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The Science Of Why It Works
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So why not just allow him satisfaction every time? Wouldn't that make him happier, and also bring the couple closer together? To really understand the answer to this question, it helps to remember Pavlov's dogs, a famous experiment in behavioral conditioning.

Pavlov was able to prove that consistently providing for basic needs at regular predictable intervals actually decreases the dog's desire to seek that need, since that dog knows that the need will always be routinely met. With his needs met, the dog doesn't need to spend energy in seeking to have that need met, and likewise the desire for that need goes down. We never appreciate that which we take for granted. Likewise, the same is also true for consistently withholding a need, in that all hope of ever satisfying that need is abandoned, and so the dog's desire to seek the unattainable need gives way to apathetic hopelessness if unsatisfied for too long.