The symbol of a dog as a conditioned instinct

What is a dog symbol? For that matter, what is a conditioned instinct? Well, when we look at dreams, most images in dreams are symbols. Symbols are expressions from the human psyche (our psychology and more) that have deep and varied meanings. A dream image of a car, for example, is a symbol with a variety of meanings, such as the way we move through life.

Frequently the symbol of a dog in a dream represents a conditioned instinct. To understand this, we must ask: What is a conditioned instinct? I'm certain that most of us know what is meant by an instinct. When our physical bodies react to situations that are outside of our control, we are experiencing an instinct.

For example, when we're hungry, we experience a motivation to eat. Another example is the well-known fight or flight instinct. There clearly is an instinctual reaction when we put our hands on a hot pan. Instincts within our physical nature act autonomously; that is, each is automatic.

Conditioning is a psychological process related to repetitive experiences. The repetition eventually becomes an ingrained pattern within our psychology.

For example, a child is instructed to feed the family pet each day at 5 p.m. Or someone is persistently instructed to dislike a particular person or culture. Usually part of the instruction or conditioning includes a consequence, which can either be satisfying or not. The consequence, however, is always a necessary part of the conditioning. After many repetitions, the consequence is eliminated because the conditioning becomes automatic. It's similar to training a pet to do a particular trick.

We can now understand that a conditioned instinct is an expression in which we automatically react without control to a person or situation. Most often our conditioning results from repetitive instruction we received early in life. Dogs are an appropriate dream symbol for a conditioned instinct because dogs are conditioned, trained, by people in a variety of ways and they are animals that often live-out their instinctive reactions every day, such as barking or biting.

We all have conditioned instincts, ranging from how we socialize with other people to how we perform particular patterns, or routines, in our daily lives. Each conditioned instinct is so strongly ingrained that when we express an automatic reaction, we believe we are simply being ourselves.

It is important to recognize our conditioned instincts and to realize that even a conditioned instinct can change. In fact, the conditioned instincts that form early in life are the most important to try to change.