Social Learning Theory  Hand out complete  Using one of the pictures from the prep, describe how Bandura’s theory could link to explaining initiation of addiction

In pairs: Write a story... From a Learning perspective! Candice becomes initiated to smoking because… Her addiction to nicotine is maintained because… After giving up for a year she relapses because…

Exam Q (June 2011)  Outline the learning model of addiction. (5 marks)

Evaluating the Learning Approach! “This House Believes… That Drug Addicts Should Not Be Punished Because they are not responsible for their Behaviour” You will be supporting or opposing the statement

Table 1 - Nature Table 2 - Nurture Table 3 -Freewill Table 4 - Determinism (Table 5 –Situational) “This House Believes… That Drug Addicts Should Not Be Punished Because they are not responsible for their Behaviour” The rest of the lesson to prepare ! Prep- are your statements ready for the debate next lesson! You will have 5 minutes to prepare!

Instructions Each table will take it in turns to support or oppose the statement Each statement must begin with “This party supports or opposes the house because…” You response to another party must be relevant to the previous statement and start “We support or oppose the previous party because…” Any statement not beginning in this way will be over-ruled by the judge (ME!) You must include a STUDY or an EXAMPLE The team who score the most points by using valid statements – WIN! “This House Believes… That Drug Addicts Should Not Be Punished Because they are not responsible for their Behaviour”

Burger Paragraph!

Possible paragraph layout: Present your evidence What does this evidence suggest Question your evidence, is it strong evidence or are there problems? This matters because The Learning approach to addiction originates from Skinner’s Theory of Operant Conditioning; the belief that any behaviour we are rewarded for is repeated. He based this on his studies with pigeons; rewarding them whenever they pecked a red button, which they continued to do until the reward was stopped. He found behaviour persisted the most when rewards were of a variable ratio; the timing of a reward is random and therefore unpredictable. This suggests that all addictions are based on the idea that they offer a positive reward; psychologically or physically. For example gambling rewards the player with money and a joyful feeling. Therefore, the approach can not only explain why people gamble again after winning, but why they also continue to gamble even after a number of loses; the individual believes ‘it could be the next time’, due to the variable nature of the reward ratio. We should be cautious when using the Learning Approach to explain addictive behaviour as it is a reductionist approach; saying that only behaviour that is rewarded will continue. It ignores other factors that play a part in our behaviour such as negative thought processes; addiction could be the result of a reaction to emotional trauma and used as coping mechanism. Furthermore if the development of an addiction was solely the outcome of reward; how is it that the prevalence rates for alcoholism in families is 36% compared to 9% of men and 4% of women in the general population. Similarly nicotine dependence has been shown to be 60% – 70% heritable. Alongside this the Learning Approach does not account for individual differences in rates of addiction that maybe accounted for by the inheritance of a more sensitive mesolimbic dopamine pathway (Liebman and Cooper, 1989). The Learning Approach allows for the development of effective treatments based on punishment and token economies; often used in rehabilitation centres. But it also ignores the possible underlying biological causes for the addiction which behavioural treatments may not tackle and therefore make relapse after treatment more likely.

Possible paragraph layout: Present your evidence What does this evidence suggest Question your evidence, is it strong evidence or are there problems? This matters because The Learning approach to addiction originates from Skinner’s Theory of Operant Conditioning; the belief that any behaviour we are rewarded for is repeated. He based this on his studies with pigeons; rewarding them whenever they pecked a red button, which they continued to do until the reward was stopped. He found behaviour persisted the most when rewards were of a variable ratio; the timing of a reward is random and therefore unpredictable. This suggests that all addictions are based on the idea that they offer a positive reward; psychologically or physically. For example gambling rewards the player with money and a joyful feeling. Therefore, the approach can not only explain why people gamble again after winning, but why they also continue to gamble even after a number of loses; the individual believes ‘it could be the next time’, due to the variable nature of the reward ratio. We should be cautious when using the Learning Approach to explain addictive behaviour as it is a reductionist approach; saying that only behaviour that is rewarded will continue. It ignores other factors that play a part in our behaviour such as negative thought processes; addiction could be the result of a reaction to emotional trauma and used as coping mechanism. Furthermore if the development of an addiction was solely the outcome of reward; how is it that the prevalence rates for alcoholism in families is 36% compared to 9% of men and 4% of women in the general population. Similarly nicotine dependence has been shown to be 60% – 70% heritable. Alongside this the Learning Approach does not account for individual differences in rates of addiction that maybe accounted for by the inheritance of a more sensitive mesolimbic dopamine pathway (Liebman and Cooper, 1989). The Learning Approach allows for the development of effective treatments based on punishment and token economies; often used in rehabilitation centres. But it also ignores the possible underlying biological causes for the addiction which behavioural treatments may not tackle and therefore make relapse after treatment more likely.

Outline and evaluate the learning approach to explaining problem gambling. (4 marks + 6 marks) Homework