There are several treatments available to treat alcoholism. One of these treatments is the drug, antabuse, that works on classical conditioning principles. When the alcoholic takes the antabuse as prescribed, nausea is induced whenever alcohol is ingested. In this way, the negative effects of the drug become associated with drinking liquor, which results in the alcoholic changing his behavior and choosing to avoid liquor.
All superstitious behavior is learned through classical conditioning. Events that are accidentally paired together are believed to have a cause-effect relationship. For example, if a woman was crossing under a ladder and coincidentally tripped and fell, the pain of skinning her knee would be associated with crossing under the ladder. The individual begins believing that walking under the ladder caused the fall, and she changes her behavior by avoiding walking under ladders.
Gambling addiction is another behavior that may be learned by classical conditioning. For example, a man playing the slot machines may have a big win while sitting at a particular machine or while wearing a particular article of clothing and does not realize that these coincidental events did not cause the win. The win becomes associated with the specific slot machine or outfit, and the man continues to repeat that particular behavior in the belief that it caused the win. As a result, the man's behavior changes, and he keeps repeating what he believes will lead to further success.
Small children's behavior can also be modified by classical conditioning. As toddlers develop, they learn to avoid dangerous situations when they either get punished or hurt. For example, if a small child runs into the road and the parent immediately shouts at her and spanks her, she will associate the punishment with the behavior of running into the road and avoid doing so in the future. Similarly, if a child accidentally touches a hot stove, she learns from the pain to avoid getting close to the source of the heat in the future.