Learning Approach

Learning Approach

1. Initiation

   • Gambling - Operant Conditioning
     • Any behaviour that produces a consequence which is found to be rewarding by the individual will be repeated. Griffiths (2009) Argued gamblers become addicted because of physiological rewards (winning buzz), psychological rewards (near miss) social rewards (peer praise) and financial rewards if they win. Even though gamblers may generally lose, Delfabbro and Winfield suggests this links with the idea that gamblers are not always rational in their thinking, and greater weight may be given to any wins.
   • Smoking - Role models and Popularity as reinforcement
     • Social learning theory explains that experimental smoking due to social role models that they have. Experimental smoking is seen as primarily a function of parental and peer modelling and the vicarious reinforcement that leads young people to expect positive physical and social consequences.
     • Popularity among peers may also act as a reinforcer in the initiation of smoking. Mayeux et al. found positive correlation between smoking at age 16 and popularity two years later (in boys).

2. Maintenance

   • Gambling - Intermittent Reinforcement and Social Approval
     • Operant conditioning suggests individuals continue to gamble because of occasional (intermittent) reinforcement, a characteristic of many forms of gambling. As a result they become used to long periods without reward and their behaviour is reinforced by occasional payouts.
     • Reinforcement comes from social praise and approval. Lambs et al (2007) found that peers and family members of pathological gamblers were more likely to approve of the behaviour. Individuals who received this kind of reinforcement not only gambled more often but also intended to continue in the future more than other respondents.
   • Smoking - Repetition
     • The repetition of the act of smoking thousands of times a year eventually leads to a strong conditioned assocaition between many sensory aspects of smoking (action, smell etc) and the reinforcing, rewarding effects of nicotine. Smoking related sensory cues rapidly become conditioned stimuli and activate same brain areas as nicotine, making cessation more difficult.

3. Relapse

   • Conditioned cues
     • Addicts through classical conditioning learn to associate certain cues/stimuli with their addictive behaviour (e.g. Gambling -sight/sound of casino, Smoking - sight/smell of cigarettes) Stimuli act as triggers as they have the ability to increase arousal. After a period of abstinence when an individual comes into contact with one of these cues they are at higher risk of relapse.
   • Gambling - Approach-avoidance conflict
     • Gambling has both positive and negative consequences for the individual, they are motivated to approach and avoid gambling situation. Creates approach-avoidance conflict, where motivation fluctuates between wanting to and wanting to stop gambling. whether or not the gambler will gamble is related to their ability to control their increased arousal and delay the need for reinforcement.
   • Smoking - Refusal self-efficacy
     • Self-efficacy is the persons belief in their own ability to succeed in a particular situation. Many smokers have little self-efficacy in their ability to abstain and so are more likely to relapse.

4. Evaluation

   • Gambling
     • Can't explain all forms of gambling
       • Problem with explanations based on operant conditioning, can not apply same principles to all different forms of gambling. Some forms of gambling have short period of time between behaviour and consequence (scratch cards) others have much longer periods between bet and outcome (sports betting), this is also linked to skill not just luck.
     • Fails to explain why only some become addicted
       • Explains addiction in terms of consequences of gambling behaviour. May explain why some may become addicted to drugs and engage in potentially addictive behaviour, it doesn't explain why although many people may gamble in their lives and experience reinforcement (e.g winning, social praise etc) relatively few become addicts. This suggest that there are other factors that contribute in the transition from gambling behaviour to gambling addiction.
   • Smoking
     • Implications for treatment
       • Drummond et al (1990) treatment based on cues associated with addictive behaviour, cue exposure, involves present cues without opportunity to smoke, leads to a phenomenon known as stimulus discrimination, as without reinforcement provided by nicotine, the association between the cue and smoking is extinguished, reducing the craving for cigarettes that arises after normal stimuli exposure.
     • Gender bias in research
       • It is argued that there is inherent gender bias in research relating to smoking addiction. the onset of smoking and development of addiction follows different patterns in men and women according to Lopez et al. (1994) Found that women start smoking later than men and that there are gender related differences in relation to both stages and context of smoking. explanations of smoking addiction generally fail to address these gender differences.