Addiction: Learning Theory Explanation for gambling addiction

Question 1

What is partial reinforcement?

Answer 1

When a behaviour is reinforced only some of the time (e.g. every 10th time it occurs)

Question 2

What is variable reinforcement?

Answer 2

A type of partial reinforcement where a behaviour is reinforced randomly.

Question 3

Explain the impact of vicarious reinforcement in maintaining gambling addictions:

Answer 3

• The experience of seeing others being rewarded for their gambling through pleasure, enjoyment and money.
• This can be through seeing it in person and through the media.
• This may be enough to trigger a desire for the same reinforcement in someone who hasn’t gambled before.

Question 4

What is the direct positive reinforcement for gambling addiction (learning theory):

Answer 4

• Winning money
• Euphoria

Question 5

What is the direct negative reinforcement for gambling addiction (learning theory):

Answer 5

• Offers a distraction from everyday worries/stress

Question 6

Explain partial reinforcement for gambling addiction (Learning theory):

Answer 6

• Skinner’s rat study found that continuous reinforcement does not lead to the most persistent behaviour- once the rewards stop, so does the targeted behaviour.
• A partial reinforcement schedule, creates more persistent behaviour (that is shown in gambling addictions).
• With gambling addictions, only some bets are rewarded, so there is an unpredictability about which gambles will pay off.
• This is enough to maintain gambling addiction even when most gambles are not rewarded.

Question 7

Explain variable reinforcement for gambling addiction (Learning theory):

Answer 7

• Behaviour is reinforced intermittently- learning takes longer to be established but it is much more resistant to extinction when established.
• This produces the most persistent learning, with a reward being given out after an unpredictable amount of responses.
• The gambler will learn that they will not win on every gamble, but will eventually win if they persist.

Question 8

________ can explain how a behavioural addiction like gambling can be maintained and reinstated after relapse.

Answer 8

Cue reactivity

Question 9

Give some secondary reinforcers for gambling addiction (learning theory):

Answer 9

• Environment (betting shop)
• Colours of lottery scratch cards
• TV horse racing channels

Question 10

Why do secondary reinforcers make gambling addiction relapse so easy?

Answer 10

• Secondary reinforcers can cue the arousal that the gambler craves, even before they place a bet.
• They offer low-level reminders of the pleasures of gambling.

Question 11

What are the 4 evaluation points for gambling addiction via learning theory?

Answer 11

1) Research support (S)
2) Explains failure to stop (S)
3) Limited explanation (L)
4) Not a full explanation (L)

Question 12

Explain research support (S) as an evaluation point for gambling addiction via learning theory:

Answer 12

• There is support from research outside of a lab
• Dickerson observed and compared the behaviour of gamblers who placed the most bets on horses (high-frequency), with those who placed few bets (low-frequency).
• Found that the high-frequency players were consistently more likely to place their bets in the last 2 minutes before the start of the race. Suggested that the reason for this is because the high-frequency gamblers find the build up exciting regardless of the result.
• The excitement is rewarding as they may have delayed betting to prolong it.
• Supports the role of positive reinforcement in gambling in a real-life scenario (compared to a lab).

Question 13

Explain explains failure to stop (S) as an evaluation point for gambling addiction via learning theory:

Answer 13

• It explains why most gamblers cannot stop gambling.
• Learning theory explain how dependence starts but also how it is maintained. Conditioning is an automatic process- it does not require a gambler to make any active decisions. They are not aware that they are becoming addicted to gambling
• Makes it hard for gamblers to quit gambling. May be because their conscious desire to stop gambling my conflict with the conditioning processes that drive them to continue gambling.

Question 14

Explain limited explanation (L) as an evaluation point for gambling addiction via learning theory:

Answer 14

• Struggles to explain some types of gambling.
• Learning theory can explain gambling addiction for scratch cards, where there is little waiting time between placing the bet and finding out the result.
• Harder for learning theory to explain addiction for which the outcome is found out a while after placing the bet (e.g. horse racing). This is because the reward/outcome comes a while after the betting, so conditioning should be less effective.

Question 15

Explain not a full explanation (L) as an evaluation point for gambling addiction via learning theory:

Answer 15

• Parts of the addiction cycle are poorly explained by learning theory.
• E.g. cannot explain why some people gamble and experience the same reinforcements yet do not become addicted.
• Most people that try gambling do not become addicted even though they observe others enjoying it and experience pleasure.
• This implies that there are other factors involved e.g. genetic differences or ways of thinking which would explain why the addiction cycle only begins for some people.