Classical Conditioning

With "classical conditioning," one stimulus of some significance is paired with one of little significance to form an innate, often reflexive, response to the "false" stimulus. Classical conditioning works on a subconscious level. If you experience A and B at the same time, and A causes C, then after enough paired repetitions, B will cause C. For example, if you jerk a man off while licking his nipples, and only lick his nipples when jerking him off, eventually you can give him an erection just by licking his nipples. The possibilities are endless. (And so you know this isn't pseudo science, here is a source talking about classical conditioning in which men are "trained" to get erections from black high heal shoes.)

The example above about licking nipples is a fun one to try, but it’s also fun to condition something less obvious arousal, something you can trigger in public or with others around. To do this you can associate a bracelet or worn item with arousal. Have him put on the item when he’s hard, and take it off when his erection starts to fade. Have him wear it when edging. Require he wear it for every orgasm, and remove it afterwards. The item itself will become associated with arousal, and by simply putting on that item, he can become aroused.

Another example of what you can do is to use an audio cue such as a bell or chime. Have your sub attach said noise-maker to his cock whenever you have sex. Each thrust creates a noise and the sound is paired with the good feelings. Once associated, you can have your sub wear the item in public. It doesn’t have to be around his cock, it can be around his wrist, neck, or whatever. Then as he walks he will constantly be thinking about sex, and be in a constant state of arousal. This will make your sub think of a particular thing, sex, rather than just the good feelings associated in the previous example. If you prefer to just instill arousal you can of course also have him wear the noise-maker while masturbating and each stroke will trigger both the noise and the good feelings.

My favorite thing to do is to condition a sub to want something he wouldn't normally want, something that pushes or tests his limits. With enough work you can get him to anticipate and even ask for such things. Pick something within your pet’s hard limits he wouldn’t want, something he would never ask for. Perhaps something you use as a punishment that you happen to enjoy. Maybe just something humiliating. When playing with your sub, and I mean physically stimulating him in some way, tell him what you are going to do to him. Don’t be skimpy on the details, elaborate as best you can. You want his mind focused on it. After you go through the of details of how, tell him what it’s going to feel like. You can repeat yourself if you run out of things to say about it. Keep him as hard as you can while you’re telling him all this. When your sub is all worked up and eager for orgasm, and fully anticipating his fate, make him ask for it. Don’t give in though, make him keep asking. After a little while, make him beg for it. Tell him to make it convincing. Have him tell you how much he wants it, and why. Only once you are really convinced do you follow through. This works surprisingly fast compared to the other examples because it uses a secondary trick. Just as people who are forced to smile tend to feel happy even if they weren’t happy before (source), a person begs for something, finds themselves really wanting it.

Conditioning can take a lot of repetition before it takes. And unfortunately in order for conditioning to hold you have to continue to reinforce it. If you condition your sub to get hard when you lick his nipples, you can have fun licking his nipples to get him excited, but if you don’t reinforce the association often enough, it will fade and licking his nipples will no longer arouse him. People vary by a lot in regards to conditioning, it doesn’t seem to be related to intelligence, so it’s not even worth guessing how often someone will need the conditioning. I tend to play it on the safe side and over do it, just to make sure my fun isn’t spoiled at an inopportune time. And really, how hard is it to give a little cock and ball massage after bring a man to attention by licking his nipples?

Even if you don’t want to condition your sub (come on, it’s fun!) it’s good to understand it. You could accidentally condition your sub to enjoy what are meant to be real punishments. Conditioning can be a fun toy, but it can also work against you. When you find a particular event, topic, or situation coming up often, think about what your resulting actions might be doing on a subconscious level.