Conditioned Behavioral Response in D/s Relationships
personal view by Mistress Diana’s alexi

Conditioned behavioral response training is taking advantage of a naturally occurring unconditional stimulus/response relationship to create the conditioned stimulus/response relationship that you desire. It started with the Pavlov's Dogs stuff you read about in school. 

We've all seen or read about (or taken part in) scenes where the top either alternated between genital stimulation and flogging - or did both simultaneously.. Intentionally or not the sub was being subjected to conditioned response training. His natural arousal was being utilized to train him. The Domme was evolving the cycle to genital stimulation& flogging. 

If done properly, and if the Domme desired it, she could progress to where the sub had a new stimulus/response relationship - Flogging resulting with sexual arousal.

Conditioned response training operates at the SUBconscious level. Once it "takes" it results in reliable behaviors regardless of the state of the SUBjects conscious mind.

There are two types of conditioned behavioral response training. The first is "Classical Conditioning" as researched by Ivan Pavlov and the second is "Operant Conditioning" as studied by B. F. Skinner. Both have deliciously deviant application within D/S relationships. In Classical Conditioning the SUBject is SUBjected to a pair of stimuli, one stimulus which naturally leads to arousal(unconditional repsonse). And one which the trainer wishes the subject to respond to (conditional stimulus). It requires no voluntary action on the part of the subject. 

Both of the previous cases are examples of Classical Conditioning. In Operant Conditioning, a voluntary action on the part of the subject is paired with an unconditional stimulus and its natural response. An example of this would be stimulating a sub's genitals to cause arousal as he performed some chore. Eventually the sub would become sexually aroused every time he performed that chore and therefore would be highly motivated to repeat that behavior.

Rule Number One - Use as strong an unconditional stimulus/response relationship as possible. Ivan Pavlov used food/hunger, but for our purposes direct genital stimulation/sexual arousal is a stronger motivator, more fitting to D/S play. 

Rule Number Two - Always begin with a continuous reinforcement schedule until the behavior pattern is well established, i.e. every instance of the conditional stimulus is followed by the unconditional stimulus or "reinforcer" - don't rush - "gradualness is the first requisite to good science" (Ivan Pavlov) 

In the beginning be very consistent - "practice" at least daily - preferably more often. And provide the unconditional stimulus or reinforcer (direct genital stimulation) every time the conditional stimulus or operant (whipping, ironing, you name it) is applied until the conditioned response is well established. In the very beginning it may be necessary to start the genital stimulation (reinforcer) before the conditional stimulus or operant, waiting until the arousal response is established before introducing the conditional stimulus or "operant". 

As early in your program as possible, however, this order should be reversed. Start the conditional stimulus or operant first and then apply the direct genital stimulation (reinforcer). This is so that as early in the "program" as possible your SUBject) will begin to SUBconsciously anticipate that direct genital stimulation will follow the operant or conditional stimulus. You will know that it's beginning to work when your sub begins to exhibit signs of arousal (response) before the direct genital stimulation (reinforcer) begins. 

Once the behavior (responding with sexual arousal to the operant or conditional stimulus) is established, slowly begins to delay the genital stimulation (reinforcer). Don't make the delay constant or predictable from one session to the next. "Variable Ratio schedules especially engenders highly persistent behaviors." In other words, don't allow your SUBject to be able to predict when the unconditional stimulus will begin. If you find you can delay genital stimulation, say 2 minutes and still achieve continued arousal response before that, then vary the delay anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes. Slowly progress toward longer and longer average delays and less and less direct genital stimulation. Again, it is very important that the delay and extent of genital stimulation be varied in a way the sub cannot predict from session to session. 

In the end, this will result in the sub consistently becoming sexually aroused each time he is subjected to the operant or conditional stimulus. Genital stimulation will no longer be necessary except periodically as reinforcement on an average once every few sessions, to reinforce the conditioned response behavior. (Remember - vary the frequency.) 

So there it is , what you do with it is literally up to you. Have a sub that already likes spanking? They'll LOVE it and ADORE you after you try this. 

P.S. I trust you TOPS to keep it safe, sane, and consensual. Use this only on willing subs who desire to be conditioned to enjoy the chosen stimulus. This is powerful stuff - it doesn't matter if the subject is willing or not - Pavlov's dogs didn't want to salivate every time they heard a bell. Use it to enable your sub to reach intense sexual arousal during a D/s activity. One that they've always fantasized about, but were formerly unable to become physically aroused by. If you do, you will be able to read the grateful adoration in their eyes.