This book examines a variety of psychological disorders from the perspective of the psychology of learning. Grounded in the study of classical and instrumental conditioning, learning theory provides an explanatory framework for the way in which humans acquire information, and when applied, how abnormalities in learning may give rise to clinical conditions.

This edited volume addresses a wide range of clinically relevant issues in chapters written by international experts in each field. Individual chapters present experimental research into the neuropsychological basis of the acquisition of fears, phobias and clinical aversions, the placebo and nocebo effects, the psychology of drug addiction and relapse following clinical treatment, as well as the role of learning in Tourette s syndrome, depression and schizophrenia.

This book will be particularly useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students of clinical psychology, behavioural neuroscience and those studying the applications of learning theory to clinical or psychiatric research.

What is learning? How does it take place? What happens when it goes wrong? The topic of learning has been central to the development of the science of psychology since its inception. Without learning there can be no memory, no language and no intelligence. Indeed it is rather difficult to imagine a part of psychology, or neuroscience, that learning does not touch upon. In this Very Short Introduction Mark Haselgrove describes learning from the perspective of associative theories of classical and instrumental conditioning, and considers why these are the dominant, and best described analyses of learning in contemporary psychology. Tracing the origins of these theories, he discusses the techniques used to study learning in both animals and humans, and considers the importance of learning for animal behaviour and survival. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.