I can imagine, or remember, being scared, but I’m not actually scared when I imagine. (Can people normally make themselves scared by imagining things?)
you could probably pay him enough money and promise him good enough rehab later that he’ll want the addiction to get the reward
Yeah, want the addiction. That yields “Aw crap, I had to inject heroin today but I spent all day on Reddit instead. Should set a timer to remind me next time.”, which isn’t the behavior exhibited by someone currently addicted.
Possibly. When I imagine approaching and playing with it in a controlled setting, I imagine myself being nervous, but not scared. I expect desensitization therapy would work, but only if I actually did it, not merely imagined doing it.
Imagining doing it works for other people. If you can figure out how to imagine like them, it’ll work for you too.
(Can people normally make themselves scared by imagining things?)
Yep. Some people get more scared than others. Last time I tried I got my heart rate to raise 10bpm, which is significant but much less than terrified.
Yeah, want the addiction. That yields “Aw crap, I had to inject heroin today but I spent all day on Reddit instead. Should set a timer to remind me next time.”, which isn’t the behavior exhibited by someone currently addicted.
No, that is not what I’m talking about. You don’t get paid for injecting, you get paid for credibly convincing people with fMRIs that you crave it. If you have akrasia problems about shooting up heroin it might turn out like you say, but if you think about it in the way that gets your motivational systems going, you’ll start to crave it.
Maybe your imagination isn’t vivid enough in the right way, or maybe you’re imagining it with the additional nonverbal thought “Yeah, but that’s not real. I could’t possibly actually play with it without being scared”. Do you know how to imagine it and get scared? If you want, we could gchat or skype or something and see if we can fix this.
It was a bit of an overstatement. The actual experience of using heroin will be a stronger motivator than the imagined experience, but the bigger part is that he currently has negative associations with heroin and will act in ways to keep those negative associations. In theory, you could probably pay him enough money and promise him good enough rehab later that he’ll want the addiction to get the reward, but it’s not a very practical test.
Possibly. When I imagine approaching and playing with it in a controlled setting, I imagine myself being nervous, but not scared. I expect desensitization therapy would work, but only if I actually did it, not merely imagined doing it.
I can imagine, or remember, being scared, but I’m not actually scared when I imagine. (Can people normally make themselves scared by imagining things?)
Yeah, want the addiction. That yields “Aw crap, I had to inject heroin today but I spent all day on Reddit instead. Should set a timer to remind me next time.”, which isn’t the behavior exhibited by someone currently addicted.
Imagining doing it works for other people. If you can figure out how to imagine like them, it’ll work for you too.
No, that is not what I’m talking about. You don’t get paid for injecting, you get paid for credibly convincing people with fMRIs that you crave it. If you have akrasia problems about shooting up heroin it might turn out like you say, but if you think about it in the way that gets your motivational systems going, you’ll start to crave it.
That’s pretty much how severe phobias happen, yeah.