who, with rough accuracy, often says, “The old Jews may have invented guilt, but

we Catholics perfected it.” And if you, like me and this priest, believe that,

averaged out, feelings of guilt do more good than harm, you may join in my

special gratitude for reciprocate-favor tendency, no matter how unpleasant you

find feelings of guilt.

 

Ten: Influence-from-Mere-Association Tendency

 

In the standard conditioned reflexes studied by Skinner and most common in the

world, responsive behavior, creating a new habit, is directly triggered by

rewards previously bestowed. For instance, a man buys a can of branded shoe

polish, has a good experience with it when shining his shoes, and because of

this “reward,” buys the same shoe polish when he needs another can.

 

But there is another type of conditioned reflex wherein mere association

triggers a response. For instance, consider the case of many men who have been

trained by their previous experience in life to believe that when several

similar items are presented for purchase, the one with the highest price will

have the highest quality. Knowing this, some seller of an ordinary industrial

product will often change his product’s trade dress and raise its price

significantly hoping that quality-seeking buyers will be tricked into becoming

purchasers by mere association of his product and its high price. This

industrial practice frequently is effective in driving up sales and even more so

in driving up profits. For instance, it worked wonderfully with high-priced

power tools for a long time. And it would work better yet with high-priced pumps