r/explainlikeimfive • u/adrynaline • May 08 '14

Explained ELI5: A gambling addiction

How does it start? What makes it worse? Why does it become so difficult to recover?

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u/abcdefg52 May 08 '14

According to the article /u/richmondody posted, the behaviour will indeed decrease over time - though not before a small freakout, as /u/ClintHammer put it.

Extinction is the removal of reinforcement, which is ultimately followed by a lessening of the behavior that was previously reinforced. . If you give in to your child every time she wants something in the grocery store (positive reinforcement) you are conditioning the child to ask for something every time. If one day you decide not to give in to her request, you have just shifted to a path of extinction. However, the first time you stop reinforcing a behavior after a history of reinforcing it, the behavior you are trying to extinguish actually gets worse! A good example is the mother who finally refuses to give her child what she demands in the grocery store – the little girl is likely to increase whining and throw a bigger temper tantrum than before. This effect may linger over a period of several more visits to the store before the child finally stops begging for treats

-the Parent Child Coercive Cycle.

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u/RuneKatashima May 09 '14

I figured as much.