Are you [classically] conditioning yourself to surf 2p2?

[JaBlue]

I think, for the guys with tons of posts [myself included], that yeah, we are classically conditioning ourselves to surf 2p2.

A lot of times I fire up my computer to do some work, go online and do some research, and one of the first other inclinations I have is to go check out whats new in my favorite forums.

This seems to me to be a response similar to that which a rat may have in a research conditioning environment. An example may be that a rat hears a noise and gets shocked ("negative reinforcement"). This happens ten times. On the eleventh time, the rat hears the noise and expects the shock; he has been conditioned to associate the noise with the shock and his heart rate jumps up, he freezes in position [defense response like playing dead], etc.

Granted I have no increased heart rate or anything like that, but that was just to show that the conditioning does occur in rats because the only way we can judge them is through behavior; nobody knows what its like to think like a rat.

So maybe every time I go to 2p2 I read, respond, etc. and get some kind of positive reinforcement and this makes it so that whenever I am online I am inclined to pull up 2p2.

A few questions:

a) does this seem plausible? Likely? Stupid? Why?

b) if it is likely or plausible, are you worried about it?

c) if not, should you be?

Note: every time I write a post like this, someone bolds, quotes,etc. my questions and just replies to them, and then everyone else does the same. That is NOT the kind of form I want to see and I don't want responses to be restricted to just answering those questions. Write as much and in depth about this subject in general as you can, especially where you may disagree with me.

[raptor517]

i suppose its more a force of habit than anything else. i dont think its anything as deep as the experiment u refer to though.

[ace_in_the_hole]

Yeah, def. becomes a habit like checking e-mail.

[ImsaKidd]

2p2 is like a drug. It has certainly made my poker game much stronger, but when it gets in the way of doing online work it is really frustrating.

[aejones]

I'm gradually expanding the forums I search- HSNL, MSNL, BBV, then MTTc, now ElDF- [censored]. I'm both scared and excited at the same time.

In other words, the addiction is getting worse.

[BBill]

Not classically but conditioned, yes

[Dominic]

i automatically sign on to 2+2 after checking my email, without thinking about it.

[LearnedfromTV]

www.t w/o thinking

[LearnedfromTV]

Also I know/assume there are tons of sports forums out there in cyberspace but anytime I feel like posting or reading posts about sports I go to 2p2 sports forum.

[ace_in_the_hole]

Anybody go >10 days without visiting 2p2? I can't say that I have, as far as I know my record is like 4-5 days at most.