Classical Conditioning And Taste Aversion Therapy

This paper will describe Classical Conditioning using the learned taste aversion of my experience with drinking beer for the very first time as a child.

A recent US study revealed that more than 15 million people, 18 years of age and older, have Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Broken down by gender, this includes 9.8 million men and 5.3 million women. Even more disturbing is the fact that roughly 623,000 adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age have AUD. Of those, 298,000 were male and 325,000 were female.

Classical conditioning effects everyday life especially in relation to phobias and addiction which will be discussed in this essay. Classical conditioning was founded by Ivan Pavlov. He believed that if a behaviour can be learned, it can also be unlearned too. This essay will highlight the importance of conditioning principles in explaining and treating problem behaviours. Classical conditioning has revolutionised behavioural therapies, such as flooding and systematic desensitisation to treat phobias, and aversion therapies to treat addictive behaviour.

Addiction is thought of a biological nature that is past through genetics according to the biological theory as explained in P2. A contrasting theory of the biological theory would be the classical and operant conditioning theory, this was made by Pavlov. The basis of conditioning theories is that addiction is the end result of the reinforcement of drug use. The drug acts as a reinforcer and gains control over the user’s behavior. In contrast to the biological models of the exposure theories, these conditioning models suggest that anyone can show addictive behavior if they are given reinforcements, regardless of their genetics. The advantage of this

The use of alcoholic beverages is very popular, especially with under-aged teenagers. They often get surrounded with the wrong friends, parties, or older people such as college students and begin to drink without earning information about the

Alcoholism has become one of the most prevalent diseases in our society today. The everyday pressures of life and the burden of worries that we face every day have served as a catalyst for this growing affliction.

Roughly 11 million young Americans consume alcohol, and an upsetting number of them drink way too much, for the purpose of my research, described as guzzling five or more drinks in a row, one or more times in a two-week period.

Today, “alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the United States” (NCADD Staff, 2017). According to the National Council on Alcohol Drug and Dependance, “17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence” (NCADD Staff, 2017). To cope with this mass issue, several self-help programs has evolved. Perhaps the most well known and most accepted program is AA. AA stands for Alcohol Anonymous. This global program is designed for men and women who have problems with drinking alcohol, alcohol abuse or dependence. The association is accepting of all individuals regardless of age, race or other distinguishing factors, and hopes to help those who wish to resolve their drinking issues.

The classical conditioning model was one of the first theories used to describe phobias. Many years ago, scientists observed that one could willingly elicit a fear response in an animal or human through systematic teaching. For example, if every time a rat is presented with a low buzzing noise, it is electrically shocked, eventually, when it hears the noise alone (with no shock), it will exhibit symptoms of fear. (3) Scientists

Addiction is an epidemic in the United States of America. Yet out of all the addictive substances that are available to Americans, Alcohol has become the leading stimulant to flourish this outbreak. According to the 2014 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration statistics, 60.9 million Americans considered themselves binge drinkers while 1 in 10 underage alcohol users, age 12 to 20, already themselves considered heavy alcohol users (SAMHSA, http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FRR1-2014/NSDUH-FRR1-2014.pdf ). Since alcohol addiction can affect any socioeconomic status and any street corner in America, many Americans know a friend or a family member that has been struck by this epidemic. I myself am one of those Americans. Although my grandmother lost her battle to addiction more

According to the Dual Diagnosis website, “In 2012, as many as 87.6 percent of American adults over age 18 were reported in a SAHMSA…study to have consumed alcohol at some point in their lives…The National Institutes of Health…estimated that 17 million adults in the United States in 2012 had an alcohol use disorder” (“Disease…”). Approximately one in every 12 people either are abusing alcohol, or they are becoming, if not are, victims of alcoholism (National…). Alcohol consumption is especially known in our society’s culture. There are numerous people who like to drink every now and again in moderation; however, there are far too many people who abuse the alcohol and may even be completely dependent on it. Several

Alcohol is one of the most commonly used drugs in the United States today. Sixty-three percent of Americans over the age of 18 said they have consumed alcohol at least once in the past year, (National, 2001). A survey, conducted by the Core Institute, of 55,026 college students, ranging from freshmen to seniors to non-seeking degree students, from across the United States showed that 84.1% of students consumed alcohol at least once a year and that 72.1% of students

Taste aversion therapy is where an aversive stimulus is associated with an unwanted behaviour to therefore extinguish it. One of its primary principles is that all types of behaviour is learned and therefore any undesirable behaviour can be unlearned, with the appropriate method (Aversion Therapy, 2014). The experiment produced by Dale S. Cannon, Antonio Gino, Timothy B. Baker and Peter E. Nathan (1986), evaluated the relationship between the strength of the taste aversion and the abstinence rate. Following on, the study founded by James W. Smith and P. Joseph Frawley (1990), determined the alcohol abstinence rates for patients treated for the first time. Furthermore, the study conducted by Matthew Owen Howard (2001) assessed the extent to which pharmacological aversion therapy (PAT) assists in a conditioned aversion to alcohol. All three studies coincide to evaluate if taste aversion therapy for alcoholism produces behavioural change.

This particular situation is an example of classical conditioning. The drinking and smell of alcohol causing the nausea that Kendra is going through is all a part of classical conditioning. The excessive amount of alcohol that Kendra consumed is a conditioned stimulus. A conditioned stimulus would be the alcohol, a stimulus that would have no effect if it didn’t come in contact with nausea. The nausea that Kendra is experiencing is a form of an unconditioned response. An unconditioned response is when an unlearned response is triggered by an unconditioned stimulus. In this case the unconditioned stimulus is the smell of alcohol which then triggers the unconditioned response of nausea. Kendra decided to drink an excessive amount of alcohol.

“The aversion therapy is considered a type of psychological treatment, where patients will be exposed to different types of stimulus and at the same time it will experience some type of discomfort (Lieberman, 2012).”This treatment is based on the principles of classical conditioning; using classical conditioning to get rid of addictions or unwanted behaviours. Patient’s unwanted addiction is paired with a drug that makes them sick.