Learning is quite an influential aspect of every organism’s lifetime. We learn through experience, which over time allows for a certain amount of change in our behaviour. The process of learning influences and alters the way we act, interpret, and perceive, and may effectively adjust our views on numerous subjects. If we are trained or become accustomed into acting a certain way, our behaviour may alter to allow for this new change in perception. The field of psychology is full of previous and recent studies which revolve around conditioning a subject. This method of conditioning is a learning process through which an organism relates a stimulus to another simultaneously occurring event. This process has been used for a very large number of studies with different topics and objectives, one of these topics being alcohol and drinking behaviour. The two following studies incorporate and test different conditioning techniques related to altering attitudes toward drinking behaviour. The objective of both studies is to determine whether alcoholism and drinking behaviour can be influenced either positively or negatively through conditional learning.
The first study, performed in the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia used a covert conditioning treatment on multiple subjects. Covert sensitization was used, which is sometimes referred to as aversion therapy. This type of behaviour modification allows the subject to “associate unwanted behaviour with negative stimuli using their imagination rather than actually experiencing these negative consequences” (Covert Sensitization in Alcohol Rehab). As it was explained to the patients of this study (Elkins, 1980), this procedure was designed to alter the drink...
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...an be concluded that these methods are valid forms of conditioning that prove to be effective in altering human behaviour. It has been proven that personal adaptation can result from conditioning the body. Furthermore, from the results of both studies, we can deduce that conditional learning of a subject can be quite influential to the individual’s drinking behaviour and attitude toward alcohol.
Works Cited
Elkins, R. L. (1980). Covert Sensitization Treatment of Alcoholism: Contributions of Successful
Conditioning to Subsequent Abstinence Maintenance. Addictive Behaviors, 5(1), 67-89.
doi:10.1016/0306-4603(80)90023-4
Havermans, R. C., Houben, K., & Wiers, R. W. (2010). Learning to dislike alcohol: Conditioning negative implicit attitudes toward alcohol and its effect on drinking behavior. Psychopharmacology, 211(1), 79-86. doi:10.1007/s00213-010-1872-1
Recently in a study conducted at the University of Milan, researcher Alessandro Orrù and colleagues (2012) created alcohol dependence in mice by reinforcing its usage, then latter on they effectively change the behavior by using a drug called Baclofen that decrease the cravings and the urge for alcohol. This drug, acts on the brain structure involved with alcohol-motivated and rewarded behaviors; apparently it helps to suppress the urge of alcohol. Because beer produces similar pleasure in both mice and humans, this study has high expectations to help alcoholic people if approved by the FDA. In this study initially the alcohol was the reinforcer, subsequently the mice modified the behavior by the use of the new drug, (Whitbourne, 2012).
Fear conditioning is a commonly used behavioral paradigm to test an organism’s ability to create associations and learn to avoid aversive stimuli. There are two methodologies: cue and contextual fear conditioning (Kim & Jung, 2006). In cued fear conditioning, a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) which activates a strong unconditioned fear responses (UR). After a continued training period, the neutral CS is now able to activate a conditioned response (CR). Similarly, context conditioning occurs when the background or context cues, during the condition training, is able to predict the US and activate the fear response. For example, a mice can be placed in a novel environment and given an aversive stimulus (e.g. footshock). When the mice is returned to that same environment, it will display a CR (e.g. freezing). The mice’s ability for contextual fear conditioning is dependent on whether it was able to learn and associate its environment with the aversive stimulus. (Curzon, Rustay, and Browman, 2009)
The first systematic study regarding operant conditioning was taken place in the 1800’s by the Psychologist, Thorndike. Thorndike formally defined operant conditioning as a type of learning that is controlled by the consequences of an organism’s behavior. However according to lecture, operant conditioning can be simply thought as performing an action in order to receive a reward. Operant conditioning can be useful when trying to deal with procrastination, increase efficacy of teaching, or to improve motivation. Therefore, operant conditioning can be used as a behavioral modification program to devise a more specific weight loss program to increase the roommate’s chances of making it on the football team. The program will include the following
It is said to believe that alcoholism is a type of behavior, which is why it shouldn’t just be studied by medical doctors, but by psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychoanalysts. Why? Psychology is the study of human behavior. This article argues that alcohol addiction is distinguished by an imbalance of two different psychological reports leading to the loss of willpower (Bechara 2005). The first one being a spontaneous reaction for signaling immediate expectations. The second report is a reflective reaction needed to decrease the response triggered by the impulsive system. The article also reviews some candidates that can trigger alcohol use either knowingly or unknowingly. According to Alcoholism and the Loss of Willpower, alcohol-related stimuli capture the attention of problematic users of alcohol, triggers specific attributes (good/bad and sedative/arousal), and both of which could increase the likelihood to drink more alcohol or to drink in inappropriate situations, like before an exam or before driving a car. (Page 1) Another main aspect of alcoholism is the diminished extent for self-control. This also includes things like addicts not being able to efficiently execute certain behaviors and regulate their emotions and feelings. This can have a lot to do with the insula, which is a region of the brain deep inside the cerebral cortex. Where a lot of decision making takes place here, once the insula is engaged it makes conscious and unconscious decisions to drink that beer or take that drug. All of these findings conclude to possessing willpower. “Willpower depends in many important ways on neural substrates that regulate homeostasis, emotion, and feeling.” (Persaud, McLeod, & Cowey, 2007) All these understandings of alcohol...
Carey, Carrera, and Damaintopoulos (2014) state in their article that Pavlovian conditioning of drug effects is generally acknowledged to be a critical factor in the development and persistence of drug addiction. In drug conditioning the focus has essentially been on one type of Pavlovian conditioning, namely, delay conditioning in which the CS and drug UCS overlap and are temporally contiguous. In this paper, we will further discuss this theory and others in the relationship of Pavlovian conditioning and addiction in more detail.
Behavior modification is based on the principles of operant conditioning, which were developed by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner. In his research, he put a rat in a cage later known as the Skinner Box, in which the rat could receive a food pellet by pressing on a bar. The food reward acted as a reinforcement by strengthening the rat's bar-pressing behavior. Skinner studied how the rat's behavior changed in response to differing patterns of reinforcement. By studying the way the rats operated on their environment, Skinner formulated the concept of operant conditioning, through which behavior could be shaped by reinforcement or lack of it. Skinner considered his discovery applicable to a wide range of both human and animal behaviors(“Behavior,” 2001).
The ingestion of alcoholic beverages for their enjoyable effects is a custom which has been around for thousands of years, and alcohol continues to be a popular drug because of its short-term effects (Coleman, Butcher & Carson, 1984). An enormous amount of damage can be attributed directly to alcohol abuse as a result of lost jobs, accidents caused by drunk drivers, and so forth (Maltzman, 2000). Alcohol also compounds other problems--an estimated 25% to 40% of hospital patients have problems caused by, or recovery delayed by alcohol abuse (Maltzman, 2000). Clinical psychologists spend about one-fourth of their time dealing with people who are suffering in part from alcohol or other substance problems (Vaillant, 1995). Although alcohol problems have been around for so long, it is only recently that these problems have begun to be associated with medical or psychological difficulties.
Classical conditioning refers to a type of learning in which a previously neutral stimuli took on the ability to stimulate a conditioned response in an individual (Gormezano & Moore, 1966). To prove that environment was more impactful than genetics, Watson conducted an experiment on an infant, little Albert. Initially, Albert showed little fear towards rats. When Watson repeatedly exposed Albert to the rat accompanied by a loud noise, the latter began to develop fear towards not just the rat but also other furry animals. Watson successfully showed that the acquisition of a phobia can be explained by classical conditioning (Watson & Watson, 1921). Regardless of their genes, the associations of the right stimuli can result in the development of a new behaviour in any individual.
Behaviorists believe that development is not tied to biologically determined stages. Development results from organization of existing behaviors. There are two categories of learning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning focuses on associations linked to involuntary behaviors. Pavlov is the father of modern learning theory. Through his experiment he discovered that an unconditioned stimulus could automatically trigger an involuntary response. For example, a dog was placed in a dark room and a light was turned on. After 30 seconds some food was placed in the dog’s mouth, stimulating the salivation reflex. This procedure was repeated several times- each time the presentation of food was paired with the light. After a while the light, which initially has no relationship to salivation, produced the response itself. The dog has been conditioned to respond to the light. In Pavlov’s terms, the presentation of food was the unconditioned stimulus. The light was a conditioned stimulus; its effect required conditioning. Salivation to the food was called the unconditioned reflex, salivation to the light a conditioned reflex.
As discussed earlier, our participants will be randomly assigned into a ‘health goal’ condition. The participants in this condition will be primed with a health goal. “Priming” and its effects have been thoroughly studied in social psychology. As Bargh , Chen and Burrows argue (1996:230) , ‘priming refers to the incidental activation of knowledge structures, such as trait concepts and stereotypes , by the current situational context.’ This activation of knowledge structures shapes the behaviour of people (Bargh et al. 1996 ; Bargh et al 2001). For example , the automatic activation of a trait concept can affect the behaviour of a person in such a way that his behavioural acts are more in line with this activated trait ; participants in whom the concept of rudeness had been activated , interrupted a conversation , between other people , more (Bargh et al. 1996). It is important to mention that these effects of priming are passive and automatic (Bargh et al.1996) . As Fitzsimons , Chartrand and Fitzsimons (2008:22)
Behaviorism includes two theories: classical conditioning, and operant conditioning (McLeod, Psychology Perspectives, 2007). Classical conditioning proposes that behavior, attitudes, and responses are developed by associations. For example, a dog can be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if every time that the bell is rung, food appears. Operant conditioning, on the contrary, is the theory that suggests that behavior, attitudes,
Although arguments could be made for the influence of operant conditioning on disordered eating, classical conditioning is assumed to a major component in the development of maladaptive eating behaviors (Greeno & Wing, 1994; Jansen, 1998). Empirical evidences supports classical conditioning models of eating desires. For instance, Van Gucht et al. (2008) tested the ability to condition serving trays (i.e., neutral stimuli) of different shapes and colors to elicit chocolate cravings. Conditioning consisted of three phases:
Classical conditioning also called as Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning. It is a kind of learning a new behavior through association that when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) and evokes a conditioned response (CR). It also is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus (Cherry, 2014). Classical conditioning has much strength such as can help to explain all aspects of human behavior and many of advertisers will use classical conditioning to advertise their produces, however it also have some weaknesses such as all classical conditioning responses must involve a reflex and classical conditioning is a completely physical process, learning is not important as reflected in scenario. This paper will talk about the strengths and the weaknesses of classical conditioning theory followed by a brief description of the scenario and the strengths and weaknesses of applying classical conditioning on it.
From the time humans are born, they begin the process of learning and trying to understand the world. Conditioning is one way of learning in which a response becomes more frequent as a result of reinforcement. We can also learn through associations and punishments. There are two types of conditioning that will be discussed within this paper, classical conditioning and operant conditioning. I will further discuss how both classical and operant conditioning are prevalent within my article claims and then explain why both conditioning methods are important in everyday life.
Learning is defined as a “process of change that occurs as a result of an individual’s experience” (Mazure, 2006). Researchers assume that the process of learning follows certain general principles, which were developed, into the general process learning theories. These include operant conditioning and classical conditioning which has been put forward by leading psychologists like Pavlov, B.F.Skinner and Thorndike. However, in learning, operant and classical conditoning are opposed by biological constraints that state that there are limitations to the theories. Some of these biological constraints on learning will be discussed below.