Explain social learning theory. Describe how this theory can be used to understand drug use and drug rehabilitation.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Social learning theory is related to the symbolic interactionist tradition. It assumes individuals are conditioned by their social environment to behave in particular ways and to model the behaviors of those around them. When an individual is in a social environment in which normative behaviors are routinely enacted, that individual becomes conditioned to engage in normative behavior. However, in a social environment in which deviant behaviors are routinely enacted, the individual becomes conditioned to engage in acts of deviance.
From this theoretical perspective, drug use occurs when the individual has been in a social environment in which acts of deviance occur. The individual's drug use is thus a response to his or her having been conditioned toward it and is shaped directly by the social context. This is one reason scholars of adolescent deviance have been concerned with deviant peer groups. If their peers use drugs, youth will be more likely to use drugs. In fact, most drug users learn about drugs from friends and have friends who are drug users.
For social learning theorists, the process of rehabilitation from drug abuse is rooted in reconditioning individuals in an environment in which abstinence is valued and encouraged by others. This explains why Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous programs have been successful in promoting abstinence for many. Through these programs, substance abusers begin to associate with others who encourage sobriety, which helps recondition their behavior.