Addictions and Phobias Through Classical and Opperant Conditioning Essay

Phobias and Addictions by dint of Classical and operant ConditioningThis paper get out explore how phobic disorders and addictions argon formed through both classical and operant condition and show just as addictions and phobias gutter be formed, they poop withal arrest extinct. Classical teach is the use of a conditional excitant such as a person, ordinate or object that forms an unconditional response. An unconditional response is matchless that does not require thought, but instead, is a natural reaction of the proboscis (Kowalski & Weston, 2010). Irrational fear of an object or a spotlight is called a phobia. Phobias fuel make a person become paralyzed with fear for no apparent reason. Phobias can be created by putting together an object or a situation with an irrational thought or feeling. Singularly, the object or situation does not provoke a frightful reaction, put once a fearful, irrational thought is associated with the stimulation, the object or the situatio n creates a fearful response. Phobias can be created by classical condition. This happens when a stimulus is repeatedly paired with a negative reaction. Over time, the wiz begins to associate the stimulus with the negative reaction and creates a fight or flight response.Take for example agoraphobia, the fear of being in certain(a) pop outs such as crowds, public transportation or being outdoors their home without another person. At some point, while doing one of these activities, the man-to-man probably had a consternation attack attack. In his or hers intelligence, the association in the midst of the place and the panic attack has started to imbibe hold. The next time the soul returns to the place or activity, he or she may become apprehensive that he or she will again have a panic attack. The stress from the worry may hence elicit another panic attack, which then conditions the brain to have the same fearful reaction to the stimulus. The respective(prenominal) then b ecomes extremely stressed when faced with the stimulus, or he or she avoids the place or activity completely. This is how agoraphobia is created through classical condition. Operant conditioning is a reinforcement of manner that is controlled by the environment rather than then being a naturalreaction of the body (Kowalski & Weston, 2010). When an individualist avoids a situation or an activity because of even the slightest fear, this reinforces the effects and the intensity of the fear. It can become a phobia through operant conditioning. A phobia created by operant conditioning takes place when the negative reaction to the stimulus is reinforced by the avoidance of that stimulus.Over time, the negativity escalates and the individual will have a much harder time dealing with and overcoming his or her fear. dapple classical and operant conditioning can create phobias, they can also cause addictions. According to the book Addictions A Comprehensive Guidebook (McCrady & Epstein, 19 99) classically lettered addictions are created when the mind begins to associate a person place or object to the stimulus of the addiction such as shopping, drugs or food. These associations then begin to have a trigger effect and that causes the cravings or urges for the stimulus. With operant conditioning, a person is conditioned to use his or her stimulus of choice because of the feelings or emotions that are aroused due to the use of the individuals stimulus.These feelings are a positive reinforcement of his or hers conduct directly related to the use of that persons drug of choice. In the case of an individual who is addicted to food, if he or she is feeling bowl over or anxious, they may choose to binge on food and in the moment, start to feel less anxious or less irritable. These feelings are a positive reinforcement of their choice to binge. Thus they are conditioning themselves to feel better through the use of food bingeing. This is operant conditioning. unsloped as cla ssical and operant behaviors are able to take hold, they can also become extinct. In the case of phobias or addictions, the classical conditioning extinction process starts to take place when the bodys natural reaction, i.e. panic attacks or cravings, start to take place without the person, place or object being posed. Eventually the mind starts to disassociate the original stimulus and the response, leading to the extinction of the classically conditioned behavior. Much in the same way as classical conditioning becomes extinct operant conditioning begins the extinction process when the reinforcement of the behavior no longer takes place. For the binge eater, if they no longer are comfort by the food, the food starts to become less effectual as a means to control feelingsbringing about the extinction of the addiction (Kowalski & Weston, 2010). plain put, phobias and addictions can be learned and reinforced by way of conditioning and also can be extinguished by lack of the same condi tioning.BibliographyKowalski, R., & Weston, D. (2010). Learning. In R. Kowalski, & D. Weston, Psychology 6th Edition (pp. 162-194). Hoboken R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Inc.McCrady, B. S., & Epstein, E. E. (1999). etiology of Alchohol and Other Drugs. In B. S. McCrady, & E. E. Epstein, Addictions A Comprehensive Guidebook (p. 61). Oxford Oxford University Press.