Learning Approach Gambling - created from Mind Map

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INITIATION

operant conditioning = behaviour leading to reward is repeated

Griffiths: gamblers get rewarded by the physiological buzz from winning, psychological rewards like the near miss & social rewards like peer praise, as well as financial rewards if they win.

may not always be rewarded & will lose more but they are irrational in their thinking & give greater weight to the experience of winning.

doesn't adequately account for gamblers continuing despite continual, sustained & heavy financial losses.

possible that large wins early in a gambler's career establish and sustain pathological gambling, distorting expectations of outcome & supporting big losses in the expectations of future big wins.

different types of gambling have different lengths of time between action and reward so difficult to apply same principles to all types

RELAPSE

addicts learn through classical conditioning to associate other stimuli, with gambling, which act as triggers, increasing arousal. if after period of abstinence, come into contact with conditioned cues, more likely to relapse.

classical conditioning can explain why studies have found that brain responses are similar even when not engaging in the actual behaviour, such as responses to triggers. But cannot explain why dependent behaviours are initiated as it only accounts for involuntary behaviour.

negatives & positives of gambling means gamblers want to both approach & avoid the activity. motivation fluctuates between the two. whether or not they give in to the urge is determined by their ability to control arousal & delay need for reinforcement.

MAINTENANCE

Intermittent reinforcement: continue to gamble due to occasional reward & become used to long periods without reward while their behaviour is reinforced by the occasional payout.

reinforcement may also be social approval.

Study found peers & family of problem gamblers were more likely to approve of gambling. respondents of this reinforcement not only gambled more but also intended to continue in the future.

suggesting their behaviour could be due to the approval of their peers & family.

research attempting to understand gambling is clouded by difficulty to get objective data as gamblers use different language to describe their behaviour depending on who they are with.

many gamble & experience reinforcements but don't become addicted. must be other factors affecting transition from behaviour to addiction.

different pathways proposed.

in behaviourally conditioned pathway, may begin due to exposure to role models & peers & more likely to stop. (positive reinforcement - social)

those using to relieve emotional states are more resistant to change & need treatment for underlying cause as well as for the gambling. (negative reinforcement-escape)

suggests particular learning factors may be more linked to addiction than others.

Learning Approach Gambling