All of us have a complex, pervasive, extensive network of habits that we might as well think of as our \u201cInner Zombie.\u201d It\u2019s responsible for most of our behavior. That turns out to be a good thing because most At a neurological level habits are just synaptic connections between nerves. The more a habitual behavior is performed, the stronger the synaptic connection (and the more likely it is to be performed again). This is the physiological fact that leads to the \ufb01rst axiom of learning theory: All habits are permanent.<\/span><\/p>\n Most of the time our Inner Zombies are taking pretty good care of us and making moment to moment life a lot easier \u2013 implementing good\/useful habits like approaching a door from the side or switching radio frequencies without thinking about which way to twist the knob. Other times our Inner Zombies are walking us into some pretty dysfunctional territory \u2013 like eating unhealthy food in front of the TV, getting stuck online too long, or letting our smart phones distract us from more appropriate targets for our attention. Poorly managed Inner Zombies are responsible for all of our bad habits, the worst of which we call addictions.<\/span><\/p>\n Fortunately, our Inner Zombies aren\u2019t intentionally malicious or diabolically intelligent. Although it\u2019s often inconvenient and usually requires some conscious effort, it\u2019s possible to retrain them. Since all habits are permanent, the goal is to design a new habitual behavior that will, through repetition and practice, become more powerful, useful, and functional than the \u201cbad habit.\u201d The new habit will be a more \u201csuccessful\u201d behavior and after it\u2019s in place, will tend to be reinforced and strengthened by that success.<\/span><\/p>\n Retraining your zombie, like retraining your dog, happens in \ufb01ve steps: 1) identify the behavior you want to change, 2) identify the environmental stimuli that cues the behavior (attracts the zombie), 3) speci\ufb01cally and concretely design the new behavior, 4) consciously, deliberately insert the new behavior following the environmental cue, 5) repeat as many times as necessary until your zombie does the new behavior in response to the cue without your help.<\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes even well-trained zombies revert to previous \u201cbad behaviors.\u201d This should be expected to happen occasionally and is not cause for passionate self-recrimination. Just remember your Inner Zombie doesn\u2019t have any bad intentions \u2013 just give it a little remedial training in working for you instead of against you.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Site Editor:\u00a0 Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please share this article from down below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please join the email list on the top of the sidebar and you can get these sent to your email.\u00a0 Also follow me on Twitter for other articles and ideas, Come back regularly for more updated articles on police psychology<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police Psychology | Managing Your Inner Zombie by Doug Gentz, Ph.D. All of us have a complex, pervasive, extensive network of habits that we might as well think of as our \u201cInner Zombie.\u201d It\u2019s responsible for most of our behavior. That turns out to be a good thing because most things we do are best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17168884],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motives"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4694,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=4694","url_meta":{"origin":3991,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology | Brain Eaters","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"November 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Brain Eaters By Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP In Telugu language, the second most popular language in India, they have a phrase that is highly important in police psychology \u2013 burra tinoddu. 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things we do are best done \u201cmindlessly\u201d and automatically. Imagine how little we could get done if we had to deliberately \ufb01gure out or remember how to walk, talk, or drive our cars. In general, learning is just acquiring new and useful habits. We like to get them out of the initially awkward and conscious stage and turn them over to our \u201cinner zombie\u201d for execution as soon as possible. When your Inner Zombie took over the job of lining up your thumbs below the slide of your Glock, your range scores probably improved.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n