Addictive Behaviour - The Learning Approach

GAMBLING

INITIATION

• Operant conditioning - any behaviour that produces a consequence that the individual finds rewarding then becomes more frequent. 

MAINTENANCE

• Intermittent reinforcement - people continue to gamble because of the occasional reinforcement that is characteristic of most types of gambling. As a result, they become used to long periods without reward and their gambling behaviour is reinforced by the occasional payout.
• Social approval - this type of behaviour may also be maintained because reinforcement is provided in the form of social approval from others.
• Lambos et al (2007) - found that peers and family members of problem gamblers were more likely to approve of gambling.

RELAPSE

• Conditioned cues - addicts learn (through classical conditioning) to associate other stimuli with their gambling behaviour. These stimuli act as triggers for gambling because they have the ability to increase arousal. If, after a period of abstinence, an individual comes into contact with one of these cues, they are at a higher risk of relapse.
• Approach-avoidance conflict - because gambling has both positive and negative consequences for the individual, they are motivated to approach and to avoid situations where gambling is involved. This creates an approach-avoidance conflict, where motivation fluctuates between wanting to gamble and wanting to stop. Whether or not the gambler will gamble when faced with am urge to do so is related to their ability to control the increased arousal and delay their need for reinforcement.

Smoking

INITIATION

• Availability of role models - Social learning theory explanations of experimental smoking propose that young people begin smoking as a consequence of the social models they have around them who smoke. From this perspective, experimental smoking is primarily a function of parental and peer role modeling and the vicarious reinforcement that leads to young people to expect positive physical and social consequences from smoking.
• Popularity as a positive reinforcer - popularity among peers may also serve as a positive reinforcer in the initiation of smoking.
• Mayeux et al (2008) - found a positive relationship between smoking at age 16 and boys' popularity two years later.

MAINTENANCE

• Classical conditioning - the repetition of the act of smoking thousands of times a year eventually leads to a strong conditioned association between sensory aspects of smoking and the reinforcing effects of nicotine. Although the effects of nicotine in the brain are important when first starting smoking, smoking-related sensory cues rapidly become conditioned stimuli and so activate the same brain areas, making cessation more difficult.

RELAPSE

• Conditioned cues - cues associated previously with receiving nicotine, such as the availability of cigarette smoke, increase the likelihood that the smoker will respond by smoking. 
• Refusal self-efficacy - a concept related to the social learning theory explanation of smoking is self-efficacy, a person's belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Among adults, those who smoke more frequently have less confidence in their ability to abstain and so are more likely to relapse.

Evaluation

• Can't explain all forms of gambling - it is difficult to apply the same principles to all different forms of gambling.
• Gender bias - most research is done on only one gender.
• Culture bias - most research is done on individualistic cultures .
• Conditioned cues - supporting evidence by Thewissen et al (2008) - tested the importance of environmental contexts in the urge to smoke. in one room, they repeatedly presented 33 smokers with a cue predicting smoking, whilst in a second room they presented a cue predicting smoking unavailability. Results supported the view that a cue predicting smoking later led to a greater urge to smoke than did a cue associated with smoking unavailability.
• Treatment - Drummond et al (1990) - propose a treatment based on the idea that the cues associated with smoking or other forms of drug taking are an important factor in the maintenance of the habit. The treatment involves presenting the cues without the opportunity to engage in smoking.
• Only some people get addicted - cannot explain social smokers or gamblers not getting addicted.
• Different pathways - it has been suggested that there are different pathways for gambling that predict the likelihood of treatment being successful. People in the 'behaviourally conditioned' pathway are likely to have less severe gambling, so are more likely to consider treatment than the 'emotionally vulnerable gambler' who uses gambling primarily to relieve their aversive emotional states.
• Significance of occasional reinforcement - learning explanations propose that people become 'hooked' on specific activities because they lead to a positive consequence. in real life, this consequence is likely to be occasional rather than consistent, as smoking a cigarette will not always produce a desired positive mood state or relieve a negative one.