But, we just finished discussing learning theory in class. Operant conditioning shows another reason why we respond to different situations differently. If one child is reinforced for exploring, and another is punished, these two children will show different responses when presented with the same situation. Behaviorists like to argue that personality differences are a result of different reinforcement histories: meaning, that personality is nothing more than a record of how you've been reinforced in past situations.

So far, we can see that people may have different reactions because of differences in how their brain handles arousal, and from past reinforcement history. But a third reason can be found in Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory: our behavior is not explained by our past reinforcements, but by our prediction of future reinforcements. These expectancies can be different for different people. We'll respond based on our different predictions about what we think is likely to happen.

So, a new restaurant opens in town. Fred has always been curious about new situations, ever since he was a baby. (Fred needed a little more arousal to be at his optimal level). His parents have always encouraged him to be curious and to explore things for himself (reinforced for such behavior). He expects the food will be good, so he wants to go. Daphne, on the other hand, never liked changes or new situations (she was perhaps a touch over-aroused, and needed a little less to be at her optimal level). Her parents, possibly knowing Daphne's tendency to be upset by surprises, have always discouraged her exploring (such behavior was not reinforced). She expects to not enjoy the food, so she doesn't want to go.

The example is crude, but it gets us started. We're not all the same, and some of these differences are genetic, in the structure of our brains, and some of the differences can be found in our past histories.

Q. Why do some people gravitate towards drugs and alcohol and others don't?

A. Another very complex question. The question above helps illustrate why different people are attracted to different things. Learning theory gives us many reasons to understand why people use drugs. First, drugs provide a negative reinforcement, by allowing users to temporarily forget their problems as they get high, and a positive reinforcement from the pleasant sensations of the drug use. People who have fewer outside problems and enjoy the sensations less are less likely to continue taking the drug. Expectancies have a lot to do with it, too: if you expect the main thing drugs will do is cause trouble, you're less likely to try it, and even if you do, you're less likely to continue using it. If your expectancies are that drugs won't hurt your immediate future, you're more likely to try them and use them. I suspect if somebody wants to use drugs badly enough, it's next to impossible to stop them from doing so.

Eventually, drug use becomes a habit, just something you do, something like watching the same television shows because you've become accustomed to seeing them at a certain time. Many drugs also cause physical changes that make the user need the drug to avoid the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms—this is one component of addiction. When a person is addicted, they use the drug for the negative reinforcement it provides, taking away the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. There may not be much positive reinforcement left.

Social factors are also very important in drug use. Some federally funded drug studies I've read argue that the number one factor that predicts whether a person will use drugs or not is whether the person's parents had firm and clear anti-drug attitudes that they communicated to their children. But preliminary research in Hartford showed that a more important factor was who was responsible for introducing drugs to the teen in question. Most of the drug addicted teens interviewed in Hartford had been first introduced to drugs by their cousins, not by scary pushers down the street. Once they start, people who use drugs tend to gravitate towards friends who also use, and they spend less time with friends who don't approve. As the user shifts more into a drug-using group, the norms and social support encourages drug use and discourages quitting.

It's all very complicated. Perhaps the easiest answer would be the one a former colleague of mine, a reformed drug user in Hartford told me: "Some people like it the first time they try it, and some people don't. It's the people who like it that become addicted."

Q. Why do people have phobias of things?

A. More on learning theory! A phobia is an unreasonable fear of something, way out of proportion to the danger. Phobias can be classified as specific phobias (fear of a specific situation or thing) or a social phobia (fear of embarrassment, such as stage fright, fear of speaking in public, and so on). Most practitioners believe phobias are learned, using the principles of classical conditioning or even observational learning. But since so few people are actually injured by some of the more common phobias (how many people have died from being trapped in a closet?) and phobias for the truly deadly hazards of modern life (cars, guns, cigarettes, saturated fats) are so rare, some theorists argue that we are biologically prepared to be frightened of some things. It only takes one scary experience to create a phobia for snakes and spiders, these researchers argue.

Submit your own question: email me at dushayr@morrisville.edu

See earlier "Ask Dr. Bob" pages:

August 25
September 1
September 15
October 20
November 17
January 26
February 16

Go to the Intro psych homepage

Back to Dr. Dushay's homepage