Orienting Reflex, Habituation & Dishabituation

Orienting reflex is a natural instinctive response to unexpected stimuli. This could also be considered a “self-protection” response where attention is immediately redirected from the task at hand to the unexpected stimuli to quickly gather information regarding our immediate surroundings. It is not unusual for individuals to also experience changes in the body (adrenaline, heart rate, breathing, etc) in preparation for the fight or flight response. Example: A pedestrian walking down the street will look when a car honks.

Doyle-Portillo, S. & Pastorino, E. (2011). What is Psychology?: 3E. Belmont: Wadsworth. page 178 and 179

Once we have evaluated the situation and deemed the stimuli as being nonthreatening our attention can return to the task at hand. Should the unexpected stimuli continue, our orienting reflex will continue to lessen since we have already evaluated the situation as being non-threatening. The lessening of our orienting reflex to the stimuli is called habituating. We grow accustomed to the stimuli and don’t respond in the same manner allowing us to focus on the task at hand.

Doyle-Portillo, S. & Pastorino, E. (2011). What is Psychology?: 3E. Belmont: Wadsworth. page 179 and 180

We are constantly bombarded by stimuli and reaction to each and every one would be exhausting. Habituation allows us to focus on what is important and ignore a stimulus that has been deemed as non-threatening. Dishabituation occurs when one begins to re-respond to a stimulus they have habituated, this occurs when there is a break in time or consistancy and reintroduction or inclusion of another stimuli or change in the environment. Adaptive functioning is a balance of responding to changes in one’s environment – habituating and dishabituating to the various stimulus.

Doyle-Portillo, S. & Pastorino, E. (2011). What is Psychology?: 3E. Belmont: Wadsworth. page 180

Example: I live near an air force base and sonic booms are everyday occurrences which go unnoticed by most of the people who live here. I once had a plumber come to work on an issue at the house who was not from this area; needless to say…he was terrified when he experienced a sonic boom. Of course I new what was going and had little to no reaction so I quickly explained it was merely a sonic boom. I believe his reaction was intensified due to exposure to fight or flight situations while serving in the military during war time. He didn't understand how this was something a person could get use to but he eventually started to calm and returned to his work. Now I understand why I don't notice the sonic booms...unless it happens to shake the windows!

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Habituation definitely comes as a blessing, as you have demonstrated with your personal sonic boom example. I've even known of people who have gotten so habituated to a stimulus they at some semi-conscious level start enjoying it. For example, my dad is a realtor and he warned one of his clients that he might not like a property because it is too near the railway. Surprisingly, the client was very happy to hear this because he grew up near the railway and so the sound was something the he had gotten used to and at times would even enjoy because it reminded him of his childhood. The same is true with people that have air conditioning: they get so used to the sound being there that it is like the absence of the sound will trigger an orienting reflex.

So I guess maybe it makes sense now for me to say - enjoy your sonic booms.

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I have to agree with you...it is a true blessing!! I work shift work and sleeping at odd times of the day are difficult. I have been using a type of habituation to drown out the outside noises with a sound machine and floor fan. The rest of my household can continue on with life as usual and I can get the rest I need to be able to function at work.

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The sound machine does not habituate you to outside sounds but masks outside sounds that you are unable to habituate to because they are random. However, you probably have learned to habituate to many day time stimuli. As you also learned shift work is the most disruptive to your circadian rhythm and sleep cycle. I hope that you will eventually not have to work on a shirt rotation or at least have periodic breaks from it.

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A very good explanation on the principles of orientation, habituation and dishabituation. Your outside video resources add significantly to demonstrating these principles.