A Learning Experience Essay Example for Free

A Learning Experience Essay In this content, there will be a discussion on how someone can learns how to not use drugs and what it was like for them before and after their initial use. There will be an identification of what someone would learn from using to not using. Also included in the discussion there will be a description of how someone’s learning could have occurred through classical conditioning, identifying the unconditioned stimulus, the unconditioned response, the conditioned stimulus, and the conditioned response. An explanation will be given in regards to how their learning could have occurred through operant conditioning, describing the behavior, consequence, and reinforcement. There will be an address of how the learning could have occurred through cognitive-social learning. Identifying the Learning Experience Let us say that someone has been doing drugs on a social basis, living a wild and carefree lifestyle. Until one day, a different way of using the drug becomes introduced. In that instance the drug is introduced, it becomes an automatic addiction. It becomes an overwhelming desire to have more to obtain that rush repeatedly. It is the loss of all control and the beginning of losing the power of life. The person frits at the thought of the drug and loses control when they cannot get a hold of it when they want it and how they want it. It becomes a part of their lifestyle and it becomes more difficult for them to lose the desire after a long period of using. It takes a power greater then themselves to quit and the help of people like them who have been clean. With the help and support of these people, the desire to use becomes less and less and the â€Å"disease of addiction,† becomes arrested. What is Learned through the Experience The long term learning experience is learning to live without the use of drugs. Living with the use of drugs causes many to live a life of unmanageability. It leads to a time in an addict’s life when they seek a place where they can receive help, therefore leading to a clean life. They no longer want to live with the obsession of using and no longer with a life of insanity. Classical Conditioning, Unconditioned Stimulus and Response, Conditioned Stimulus and Response Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes a conditional stimulus capable of eliciting a given response after being repeatedly presented with an unconditioned (significant) stimulus (Oxford Reference, 2007). For example, an addict may use a pipe, cigarillos, roll up papers, or syringes (conditional stimulus) whenever an addict set out to use their preferred drug of choice. Eventually, the addict becomes craved at the presence of these items (conditional response), even when the drug was absent (unconditional stimulus). Therefore, the absence of the drug leads to the overwhelming desire to use (unconditional response). If the drugs and all the items are present and then something runs out, the conditional and unconditional stimuli occurs together and are presented at the same place, making the addict powerless. Operant Conditioning, Behavior, Consequence, Reinforcement  Operant conditioning (instrumental conditioning) is a form of learning where an individual forms an association between a particular behavioral response and a particular reinforcement (Oxford Reference, 2007). In the case of an addict, when an addict takes the first drug it may be pleasant, but then a thousand is never enough. Therefore, the cliche becomes an addict’s worst nightmare. They use to live and live to use, resulting in the disease of addiction. Once an addict realizes the more they use the more unpleasant it gets, they do not want to face the consequences of jails, institutions, or death. Therefore, they seek the help of recovering addicts, admit their powerlessness over the drug, and make a choice to come clean. As an addict attempts to come clean, they need the reinforcement of Narcotics Anonymous meetings on a daily basis. It is recommended that a newcomer attend 90 meetings in 90 days, associate themselves with other recovering addicts of the same sex, and to seek out a sponsor to work the Twelve Steps. With all these options that Narcotics Anonymous provides helps a recovering addict get well on their way to living a clean productive life. The recovering addict needs to be constantly reminded to take it a day at a time, remember that they didn’t become an addict over night, to keep going back (to meetings), and easy does it. If an addict keeps coming back, they are less likely to go out an relapse; but if they keep beating themselves up, do not change the people, places, and things around them, and continue to keep their old behaviors, they are just punishing themselves making it less likely for them to return to meetings and instead go out and use. Cognitive-Social Learning Cognitive-social learning incorporates the general concepts of conditioning, but rather than relying on a simple stimulus and response model, this theory emphasizes the interpretation or thinking that occurs within the organism, stimulus-organism-response (Carpenter-Huffman, 2010). In the case of an addict, addicts have attitudes, beliefs, expectations, motivations, and emotions that affect learning (Carpenter-Huffman, 2010). In the case of a recovering addict, these old beliefs, attitudes, false motivation and expectations, and lost emotions, being in the rooms of a Narcotics Anonymous meeting helps them to socialize with other recovering addicts and soon the newcomer is able to learn new behaviors through the observations, suggestions, and reading of literature given. In a roundabout way, the newcomer begins by imitating and sharing in meetings, gains a comfort, develops a sense of security, and becomes honest with themselves, allowing them to become honest with other recovering addicts. They learn that not one person is different from another in a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, but they are all alike, one addict reaching out to help another addict recover. Conclusion With the continued socialization and fellowshipping of Narcotics Anonymous, a recovering addict can lose the constant desire to use, find a power greater than themselves, and live a new life taking it a day at a time because any day clean is a day of success. Classical conditioning is a learned behavior that happens with or without the drugs being present. Operant conditioning is knowing that there are consequences for this learned ehavior (drug use), that results in punishment (an addict trying to recover but still having the presence of their old people, places and things resulting in relapse), and lead to a desire to have positive reinforcement (an addict entering into recovery after a life of defeat). Cognitive-social learning is coming to the realization that through participation in the Narcotics Anonymous program, it becomes easier to recover seeing that other addicts too have chosen to recover (imitating and practicing the principles, traditions, and completing the twelve steps).