Ok, what is habituation?
Well, to be honest, I first heard the word habituation yesterday at church of all places.
Habituation is defined as “the diminishing of a physiological or emotional response to a frequently repeated stimulus.”
It is basically the act of being conditioned for something.
For example, I once lived in an apartment right off a major six lane street. When I first moved in, I could not sleep for anything, for the sound of traffic kept me awake all night.
But you know what happened after about a week?
That’s right. I got used to it.
This all reminded me about the persuasive implications of this idea.
For better or worse, if people respond to X, repeated exposure
Want an extreme example?
The first pictures of genocide you ever eventually saw as a child were horrific, weren’t they?
And now you almost shrug at them, don’t you?