(Intro Psychology) Phobias and Addictions (as related to classical and Essay

(Intro Psychology) Phobias and Addictions (as related to classical and operant conditioning) - Essay Example Both phobia and addiction are contrasting psychological disorders. While phobia causes fear due to certain substance, addiction increases dependency of certain substance. In short, phobias and addictions are two emotional difficulties which learning theorists can account for. Phobias and addictions can be better analyzed with respect to classical and operant conditioning in psychology. The theory of â€Å"operant conditioning† was formulated by B.F. Skinner in 1930. â€Å"It is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment† (Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner), n. d). On the other hand the theory of classical conditioning was put forward by Pavlov which states that certain responses can be developed with the help of certain stimulus. This paper analyses phobias in relation to theory of classical conditioning and addictions in re lation to operant conditioning. Phobias and theory of classical conditioning â€Å"Several types of learning exist. The most basic form is associative learning, i.e., making a new association between events in the environment. There are two forms of associative learning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning†(Classical conditioning, 2008). Pavlov explained his theory of classical conditioning with the help of a dog’s response to meat. ... However, the dog’s mouth filled with saliva immediately after hearing the bell. Pavlov argued that the stimulus (Sound of Bell) produced a response (the saliva). In other words, he proved that certain behaviors can be conditioned with the help of certain stimuli. Phobias can be explained with the help of classical conditioning. For example, suppose a person suffered the attack of a dog once. He can develop the phobia of feeling afraid of dogs from then onwards. It is not necessary that all dogs may attack human. However, the person who suffered the attack of a dog may always watch dogs with fear and concerns because of his previous experience. Addictions and theory of operant conditioning â€Å"Skinner used the term operant to refer to any "active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequences† (Wagner, 2009). â€Å"When a particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond† (Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner), n. d). Skinner argued that certain stimulus can reinforce positive or negative behaviors. Consider a parent tries to wake up his son early in the morning at about 4am for studying his lessons. Initially the child may show some reluctance to wake up and study early in the morning. Also consider the child may be very much interested in having a black coffee early in the morning. If the parent provides him the black coffee after waking him up by 4 am for a period of one week continuously, the child may automatically wake up from the next week onwards asking for the coffee. Here the reward, black coffee has strengthened or reinforced the behavior of waking up and studying early in the morning. Addiction can be better understood with

Theoretical Writing Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Theoretical Writing Assignment - Essay Example Cultivation theory According to Gerbner (1969), television determines how a person looks at society. Television is broadly accessible to all people. Moreover, as Gerbner (1969) says, television is becoming very powerful because it is seen as a part of modern living and personal lifestyle. Unlike other types of media, television is one media of mass communication that is accessible to people right from childhood (Bryant & Zillmann, 2002). In this case, the television becomes the main way that people have acquired information, both general information and cultural reality. In this regard, as people grow old, television becomes a major part of determining how they view things. Reality is based on the general information that people gather while growing up. Because of this, it can be said that a person’s reality is based on the information they have gathered over time, whether in a formal or an informal way. A child in Africa who has no television may have a completely different v iew of reality from one in the United States. In the developed world, television has become the centre of cultural learning. Cultural artefacts are learnt through television. Television is a perfection of the society. Because most of the programs in television are fiction acted out by a well directed model, it creates the perfect world for individuals. The role of television in the modern developed world can be best understood by looking at the way culture was passed on before mass media. Cultural festivals were important in every society as a way to hand down important cultures. In this case, the cultural festivals and other cultural norms passed down from the older generation acted as a way to create a reality for the society. It is important to note that even in early days before the arrival of modern mass media most of the cultural reality was created with the intention to achieve something. Modern television may be geared towards cultivating a reality that will promote consumer ism to the benefit of the corporate world (Gerbner, et al., 1986). In the past, these perceived realities were created as a way to preserve the society and make people easy to govern. Looking at television, one can identify that television is just a modern extension of the tradition ways of passing on reality to the society. Before television, society created reality by telling specific stories which were told to children since they were young and this created a reality for them. There has not been much change about this due to a number of reasons. First, a look at television shows that deletions is used to tell (factious) stories which are bent towards changing the way an individual thinks about reality (Paisley & Stone). This is why over fifty percent of American believes that there are aliens who have visited this plant with UFOs despite there being no scientific evidence of such events. Violent TV shows There has been a greater debate ion how violent television shows affects an individual, especially young adults. This debate is very important because it has very serious implications. Most people still believe that the various grass incidences of mass shootings in public schools and other public places by young adults has been caused by violent video games. So the question that every person should be answering is whether these people who have