Informal Learning Experience Paper

This paper will discuss how my sisters’ drug addiction has been an informal learning experience for me and how my life has been effected trying to help her with this addiction. I will discuss how her experience with drugs occurred through classical conditioning by, identifying the unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and the conditioned response. I will also explain how her experience occurred through operant conditioning by describing the behavior, the consequences, and reinforcements of her drug addiction. Finally, I will address how my learning experience occurred through cognitive social learning and how influences of media and prejudice played a factor.

Growing up in a small town with no ambition to set goals and your all about your friends, you will head down a dark lonely path. At the age of 17, my sister Kaitlin decided that her friends knew what was best for and took to drugs. She hung around the wrong crowds and the environmental stimulus took precedence over nurture. My mom did not want to believe that her daughter was addicted to drugs. It wasn’t until the cops showed my mom a picture from the ATM machine, which showed Kaitlin withdrawing money and things in house started coming up missing. July of 2009 our Dad was hit by a drunk driver. I thought that this would be Kaitlin’s big wake up call. She knew that our father wanted her to get clean and how proud she would make him if she kicked this addiction.

In August 2009, I allowed Kaitlin to move in with me and my family. Of course, she had strict guidelines and rules to follow or I wouldn’t hesitate to kick her out. She enrolled at the community college and thought she was on the up and up. 2 Weeks later, I noticed that checks were clearing under a bank account that I never touch. Low and be hold Kaitlin was forging my name to my checks and withdrawing thousands of dollars. I pressed chargers on her for forgery and theft. At this point, I have had enough; I had 3...