Ideals

Key Claims

• Aristotle says that one needs an image of ''kalon'' to have virtuous action.
• Image of kalon is what behavioral psychology calls ideals (values).
• Ideals of behavioral therapy and virtues of positive psychology are the same reality, viewed from a different perspective (goal vs habit, respectively).
• Ideals show us how to best engage a challenge.
• Ideals are the way we can reframe any challenge.
• Acting on ideals (patience) makes a given trigger progressively less triggering over time (produces habituation of triggered response).
• Acting on ideals produces virtuous cycles. Patience makes this possible.
• Meaning, mastery and pleasure are the outcomes of engaging virtuous cycles.
• Acting against ideals produces vicious cycles.
• Negative self-concepts, automation, and discomfort are the outcomes of engaging vicious cycles.
• Virtuous cycles are reinforced by the reward of practicing ideals (“virtues are their own reward”, positive reinforcement).
• Vicious cycles are reinforced by the relief of giving in (negative reinforcement).
• Patience is the willingness to suffer discomfort as you practice your ideals. Impatience is unwillingness for the same.
• Patience is the breaker of every vicious cycle.
• Patience paradoxically reduces suffering, which habituates as reward increases.
• Patience allows the same triggers to be used for engaging ideals rather than avoiding emotions.

Q&A claims

• Higher anxiety levels produces better results of exposure therapy.
• You only can retrain the amygdala while the alarm is sounding.
• Interoceptive exposure (feeling the anxiety itself) produces the most generalized benefits for exposure therapy.
• Tiredness responds to habituation and sensitization the same as anxiety. Example is “second wind” effect in running. Tiredness may be the same thing as anxiety.
• Aiming to get a habituation curve for anxiety to “0” is counterproductive.
• The way to have the greatest sensitization of a trigger is a thwarted attempt to escape it.
• Habituation cannot take place in context of thwarted escape.