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Hello everyone and welcome back. In our past sections (as we see in slide
two) we have discussed classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and
social learning models. In this section we are going to talk about cognitive
models of addiction.
So, let's begin by going to slide three. As we see in slide three, we have a
variety of different models. In our classical conditioning model we have a
stimulus, stimulus, response model. That is, the conditioned stimulus, the
unconditioned stimulus, and then the response. The focus is on the
relationship between the two stimuli. In operant conditioning models we have
a stimulus, some kind of response, and then some kind of a consequence
stimulus. In an operant model the focus is on the response - consequence
stimulus aspect of the conditioning.
Cognitive models are different. What cognitive models focus on is what goes
on between the stimulus and when the response occurs. That is, what happens
within (or inside) the organism? There are two aspects of this. The first
part is the straight stimulus - organism -response model and we focus on
what goes on inside the organism. Or, we have a stimulus - organism -
response - consequent stimulus model. Then we focus on what the consequence
stimulus does to the internal processing that goes on inside the organism.
So, as we can see in slide four, the focus with cognitive models is on the
internal aspects of inside the organism, or some internal aspect within the
person that causes them to become a substance user.
The internal aspect here is not biological. Instead it is psychological. So,
let's look at some examples. I have listed several of these on slide five.
Let's look at the first example on slide six: Internal versus External Locus
of Control. Individuals with high internal locus of control believe they
have control over their own lives. In contrast, persons with high external
locus of control believe that outside influences have more control over
their actions and their addiction. For the addiction process, an individual
with high locus of control would focus on outside aspects that caused them
to use the compounds. That is, their spouse, their work stress, their kids,
and on, and on, and on causes them to use
How might that influence the addictive process? Well as we look at slide
seven it has a major impact on relation to craving and relapse behavior.
Let's use this model. We have some kind of stimulus. That is, the person
sees their dealer. Inside the organism, some unidentified internal variable
causes the person to want to begin to use the drug. Further, it does not
matter what that is. The response is, the person either seeks out or does
not seek out the drug. That is, the person might perform an alternative
behavior. Like go to AA, RA, see their counselor, or whatever. That
individual is then reinforced for some aspect of that particular behavior
(whether it is using the drug, or by having some reinforcement aspect of
going to RA or NA). This then influences their mental processing somehow and
that processing impacts their future processing when the individual sees
their dealer the next time.
So, the focus for the clinician (as we see on slide eight) is on changing
the underlying thought patterns of the particular client. For the cognitive
psychologist and the cognitive theorist the focus is not on the actual
behavior itself. The focus is on the internal aspects of the behavior that
occur before it is admitted.
Expectancy is another internal aspect that we often talk about in cognitive
psychology and is shown in slide nine. Basically, the key here is what you
expect to happen becomes the important part before the response actually
occurs. So what occurs is (as we can see in slide ten) the stimulus, the
experience or expectation, the response, and then the consequence occur.
Here, the focus is on the expectation not on the behavior, and how the
consequence changes the expectation. Again, in cognitive psychology, and in
cognitive aspects of addiction, the focus is on the internal aspects, not
the stimulus or the response.
So, let's give another example (shown in slide eleven). Here we have a
stimulus: the person sees some cocaine. Expectation: This stuff makes me
feel good! The response: their heart rate goes up, their neurotransmitters
increase, etc. Then, the drug taking reinforces the response of feeling
good.
An alternative explanation or alternative strategy might occur something
like this (shown on slide twelve). The person sees the cocaine. The
expectation is: This stuff will make me feel real bad! Response: Lowered
levels of neurotransmitters, anxiety about being around the drug, etc.
Consequence stimulus is not as reinforcing, or can even be negative (that
might even cause other aspects). So, the focus (as we see in slide thirteen)
for clinicians is to change the person's expectation about what will happen
when the stimulus is presented and move from some kind of positive
explanation (I like getting high) to some kind of negative explanation about
the drug (It makes my head all messed up, it causes me to throw up, etc.).
There is a variety of other internal variables as well that we examine in
cognitive psychology and some of these are shown in slide fourteen. For
example, the mood of the individual is important. If a person is in a bad
mood they may take the drug to get better. On the contrary, sometimes the
actual drug makes the person feel worse. An alternative explanation is: a
good mood, you take the drug to feel even better. But sometimes it works and
sometimes it does not.
Ultimately, what we have here (as we see in slide fifteen), the focus for
cognitive theoretical models of substance abuse is the focus on the internal
aspects of the organism and how they in general influence behavior. So, how
reliable and valid are these models? The answer is...It depends. Some have
good reliability and some have good validity. The problem is, again, as with
other models we have discussed, all of these models are correlational in
nature. Thus, you cannot really tell what is going on. You can infer, but
you do not really know if it is the variable you are looking at that is
having the impact.
Well, that concludes this section of cognitive models of behavior for
addictions. In the next section we are going to begin discussing
sociological models of addiction. So, until then, we hope you enjoyed this
section and we look forward to talking with you soon.
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