What Is Habituation?

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by David Batdorf, a Sasquatch Enthusiast/Crypto-Nerd.

"Habituation": What is it, exactly?

(After the painfully long process of habituation to her presence, Jane Goodall, was able to build trust, bonds and relationships with certain individuals)

Habituation is the process of becoming habituated to a particular stimulus. To become habituated to something, is to become immune to its affects or to have the affects, lessened.

A simple expedition from Wikipedia:

"Habituation is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations. As a procedure, habituation is the repeated presentation of an eliciting stimulus that results in the decline of the elicited behavior (the process of habituation). This can be rooted from one becoming accustomed to a stimulus to such an extent, that one is simply less responsive or reactive to the stimulus. This process is gradual and is caused after prolonged exposure to the said stimulus."

This term is used most often with regard to psychology or in the physiological aspects of drug use, but there are many other stimulus that one can become habituated to. The most applicable to Sasquatch being, environmental stimulus (e.g. - us in their territory).

The beauty of the concept of habituation is that it applies to everything from our own complex biology and complex culture and brain, to plant and bacterial life (albeit, at a chemical/biological level).

It is because habituation is so simple and all-encompassing, conceptually, that it could certainly be successful. However, it takes a lot of time and a lot of stimulation.

In the famous case of Jane Goodall, which is often referenced by Sasquatch Enthusiasts, people erroneously claim that she "habituated" the Chimpanzees, whom she was able to observe and study in such close proximity. Nothing could be further from the truth, as this is not how habituation works. You cannot "habituate something". The process of habituation occurs within the subject.

The term, "habituator", gets thrown around, a lot. However, there is no such word in the English Language. Here is why:

Jane Goodall did not habituate the Chimps to her presence, by acutely provoking a psychological or behavioral change. She only supplied her presence as, stimulation. Through the tenacity of she and her team, they were able to supply enough of that stimulation that the natural process of habituation occurred and the flight response was lessened and eventually, discontinued. The results were astounding, but the particular outcome was not under her or her team's control.

No tricks, no treats, no anything. Just quietly existing, nearby their troop and usually, out of direct sight.
Once habituation had occurred, her groundbreaking study began its amazing story, wherein, she began to develop bonds and relationships, with the chimpanzees.

So, how does habituation occur?

Lets look at some physical/environmental examples:

A. A person who is addicted to cigarets (or any narcotic... alcohol, included) will become or has already been, habituated to the affects of nicotine. This has nothing to do with the "habits" or "compulsions" that go along with addiction or to do with addiction itself. Once habituated to nicotine, the person no longer experiences or "feels" the narcotic affects of the nicotine. However, if that person were to quit for an extended period of time, they would be surprised to find that they are no longer habituated to nicotine and experience the narcotic affect, as if it were the first time... However, personal experience tells me that this is short lived and habituation to the drug returns, more rapidly after going through the process, once.

B. Imagine that you begin building framework for houses. On your first day, you physically jerk and your heart pounds every time a co-worker blasts a nail into a concrete foundation with a gunpowder cartridge. Through the process of habituation, you would likely be over most of those physical reactions by the time you got to your second or third week. The fear/shock reaction is gone.

C. Here is another auditory example, with psychological instead of physical affects. Everyone has known someone (or has, themselves) lived in a very noisy environment. Wether it's along side an interstate or in a downtown apartment, in a large city. The common question from people who are not in the current situation is, "How do you handle the noise?" The response, if the person has become habituated to the noise is, "I barely notice it, anymore."

So, the basic idea is that to become habituated to a stimulus, is to become so accustomed to it, that the stimuli's affect is lessened.

This brings me back to "Sasquatch Habituators".

Here are a couple of the more popular processes that are suggested and/or employed to "habituate" a Sasquatch:

A. Gifting of Food - This is not a process, by which, habituation is going to occur. It may, however, form a habit of frequenting the gifting spot. The "Sasquatch Hunter/Tracker" groups, who rely on their outdoor knowledge of sporting, would call this, "baiting". The hopeful result of which, is bringing your intended quarry into a predetermined location. The very act of changing the subject's behavior, deters natural habituation and if the subject were to become accustomed to your presence, it would likely only be thus, with the food present.

B. Singing or Playing Music - I can only imagine that this is done to create an environmental interest, much like other camps use call-blasting or howling into the night, while breaking sticks over trees. While this may be a good way to draw the interest of a Sasquatch in a non threatening way, the actual process of habituation could potentially have a negative outcome. After enough exposure, the affective response of curiosity or inquiry could be lessened, through the natural process of habituation.

I am not suggesting that the above examples are wrong, or less affective than other methods. Actually, I feel quite the opposite! At their base, both camps of methods are very similar, but the more pleasant, non threatening behavior of the "habituator" crowd is more likely to yield results, in my opinion.

I don't know of any species that responds worse to calm, non threatening behavior. I would chose these methods over the more aggressive or overt. However, I am taking a stand on semantics and hoping to disambiguate the correct definition of the term "habituation".

Another example of natural habituation, from my back yard:

The deer in my neighborhood are habituated to the presence of humans, in that, they do not flee, unless actively provoked to do so. Even when provoked, they only do so, at a saunter. There is, however, a limit to proximity or directly aggressive and/or quick movements that they will tolerate, prior to flight. They are neither tame nor domesticated and as a control to the previous statement, they are certainly not habituated to canines and will immediately flee from the most well behaved dog, being walked on a leash.

The coyote in my neighborhood will immediately flee from human activity, but are also habituated to human presence in their own, different and more secretive way. They may simply have lost a flight response to human smells and/or sounds, but will still actively avoid sight or proximity. They are definitely able to live in an area that more remotely located packs would avoid, as a response to the urban stimulus.

At no point should I expect an outcome from any species, as they continue to lose responses to human-based stimulation. That will rely solely on the individuals, themselves and is difficult, if not impossible, to guide or predict.

However, with time and diligence, one could argue that as various reactions begin to lessen, eventually, you will get to the reaction that you hope to remove.

So, in closing... Go ahead, use the word "Habituator" and talk about your "habituation" processes. It's okay and I wish you luck! Seriously, I do!!! The non aggressive approach will likely lead to more interesting results.

...And don't worry too much about the semantics. There are thousands of words used in our day-to-day lives that no longer carry their original meaning, but are used (however erroneously) to correctly communicate the intended meaning.

But if you truly want to naturally habituate a Sasquatch, as defined by the word's original meaning... I'm sorry. Natural habituation cannot be controlled and you cannot determine how the Sasquatch will become habituated to you. There are many possible affects of human presence that Sasquatch could become desensitized to and that does not ensure you a Jane Goodall experience with a Sasquatch.

But, HOT DAMN!!! A Goodall-like experience would be pretty sweet, right?!

Please, just keep the boots on the ground, however it is you go about doing so!!!