Through my research for my upcoming book, I found a substantial amount of article which discussed the conditioning factors behind addictive behavior. I feel the reason for the amount could be the fact that the idea of conditioning is almost as old as the study of psychology.
This theory is based in the ideas and research of Ivan Pavlov and his hungry salivating dogs (which most of us may remember from high school psychology class). Pavlov discovered and documented the principles governing how animals, and then adapted to humans, learn. Two basic kinds of learning or conditioning occur: operant and classical.
Classical conditioning, was the initial type of association first discovered by Pavlov as he noticed a relationship between a bell and the salivation of his dogs. Specifically, the animal learns to associate a neutral stimulus (like the ringing of a bell) with a stimulus that has great, even survival meaning based on how closely in time the two stimuli are presented. Dogs are able to learn the association between bell and food, (as humans are between two yellow arches and high calorie hamburgers) and will salivate immediately after hearing the bell once this connection has been made.
Marketers are well aware of classical conditioning. Next time you watch commercials on television, think to yourself, “What is the hidden message in this commercial?” For example, I once saw a beer commercial where a man began to drink the competitor's beer and women around him ran away, next to him was a man who began to drink the advertised beer, and those same women ran up to him and began to take off his shirt—what message is being sent? Sex definitely sells, especially beer!
Operant, also know as instrumental conditioning is a little more obvious than classical. In operant conditioning an animal or human learns to perform particular behaviors in order to obtain an intrinsically rewarding stimulus. For example, why do many people work jobs that they don't enjoy—to get a paycheck.
Many therapist have used the Classical, or Pavlovian conditioning theory to understand the nature of addictions. Truly, there are many obvious examples which would support the classical conditioning aspects of developing a dependence, especially on drugs. The inebriating or “drunk” effects of people given non-alcoholic drinks (such as “near beer”), when the individuals were told they were getting alcoholic drinks can be evidence for this type of conditioning. As with the individual addicted to cocaine, who begins to sweat at the sight of sugar or flour. I have noticed a strong association between “good times” and food. Just think of any typical Christmas party, what comes to mind? If you thought chocolate treats in the shape of Santa Claus, you have experienced the affects of conditioning.
Situational cues and conditioning have an important role in our understanding of addiction. As previously eluded to, there is evidence that many behaviors such as alcohol and drugs can be produced by placebo doses and have to same effects on the person taking them.
Even after long periods of abstinence, a person could still struggle with the affects of addiction conditioning. For example, I once had a client, who after 40 years of sobriety came in to see me because he “scared himself”. He reported how on a previous day, he was driving past an old bar he used to drink at, “without thinking” he found himself parking his car and approaching the door of the tavern. He stated, “It was like I was in a zombie mode... I couldn't think straight!” As he walked through the door, the smell of alcohol reached his senses “I don't remember ever wanting a beer so much in my life!” Fortunately, his wife call his phone and asked, “Where are you?” This was enough “reboot [his] brain”, and he said to her “Wow, I am in a bar”. She calmly replied, “Well, you better get out of there.” Again, he was shocked that this old association was still so very strong. This is the power of conditioning.
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