Binge drinking is a social problem that can be viewed in two different perspectives. Traditionally, binge drinking was referred to as overconsumption of excessive amounts of alcohol over several days. Presently, the term refers to heavy consumption of alcoholic drinks over a short period of time. Irrespective of the case of usage, both cases of binge drinking are caused by similar psychological processes. Consuming five or more units of alcoholic drinks in a row by men or consumption of four and more units of alcoholic drinks by women constitutes binge drinking. Heavy binge drinking occurs when one has more than three such drinking episodes within a two-week period. Companies that process and package alcoholic beverages make drinking appear fun and exciting. People find themselves entangled in the quagmires of binge drinking because they are curious. Others believe that drinking makes them feel good, forgetting the negative implications of heavy alcohol intake. Others take alcohol as a way of reducing stress. Further, some people, mainly the youth find themselves imprisoned in the act of heavy drinking as they want to appear older and prove their age.
Classical Conditioning Theory could be used to explain the phenomenon of binge drinking. The theory claims that people learn new behaviors by association. There are two kinds of stimuli that work together to produce a learned response in a binge drinker. Before one is conditioned to binge drinking, unconditional stimuli produce unconditional response. Stimuli in the environment inform an individual’s unconditioned or unlearned behavior . At this stage, a person has not learnt the habit of drinking yet. For example, the smell of alcohol is associated with a response of happiness in a person. Another stimulus at the stage that does not affect an individual’s behavior is neutral stimulus.
The next stage of becoming a binge drinker is the conditioning process. At this stage, a person associates the smell of alcohol to particular people. The neutral stimuli become associated with unconditioned stimuli upon which it becomes conditioned stimuli . Although unconditioned stimuli need to be associated with conditioned stimuli over a number of occasions for learning to take place, particular occasions eliminate the need for repeated events. For instance, sickness after drinking too much alcohol would eliminate the process for a binge drinking-making process. Upon complete conditioning, the conditioned stimuli become associated with unconditioned stimuli to produce constant conditioned response. One finds people he associates with heavy drinking attractive and becomes attracted to the places of binge drinking.
This theorem could help understand and prevent one from becoming a heavy drinker from an early stage. If realized early, one on at the verge of becoming heavy drinker is stopped by changing his perception of attractiveness of drinkers. Telling someone the effects of alcohol could make them realize that it is not fun after all, but only in the initial stages, that is, during or before conditioning.
Further, Operant Conditioning Theory may also describe the phenomenon of binge drinking. According to the behaviorist who coined the theory, internal thoughts and motivations do not define people’s behavior . Instead, external observables caused by human behavior referred to as operant define one’s habit. The primary components of the theorem are reinforcements and punishments. If an individual attracted into heavy drinking observes negative reinforcements and positive punishments, he or she retracts from the path. If, on the other hand, a person observes negative punishments and positive reinforcements of binge drinking in his environment, he or she becomes more attracted and is most likely to become a heavy drinker.
Operant conditioning can be efficiently used to deter new people from getting involved in binge drinking. In events where one drinks to a point of causing breech of law and order, legislative policies of a country that punish such offenders could prevent others from similar engagements. Leniency with the law may make the situation of binge drinking worse. Stringent rules of punishment and heavy fining could work towards curtailing binge drinking.
Through the Social Cognitive Theory, individuals get entangled in the lifestyles they live due to observing others in the context of outside media influences, social interactions and experiences. According to the theory, individuals do not learn habits and behaviors solely by trying them out and either succeeding or failing. Rather, survival of humanity relies on replication of others’ actions. It has a close resemblance to operant theory in that people’s choice to engage in something or not depends on the experiences of other people who engaged in the same action.
Social cognitive approach is applicable in solving problems associated with binge drinking. Latent learning would enable one understand the implications of heavy drinking as experienced by others in the past. One experience the helpless situations that binge drinkers found themselves upon and refrains from the act. Vicarious punishments and lack of positive reinforcement keep an individual from trying or engaging further in binge drinking.
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