Emotional Response Based on Previous Experience

Today got me thinking about conditioned responses. Obviously my day started off with the fire alarm. In my old building the alarm went off pretty frequently. So the assumption was that it was a false alarm. It did not bring with it a rush of adrenaline or any strong concern that it might be real. It was seen as nothing more then a nuisance. And I would go outside just in case it was real. A year ago tomorrow the alarm went off in the building. At first I thought it was just another false alarm. Turns out it was a real fire. It changes you... even though it wasn't a serious fire. But it's also about the context. I was still working in the old building and the alarm would go off but I wouldn't react to it. My mind still associated it with a false alarm. Whereas if I was at home the adrenaline would kick in and my mind would go into overdrive. The fear would kick in about whether or not there was a real fire and whether or not I would make it out of the building. The last time around the smoke was filling the stairwell and I had trouble breathing from about the third floor on. It's interesting how the mind works and how we condition ourselves to respond to the environment around us with repeated exposure to the same stimuli.