How to Practice the Most Powerful Form of ‘Mind-Control’
Use this knowledge with care and caution, I really hope that you will put this into good use.
But before we go about the mind-controlling…we have to learn the principles behind it and you might want to check out meditation and mindfulness teacher training courses after this. I could say that this scientific-based training has helped deepen my practice and knowledge of mind-control.
In This Article:
What is Walden Two About?
Who is B.F Skinner?
Reinforcement vs Punishment And Its Types
The Secret to “Mind Control”
The Basics of “Mind Control”
Before Positive Psychology was conceived, some say that it has long been anticipated by the utopian novel Walden Two by the behavioral psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner— who we commonly know as B.F. Skinner.
What is walden two about?
You might have already heard or read about B.F. Skinner, so we’ll get back to him in a while. We’ll first discuss his written novel Walden Two. (SPOILER ALERT: You might want to skip this section if you want to read the novel yourself.)
Walden Two, the name of the community of 1000 people, is where people lived communally and thrives on an almost utopian-like state as every member of the society is productive, healthy, and happy as they were conditioned to look forward to having possibilities of having rewards more than having punishments. Visitors came and were first unsettled by the positive disposition of the whole community even up to their work ethics and work engagement. In the middle of the novel, one of the main characters is so convinced that living in Walden Two is indeed a better option than life had been living—he had a complete transformation in his thinking and values.
His novel Walden Two showed amazing similarities to Positive Psychology:
- It focused on promoting subjective well-being and establishing positive institutions
- Positive use of leisure
- Valuing positive emotions
- Seeking happiness through encounters or fulfillment rather than just fleeting pleasure
- Development of character strengths like creativity, persistence, humility, love, fairness, and gratitude.
Who is B.F. Skinner?
At the time of proliferation of behaviorism, it focused on two kinds of learning or conditioning: Classical and operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning focused on learning through association, which can simply be put into words as the association of an involuntary reaction and a stimulus. The most famous example is Pavlov’s experiment with the dogs that learned to associate bells with the “coming to food” and soon enough they started to drool just when they hear the bells ringing even though there was no food in sight.
The work of B.F. Skinner revolved around behaviorism and which focused on operant conditioning. Operant conditioning revolves around the theory that “behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences (reinforcement) is likely to be repeated, and behavior followed by unpleasant consequences (punishment) is less likely to be repeated.” And thus introduces the concept of reinforcement or punishment to decrease or increase a behavior.
We focus now on REINFORCEMENT AND PUNISHMENT because within this topic is where lies the secret to ‘control minds’.
Reinforcement vs Punishment and its types
“Reinforcement is a term used in operant conditioning to refer to anything that increases the likelihood that a response will occur; reinforcement is defined by the effect that it has on behavior—it increases or strengthens the response.”
REINFORCEMENT
Summing up reinforcement in the simplest terms: reinforcement is increasing the likeliness of a behavior or response through either addition (positive) or taking away (negative) something.
Positive Reinforcement
This “pleasant” consequence comes in the form of praise or rewards. The addition of something “nice” increases the chance of a behavior or the repeat of a behavior.
Negative Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is like taking away something to increase the likelihood of a behavior or response. This involves withholding something of value to compel a certain response or behavior.
Punishment
Punishment in the simplest terms: is decreasing the likeliness of an unpleasant behavior or response through either addition (positive) of something hostile or taking away (negative) something.
Positive Punishment
This involves the addition or giving something unpleasant to decrease an unwanted response or behavior. This could come in a form of scolding.
Negative Punishment
Negative punishment involves taking away something to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. An example will be putting a child in time-out (taking away interactions) for them to decrease their tantrums or aggression.
Thw secret to “Mind-control”
Surprisingly, positive reinforcement is the most powerful of these four as researches have shown.
- Not only is a “pleasant” consequence better but it also allows a shift of focus on the positive aspects of the situation.
- Punishment can also be effective when applied immediately after a negative behavior, it, HOWEVER, could result in negative emotional responses like anger and resentment.
But can positive reinforcement be REALLY used for ‘mind-control’? The answer is. YES.
The basic of “Mind-Control”
It is when you control the mind that you control a person’s behavior over a situation
If you are planning to control other’s behavior you might want to START FIRST WITH YOURSELF because positive reinforcement is best practiced first with yourself before you can effectively apply it to others.
Controlling Your Mind
Controlling your mind is intentionally shaping your mind—the physical mind and your thoughts. Your mind changes physically as you age, but some practices could help shape your brain and help you be years younger than your actual age and is ALSO the key to changing your thoughts: meditation training.
To help you control your mind when meditating, here are some guides:
- Appreciate wandering back to ‘breathing’
Your meditation teacher might tell you to always focus on breathing, especially when your mind wanders…but it is not easy to stop your mind from wandering when you are trying to meditate and it’s pretty normal.
So where can you apply that positive reinforcement to increase the likeliness of a focused mind? You should appreciate yourself the moment that you realize that your mind was wandering and that you’re going back to focus on your breathing. Like a pat in the back.
This rewires your brain that you are not rendering mind-wandering as bad, but rather you appreciate and praise yourself (a reward for yourself) for being aware that you now have to go back to focus on breathing.
- No forced ‘positivities”
This can be applied beyond meditation. In meditation, you should not “deny” yourself of the existence of negative thoughts and emotions but rather use positive reinforcement as an affirmation that what you feel and what you are thinking is valid in the present moment.
Positive reinforcement should never be a means of denial but rather an encouragement of acknowledging what is truly present, be it positive or a negative feeling or state.
Only when you finally appreciate how fulfilling it is to reward yourself with acknowledgment and kindness that you could understand how to effectively use positive reinforcement for others.
‘Controlling the Mind’ of Others
Positive reinforcement or what we can call as the most powerful kind of ‘mind-control’ can be applied in the workplace and parenting. Here are some examples of how you can practice positive reinforcement for others:
- Workplace
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- A vision of a future rather than just compensations and awards. This pertains to having positive motivation about their futures in the company, it involves making them feel and have them see themselves as part of the company’s bigger picture armed with growth, experience, and due recognition and rewards for their hard work and loyalty.
- Feedback. This involves asking the employees about their preferred reinforcement techniques (whether they prefer incentives, or perks, etc.) and making sure that they are heard and allowed to voice out their concerns.
- Encourage sharing successes. Positivity shared publicly and loudly in the workplace can be amazing and could produce inspiration and promote lightheartedness in the workplace.
- Parenting – According to VeryWell Family
, the following are ways to positively reinforce your child
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- Clapping and cheering
- Giving a high five
- Giving a hug or pat on the back
- Giving a thumbs-up
- Offering a special activity, like playing a game or reading a book together
- Offering praise
- Telling another adult how proud you are of your child’s behavior while your child is listening
When you look at it, positive reinforcement for others is also about being mindful of their achievement or progress; it is voicing out the goodness that they have done in the present— no matter how small.
I do recommend the practice of this mind-control technique, it’s safe, effective, and humane.
Mind-control through positive reinforcement is an obvious technique but is not fully appreciated. But it is not only applied to others. Mind controlling yourself is the best power you could ever have. An affirming reinforcement for oneself changes your view and paves way for more encompassing self-acceptance.
Through the help of my meditation teacher, I have started to harvest the benefits of this practice and reaped fruitful friendships, relationships, and an affirming attitude towards life. Now I can’t help but wonder what’s more in store for me.
