Alcoholism and the Reinforcement Theory of Learning

Abstract

A review and elaboration of the concepts of the reinforcement theory of learning as applied to alcoholism. The disease is defined as resulting from a learned pattern of "blitz" or uncontrolled drinking, used by the individual to reduce a disturbance in psychological homeostasis. For alcoholism to develop, certain necessary and sufficient conditions are hypothesized: 1. Conscious or unconscious desire to escape reality, which is part of a cycloid personality pattern featuring discomfort with anything but an "average" mood. 2. The blitz drinking pattern must be dominant in the response family hierarchy. 3. The learning paradigm of Drive-Cue-Response-Reinforcement must be enacted specifically with the blitz drinking pattern reducing the disturbance in psychological homeostasis. Principles of learning, such as generalization, gradient of reinforcement and patterning, are related to the extreme strength of the alcoholic behavior pattern. This conceptualization of alcoholism is consistent with the point of view that resolution of unconscious conflicts will not in itself assure successful treatment but that therapy must also be aimed at extinction of the whole "blitz" pattern, i.e., total abstinence.