Rat Park — A Guide For Connected Living
Most of us experience a great deal of freedom, so much that figuring out what to do with it is a challenge. But have you ever wondered what is it like to live your life trapped in a cage, literally or figuratively? Psychologists have studied the prison of addiction for years. Canadian psychologist Bruce K. Alexander’s experiments with rats suggest that the trap of addiction arises from another sort of prison, a prison of deprivation. His theories, arising from a compassionate view of laboratory subject animals, provide a compassionate perspective on the issue of addiction.
Don’t Live In A Skinner Box
Perhaps you have heard of an operant conditioning chamber. More likely, you have heard of a “Skinner Box” — named for its inventor, behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner. The box has a little bit of room for an observed animal to move around, a lever, and a reward mechanism. They are often light and sound-proof, designed to provide a constant and unvaried environment. Skinner used them to study how animals respond to stimuli and rewards.
Skinner box devices were used to test opioid drugs on rats. The rats kept pressing the lever to get more opioids until they overdosed and died. So, now we know what rats do when we put them alone in a tiny unpleasant prison, thought Bruce Alexander. But what if we did not treat them so badly? What if someone cared for them, and they had pleasant lives filled with social interaction? Alexander believed that addictive behavior was more a response to the terrible living conditions than a response to the addictive properties of the substance, and he set out to prove it.
Bruce K. Alexander’s Rat Park
Scientists can be a bit callous toward lab animals. Alexander, on the other hand, was a lab rat’s best friend..if you were not in the control group. Some of the rats spend the entire experiment period in typical Skinner Boxes. The lucky ones got spacious cages with 200 times the square inches. Instead of living alone, 16 to 20 rats of mixed sexes lived together in these cages. And rather than being bare of anything but food, water, and drugs, they had balls and wheels to play with and plenty of space to find a corner to, um, snuggle like rats in a cage. Some rats started in cages and moved to the park.
Connection And Fun Are Good For You
What a surprise! It turns out there was something to Alexander’s theory that abjectly miserable conditions contribute to addiction. His experiment showed that the rats in an environment with social connection and fun consumed little or no opiated water. The rats alone in cages were very enthusiastic consumers of opiated water. The rats who started in cages and moved to the park gradually lost interest in the opiated water, although some experienced withdrawal symptoms in the process of quitting.
Alexander built a broader theory on his findings. He defines addiction as “overwhelming involvement in any pursuit whatsoever … that is harmful to the addicted person and his or her society.” For Alexander, it is not the lure of the particular pursuit, be it drug use or gambling or whatever else, that is the principal cause of addiction. Instead, addiction is a response to what Alexander calls “dislocation.”
Dangerous Times — The Homeless Human Spirit
Alexander echo’s Abraham Maslow’s notion that socially and psychologically healthy integration is an important goal of human development. When we get derailed from these goals, when we struggle to create and maintain a sense of connection and community, both as individuals and collectively as a society, we are at greater risk of addiction.
In his 2010 book “The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit” he speaks, metaphorically, of an age of “homeless of the human spirit.” The modern world puts us at greater risk of addiction. The prevailing economic order emphasizing efficiency, comfort, and ease over connection is stripping of us of what is most important and leaving us vulnerable to temptation in an age of “unprecedented, worldwide collapse of psychosocial integration.” Several great thinkers have discussed the issues underlying this disconnection. Last weeks’ article reveals the insights of behavioral economist Tibor Scitovsky, who explains the difference between pleasure and comfort and how to live a fulfilling and engaged life.
Join Us As We Explore The Good Life
Who wouldn’t like to live a better life? We are fascinated by the emerging consensus between ancient philosophers and modern scientists — and the actionable insights on how to live a better life that they reveal. Standing on the shoulders of giants, we’ll survey the map of human meaning and fulfillment created by our greatest poets, philosophers, and scientists. Abraham Maslow’s theory of human development informed Alexander’s work as it has many others. James Hillman has a wild rebellious idea about finding your true self that you can read more about here, and another article with suggestions to guide help you define your life project.
Some of the most compelling contemporary research and insight comes to us from the Ivy League. We’ll tell you all about one of the largest and longest studies of success and happiness ever conducted in our article on the secrets of the Harvard Report. Then we’ll take a look at the most popular course in the history of Yale, Psychology and The Good Life, and tell you how you can take the course for free.
If you are interested in exploring the pragmatic power of meditation and the clarity and creative freedom you can reach by learning to not think, we’ve got an article on what meditation can do for you and another on the scientifically proven benefits of yoga.
Please join us as we continue on our conceptual journey to the heart of the art of the good life. You can follow our articles here on Medium if you have an account, or simply bookmark our Medium page with the complete article list or follow us on Facebook.
