It's easy to train the brain to be happy

Features Writer Sahar Ejaz, Gulf News, 8/26/22; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Happiness? When justice wins! (Che)

Does anyone know that it’s easy to train our brain to be happy? Turns out, Pavlov (the guy with the dog) was right. The Russian psychologist proposed that we learn by conditioning our brains.

Remember the dog that salivated every time a bell rang after it was conditioned to associate food with the sound? Apparently, we’re a lot like Pavlov’s dog except for the drool.

In our case, the bell is a sight we see every day that slowly grows on us, simply because it’s there. As obvious as this sounds, it is a psychological phenomenon that can actually help us reboot our life for the better.

We hold the power to train our minds to lead happier lives. And the best part? All we have to do is change our environment to get the ball rolling.

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According to American social psychologist Robert Zajonc, familiarity does not breed contempt. He proved the statement in a seminal paper he titled "Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure" back in 1968.

Through a series of experiments, Prof. Zajonc showed that we tend to favor objects we’re repeatedly but subtly exposed to. He called this the "mere exposure effect," otherwise known as the familiarity principle.

Now think about the social and behavioral cues around us and all that we could have picked up without realizing – good or bad. The effect, then, works both ways. The brain favors the good and the bad the more it sees it.

• Familiarity breeds contempt: Humor (reddit.com)

Funny American Mark Twain always has a quip.

"We feel more secure as we are exposed more to the same person, object, or social situation. It reduces the uncertainty in the environment" (Dr. Lakshmi Saranya, Lifeline Modern Family Clinic).

According to Dubai-based clinical psychologist Dr. Lakshmi Saranya, it only takes a fraction of a second for our subconscious mind, the one in charge of decision-making and storing habits, to internalize what it has seen. More