While
true that operant conditioning to reinforce that spiders are harmless
and predictable through virtual reality is not very genuine, I believe
that any exposure to a stimulus for a long period of time would
reinforce the idea. I doubt the spider or the environment in virtual
reality looked realistic with the available technologies in 1997, but
the negative reinforcement (spider doesn't harm when near or touched)
of the experiment would connect "spider" with "harmless" and
"insignificant." Since a stimulus could be similar to another to
provoke a response, I believe that even though a virtual spider was
used -- as long as it was somewhat true to life -- the response to a
real spider would be similar after conditioning.
The problem
with this kind of condition is the question of how much conditioning
does a person need in order to not hurt himself. If someone touched and
was fearless of all spiders, then when a poisonous one comes along,
they may be in for some positive reinforcement that would revert them
back to being afraid of spiders. Personally, I am afraid of spiders
that I have never seen before and have no information on. If I knew a
spider was harmless, I would have no problem handling it. In the case
of this conditioning, the subject would still have to be told that some
spiders are dangerous in order to prevent injury. |