That is, if the child were a mere rat in a Skinner Box, and not a human being with a huge, complex brain, and a psyche that works on many more intertwined levels....
No offense, but you keep posting a lot of long, fancy-sounding rants that just keep describing the same, extremely delimited and pessimistic way of thinking.
There's a shorthand that we commoners use for the exact same ideas without wearing out our keyboards.
"Behavior developed to create a pleasurable mental response, etc, etc..."
You repeat this idea a lot. It sounds super-impressive.
You do realize that's the very textbook
definition of the word "FUN," don't you?
Why not just say "FUN?" Why do you scorn the word FUN as if it were mere delusion, yet keep using its literal definition, as if you finally found the bad way of speaking it? Are you having a joke on us?
Most of the points you keep making in gloomy psychobabble to scare people can also be said in regular English without losing a shred of meaning.
pleasure inducing behavior = FUN, or FUN ACTIVITY
validation leading to dramatic increase = SCENE
identity with behavior = FUN LOVING
dramatic, obsessive increase in behavior =
TOO MUCH FUN
emotional turmoil over excessive behavior = GUILT, SHAME
Yes indeed, if you have too much fun, and if you are guilty of putting your fun above others' needs, you will always have problems with those others and your relationships will suffer. Shame on you.
But it works the same exact way with ANY 'behavior' (activity) people do for FUN. Yes, having fun is addictive. Not only cross-dressing "behavior," but anything FUN under the sun will lead to wanting to do more of it. Yes, there is such a thing as having too much fun to the point where you devote your life to it.
And yes, many many marriages have ended tragically because the husband put his 'fun' above the needs of the marriage.
He's out at the bar drinking with the guys and never comes home, all he cares about is golf more than his wife, all he likes to do is cross-dress, and damn his golfing/drinking/crossdressing buddies for validating his behavior like that, and making him do it more. They sure dragged him right away from his wife by validating his behavior.
Saying long impressive words won't cover it up.
(Btw, the point that there are people who don't like the "behavior" is moot. I can't be around people drunk in bars, and I really HATE the way people dress on a golf course, with their silly hats and dopey cardigans. What do they think they're doing?
Is my not liking it supposed to curb their "pleasure-inducing behavior" in the least?)
Now, if you want to know
why people find cross-dressing fun, that's a whole different issue. For that, I'd suggest clawing yourself out of the "Skinner Coffin" first, breathing the free air a bit, and then reading some Jung instead.
But for all this talk of "conditioning and response", please don't look at yourself or other humans as "rats," or that's exactly how you'll feel.