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Conditioning is often described in terms of an external agent manipulating the organism through reinforcement. But it is equally valid to say that the organism modifies its own behavior in order to exploit the reinforcing aspects of its surroundings. The crucial question is: Whose goals are ultimately being served by the conditioning? No one dislikes being conditioned as long as the benefits exceed the inconveniences. People voluntarily submit to conditioning and eagerly condition themselves in the pursuit of goals. What we dislike about conditioning is the possibility that someone else will condition us in ways that ultimately satisfy their goals to the detriment of our own. This is an everyday social reality and the only defense against it is the same deterministic knowledge that establishes freedom. If I know that I am being conditioned, I become free to resist it when I foresee undesirable consequences. My knowledge that this is true will motivate me to increase my knowledge, in order to further protect and increase my freedom.
If we are interested in protecting others from Machiavellian conditioning, we can carefully inform them of its dangers. In addition, we can deliberately reinforce a person when he behaves in response to internal determinants and physical reality, and not reinforce him when he responds only to social events. This will decrease his dependence upon external opinion and increase his dependence upon internal motives and upon objective reality as valid determinants of behavior. The result will be someone who is relatively independent of social reinforcement, in touch with his own motives and with physical reality, and consequently well able to satisfy his own needs.
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