This is the model for getting others to change behaviors, do things a different way, begin success thinking and find success. There are many other models out there, but this one has been found to be most successful.
Overview of the Model (See Map Above) Cause
There is a cause for most behavior. Feelings, thoughts, ideas, imagination, fears, desires all be causes of behavior. As children, a cause could be the mother, father, or other family members.
The cause leads to an action or behavior. For instance, your mother may ask you to go to the store to buy a specific item. She may request that you go to the Seven-Eleven store instead of the grocery store. In order for you to change the behavior of which store to choose, you consider the input (or the cause) of your mother making the specific request. Your brain is accustomed to going to one particular store to get the items. But this time the request is different. If you were to go to the store you are accustomed to, the brain would already have neural pathways laid down with the route to the store on it. You could just about turn off the brain and go to the store “unconsciously”, because the brain knows this pathway so well.
By the time you are an adult, billions of neural highways in the brain are neutralized, because of non-use. The actions you perform over and over lay down very clear neural pathways that you become so accustomed to, that they become “unconscious” actions.
When in Poland, I heard people speaking, and saying terms such as “wprost”. My brain was not used to hearing the subtle “fff” sound before the “p” sound. It took many many times of hearing that “fff” sound for my brain to lay down a new neural pathway and allow me to hear the word in this more subtle way. So, similarly, when I go a new way to the store, or choose a different store, it takes a few times of going a new direction in order to lay down a new neural pathway for this action to become “unconscious”.
you went to the mosque. Every Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you attended some form of spiritual service. Whatever action you do, shapes your attitudes and beliefs. This is where new clusters of behaviors and future attitudes start to form. As we go to the same service over and over, it is beginning to shape who we are and who we will become.
When we defend our beliefs to others (especially in a public way), it reinforces our behavior and actions. As people develop their defenses to their beliefs, what’s happening is that these beliefs are being reinforced, strengthened, in a much more powerful way. What happens next is that people will begin to make choices based upon their very strong beliefs and attitudes. We inject emotion into attitude, belief, memory and learning. Adrenaline and stress hormones released as we defend our beliefs add to the emotions connected to our attitudes.
When presented with a choice or a decision on your own, you will start to make the choices of the behaviors you did as a child of 5 or 6, because you defended them publicly. As you go through life you will tend to make decisions based upon these past proclaimed beliefs and attitudes you have defended, despite or in spite of great evidence to the contrary, leading to greater actions.
On 9/11, there was a Fundamentalist band of Muslims who existed who had huge beliefs. They are very dedicated, and have proclaimed their beliefs in public many times and in many ways. Is there a question that they will perform acts that they believe uphold their beliefs? No, there is no doubt that these people will engage in terrorist acts which they believe uphold their beliefs. Why? Because that’s what they are programmed to do. Their actions created their beliefs, their beliefs created these decisions, which lead to huge actions.
Actions → Beliefs → Decisions → Bigger Actions → Bigger Beliefs
→ ACTION
Are there the same principles in the Christian community? Yes, for example, Tim McVey, who, after the events at Waco, TX when the federal government went berserk over the Branch Davidians about 10 years ago, decided to take matters into his own hands.
A soldier in the Golf war, McVey came home and watched an incredible thing unfolding before his eyes. He saw members of his own government, his own group, taking action against civilians within his own country, who did not have the means or training to defend themselves properly against a military unit. He had a belief that those actions were wrong and inappropriate, according to his
upbringing and according to his own training. He either acted alone, or in collaboration to bomb a building in Oklahoma housing some of those same
This is true of people in every belief structure all throughout the world, throughout evolution. And there are these thin bands of people who will utilize violence in order to kill that which they believe is wrong. Including people.
These big actions become bigger beliefs. They become HUGE beliefs. They are fundamentalists in whatever it is that they believe, whether it is what church to attend, what sporting event to watch, what product they should buy…
Loyalty
Loyalty can be a factor in our attitudes and beliefs. I have a friend who owns several McDonald’s franchises. I feel a certain loyalty toward him, and when the opportunity arises, I will go to McDonald’s over Burger King or any of the other options out there, simply due to my loyalty to him. Not that the food tastes better! My actions reinforce these beliefs and as I perform this action, loyalty will
become an even greater and greater belief.
When someone displays non-loyalty to me, I will recognize and respond
accordingly. Vengeance is one of the 16 Core Desires that you’ll find in human behavior. And in men, in salespeople, in people who are of persuasion, the dynamic of vengeance, that drive and desire is very large. So expect that. And just like in a military person, that vengeful piece will be found, but also on the flip side of the coin, the loyal piece will also be found. You will often find vengeance and loyalty as the same part of the package in a person. That belief will cause other actions and habits.
I will always do the loyal thing; I will support my country, my friends, my family. It is a very strong belief system.
Cause (mom, dad, peers, genetics, temperament) leads to actions, behaviors. This causes new beliefs, new attitudes, and new clusters of neurons in the brain. This leads to bigger actions, bigger beliefs, validating new beliefs.
Kids in the schoolyard have cigarettes. They offer it to you. You smoke it. It’s awful. You might get sick, throw up, etc. But you smoke it. You believe you are cool when you smoke. You continue to smoke. You reinforce the action and continue to believe you are cool. Given the opportunity, you no longer need someone to ask you to perform the action (smoke the cigarette, drink the alcohol, take the methamphetamine, etc.). You decide and choose to do it yourself. And then you go on to bigger things, instead of just having a glass of wine, you might begin to drink hard liquor, which causes you to believe that it’s okay, and nobody should be telling you what to do anyway. This causes you to have long-term actions and habits. Unfortunately, lots of these things are deadly.