Psychology of Addiction: Classical Conditioning and Substance Addiction

This essay explores the role of classical conditioning in addiction to substances like nicotine, drugs, and alcohol. It explains how cues and stimuli trigger addiction and how cue exposure therapy can help. The essay also discusses the theories of stimulus substitution and the Rescorla Wagner Model.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY OF ADDICTION
Psychology of addiction
Name of the student
Name of the university

1PSYCHOLOGY OF ADDICTION
The purpose of psychology is to study the individual behavioral patterns, mental
processes and attitudes of people. Cigarette smoking or nicotine addiction may be defined in
psychology as a powerful motivation for cigarettes, which overcomes the motivation not to
(Bickel, Mueller & Jarmolowicz, 2013). There have been various attempts on part of the
psychologists to explain substance addiction. For one, cigarette addiction may be explained as a
kind of learned association between the actual act and the sensations related to smoking, which is
prompted by specific cues and stimuli. The following essay attempts to study nicotine addiction
from a psychological perspective.
In the vignette provided, the associative learning phenomenon is classical
conditioning, a concept which was first demonstrated by Pavlov through a series of experiments.
The associative learning phenomenon which is also known as Pavlovian conditioning is evident
from the activities of the subject, Sam. The vignette provided states that Sam is a chain smoker
who finds it quite hard to quit smoking. He had started smoking with his work friends, during
their morning coffee breaks. Classical conditioning states that a person acquires a learned
association when a natural stimulus becomes paired or associated with a stimulus which was
previously neutral. The morning coffee initially was a neutral stimulus. However, as Sam and his
friends began to smoke during their coffee breaks, coffee gradually began to get associated with
cigarettes. As a result, with the passage of time, coffee breaks would seem impossible or
incomplete without cigarettes. This is one of the most crucial factors that has triggered Sam’s
cigarette and nicotine addiction. Spending even a couple of hours without smoking would make
Sam uncomfortable and agitated. The vignette also mentions that Sam feels these urges and
cravings while drinking coffee. In order to quit smoking, Sam has had to quit coffee. Attending
the coffee breaks with his friends would make him crave cigarettes. On the other hand, skipping

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the breaks eased his cravings and he did not feel the urges as much. This shows that his brain has
learnt to associate coffee with smoking, which is a clear example of classical conditioning.
The concept of classical conditioning was first introduced by Russian physiologist
named Ivan Pavlov. He was conducting an experiment on dogs, when he noticed a fascinating
behavioral phenomenon. Whenever the lab technicians responsible for feeding the dogs entered
the room, the dogs began to salivate. In other words, the dogs had begun to associate the lab
technicians with food. This is what has come to be known as classical conditioning. As Hesslow,
Jirenhad, Rasmussen and Johansson (2013) have claimed, classical conditioning may be defined
as a learning phenomenon where a previously neutral stimulus (which initially had no impact on
the behavioral patterns of individuals) comes to be associated with a biologically potent stimulus.
In other words, as a result of classical conditioning, an individual would begin to show the same
responses to a previously neutral stimulus which he would do a natural stimulus. For example,
salivation on seeing food is a natural stimulus for dogs. However, since the lab technicians were
feeding them at regular intervals, they began to associate them with food, which caused them to
salivate at the mere sight of these technicians. Weiss (2014) thus distinguishes the two stimuli
into unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus. The former refers to the naturally
occurring stimulus or biological stimulus, which triggers a natural and expected response. On the
other hand, conditioned stimulus refers to a certain cue or action which was previously neutral
and did not trigger responses. When such a stimulus is repeatedly paired with unconditioned
stimuli, the brain begins to associate the former with the latter. With passage of time, the person
would demonstrate the same responses to the previously neutral stimulus as well. Petty (2014)
claims that it was John Watson who elaborated on the concept of classical conditioning and
denied the very existence of natural emotions or consciousness. Watson claimed that the mind of

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an individual at birth was tabula rasa, or a blank slate. Every single, minute human response
which was a reaction to various stimuli was a part of a learning process. He believed that any
individual could be trained to react, respond or behave in a certain way. Garcia Penagos, Andres
and Malone (2013) claims that Watson’s arguments changed the way people perceive human
behavior. Watson also went on to claim that a person’s nature, traits or personality had nothing to
do with his ethnicity, abilities or even talents. On the contrary, any person could be trained to act
in a certain way through controlled classical conditioning.
Two important theories must be studied with respect to classical conditioning. For
instance, the stimulus substitution theory claims that classical conditioning does not require the
acquisition of new behavioral patterns or traits. On the other hand, through conditioning,
individuals simply react to old stimuli in new ways. Proulx, Brown, Pasqualotto and Meijer
(2014) argue that the stimulus substitution theory emphasizes that when a new stimulus is paired
with an existing stimulus or conditioned stimulus, classical conditioning occurs. As a result of
this classical conditioning, it becomes possible to completely replace the original conditioned
stimulus with the new one. This was demonstrated as part of Pavlov’s experiment, when he
showed that the dogs began to salivate at the mere sight of the lab technicians’ coats. Another
model that must be examined in this respect is the Rescorla Wagner Model, which predicts the
relationship between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. The model claims that in order
to garner suitable responses to the conditioned stimuli, there are a few factors that must be taken
into account. For instance, the nature of conditioned stimulus would play a crucial role
(Rescorla, 2014). It needs to be tempting enough to motivate the individual or move the person
to action.

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Essentially, classical conditioning claims that human behaviors are learnt responses and
are a reaction to specific stimuli (Chandler & Gass, 2013). For instance, in the case of the
vignette provided, coffee can be explained as a conditioned stimulus. The stimulus previously
was a neutral one and did not trigger temptations for smoking. However, since Sam and his
friends smoked regularly during their coffee breaks, coffee became gradually became a stimulus
which triggered a conditioned response. This was the main cause behind his urges to smoke.
Thus, classical conditioning as a learning mechanism can explain addiction to various
substances like drugs, alcohol and nicotine. In order to explain classical conditioning as a
major factor behind addiction, withdrawal symptoms need to be present (Piper, 2015). For
example, when Sam tried to quit smoking, he found it difficult to do so and even experienced
withdrawal symptoms. This is because a stimulus is associated or attached to the behavioral
pattern. The environment (coffee break) and the sensations (the urge to smoke) associated with
the stimulus is what triggered the subject’s addiction. Since the unconditioned response of coffee
is now associated with cigarettes, the presence of that once neutral stimulus would evoke the
same response which is associated with smoking, even in the absence of the unconditioned
stimulus. In simple words, since coffee has become attached to smoking for Sam, he would feel
the urge to smoke in the mere presence of coffee. This is especially important in the case of
people who want to quit smoking. The presence of the conditioned stimulus, coffee in this case,
would make it impossible for Sam to abstain from smoking. This is because coffee would act as
a cue and result in relapse triggers (Carey, Carrera & Damianopoulos, 2014). However, cue
exposure therapy is one method which can terminate the paired association and force the human
brain to stop associating one stimulus with another. This therapy essentially states that if a person

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is exposed to the problematic cues (coffee) repeatedly, without the cigarettes, the person’s brain
will put an end to the association.
To conclude, it can be said that every aspect of human behavior is a part of a learning
mechanism. In other words, every human response or emotion is a reaction to the presence of
certain stimuli. The human brain is wired in such a way that it tends to associate a particular
neutral stimulus with a naturally occurring one, which is known as classical conditioning. As
research shows, classical conditioning can be used to both explain and treat addiction to various
substances like drugs, alcohol and even nicotine.

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