Classical Conditioning Addictions

Phobias and Addiction Phobias and addictions are two emotional complexities which are real in our society and they are affecting the people’s behaviors in the society. The crippling behaviors related to phobia and addictions engulf people in the society and prevent them from living a normal and productive life. Phobias are constant extreme illogical fears of situations or things by an individual. Whereas, addiction is the dependence on something either an activity or substance. Nonetheless, individuals are not born with addictions and phobias, they are learned or acquired (Kowalski and Westen, 2011). The learning of addiction and phobia is through operating and classical conditioning.

Phobias can be developed through classical conditioning

The difference between classical conditioning and operating conditioning is that one is the opposite of the other. In classical conditioning, phobias are learned from the past experiences while in operating conditioning, addictions are developed depending on the environment and the end result of the addiction. Therefore, in classical, one develops a phobia from past experiences and it involves a natural stimulus that matches ups with a response. While in operating conditioning; an individual develops a behavior depending on the end result whereby, one associates with a certain behavior depending on the result. Another notable difference between the two is that operating conditioning centers on voluntary behaviors whereas classical conditioning focuses on unintentional behaviors. In operating conditioning, one becomes an addict of something because he/she wants to, but in classical conditioning, it is involuntary because it is triggered naturally. In operating conditioning, the operant forms a relationship between the stimuli and the outcome, while in classical conditioning, there is a relationship between the two different