Learning Approach Smoking - created from Mind Map

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INITIATION

SLT: young begin smoking due to social models around them who smoke

leads young people to expect positive physical & social consequences due to vicarious reinforcement.

popularity may be positive reinforcer for initiation

study found positive correlation between smoking at age 16 and boys' popularity 2 years later, supporting this theory.

further support: peer group influences found to be primary for teens who smoke or do drugs. also more likely to hang out with others that do the same.

those with friends who smoked were 8 times more likely to smoke even if their siblings or parents did not, illustrating the effects of peer influence.

Real world application gives support for the validity of the theory as it can be generalised to external settings. (ecological validity). Drug prevention programmes target beginner adolescents as this is when they are most vulnerable to peer influence. Teaches them how to refuse drugs like cigarettes. Such skills counter the pro-smoking messages received from their environments.

many abstaining addicts do not experience withdrawal symptoms or cravings, suggesting that biological factors are not as important as learning ones.

MAINTENANCE

repetition of act of smoking leads to strong conditioned association between sensory aspects of it & the reinforcing effects of nicotine.

smoking related sensory cues become conditioned stimuli & activate same brain areas as nicotine, making quitting harder.

supporting study found that those exposed to cue predicting smoking later had a greater urge to smoke than those presented with a cue that predicted smoking unavailability, which is consistent with expectations proposed by the theory.

lead to important discovery of treatment where smoker is exposed to cues but doesn't get to engage in smoking so doesn't get reinforcing effects of nicotine so association between cue & smoking is eliminated. no more craving for cigarettes when exposed to cue.

favourable response to such treatments indicate a learning component, though only produce short term benefits suggesting symptoms are addressed but not underlying causes, implying other factors are involved.

RELAPSE

cues mean smoker responds by smoking

research found craving increased significantly when stimulus was presented to the smoker

concept related to SLT is self efficacy, belief in ability to succeed in a situation. found among adults, those who smoke more frequently have less confidence in ability to abstain & are more likely to relapse

however, onset & development of smoking follows different patterns for men & women according to Lopez. Women start smoking later than men. explanations fail to address these gender differences.

Learning Approach Smoking