| Course | ADC 515 Psychology of Addiction |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 5 |
| Paper type | Theory and intervention paper |
| Length | About 1,026 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Psychology and Addiction Studies |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for ADC 515 Module 5
Pushing the Bottle Away: Approach Tendencies and the Training Designed to Reverse Them
Student Name
Psychology and Addiction Studies Program, Aspen University
ADC 515: Psychology of Addiction
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Pushing the Bottle Away: Approach Tendencies and the Training Designed to Reverse Them
After the earlier discussions of measurement and attention, the program's clinical director asked about a training she had read about, in which patients push pictures of alcohol away with a joystick. Marcus, the graduate intern, reviewed the evidence. Everyone in this account, including Denise, who serves as the example, is fictional.
Associations and Action Tendencies
Stacy and Wiers (2010) described several kinds of implicit processes in addiction. Implicit associations link a substance with feelings and outcomes in memory: for a heavy drinker, alcohol may be automatically linked with relaxation, relief or fun. Approach tendencies are automatic readiness to move toward a substance when its cues appear, an action component that can operate before deliberate decision. Both develop through repeated experience and both, they argued, can drive behavior that conflicts with a person's explicit goals, especially when the capacity for control is low.
| Concept | What it is | How it is measured | Example in Denise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Implicit association | Automatic link in memory between alcohol and positive outcomes | Implicit Association Test; word association | Alcohol linked with "taking the edge off" |
| Approach tendency | Automatic readiness to move toward alcohol cues | Approach-avoidance task with a joystick | Her drive into the store parking lot |
| Explicit expectancy | Stated belief about alcohol's effects | Questionnaire | "I know it doesn't really help" |
| Explicit goal | Deliberate intention | Interview | "I'm done drinking" |
Training the Tendency in Reverse
Wiers et al. (2011) tested whether approach tendencies could be retrained in alcohol-dependent inpatients in Germany receiving standard treatment. In the training condition, patients completed four brief computer sessions in which they responded to the format of pictures, not their content, by pushing or pulling a joystick; nearly all alcohol pictures appeared in the push format and nearly all nonalcoholic drink pictures in the pull format, so that patients repeatedly pushed alcohol away. Pushing made the picture shrink on screen, as if moving away. Control groups received no training or a version without the contingency. After training, patients' approach bias toward alcohol changed into an avoidance bias, and the change generalized to pictures not used in training. A year after discharge, fewer patients in the training groups had relapsed than in the control groups, a difference of roughly a tenth of patients. The training added only about an hour of patients' time.
Replication and Who Benefits
Eberl et al. (2013) replicated the study in a larger sample of alcohol-dependent inpatients receiving twelve training sessions. Training again reduced approach bias and was associated with lower relapse a year later compared with controls. They also examined who benefited most. Older patients and those with a stronger initial approach bias showed larger effects, while younger patients benefited less. The findings suggested that the training may work best for people whose automatic tendencies are strongest.
Why a Simple Task Might Work
It may seem surprising that pushing pictures on a screen could affect drinking months later. The rationale lies in dual-process theory. If approach tendencies are learned through thousands of repetitions of reaching for alcohol, then hundreds of repetitions of the opposite movement may begin to compete with them. The training does not ask patients to think about alcohol or to resist it deliberately; it works on the automatic system in the automatic system's own terms. The finding that the change generalized to untrained pictures suggested that something broader than a specific picture-response link had been altered.
Limits of the Evidence
The trials had limits. Patients knew they were in a study, and some may have guessed the training's purpose. Relapse was measured by self-report and clinical records, which can miss some drinking. Later meta-analyses of cognitive bias modification, discussed in a later module, have found smaller and less consistent effects across studies than these trials did, particularly outside inpatient alcohol treatment. The evidence is promising for one setting and one substance, not yet a general treatment.
Fit With the Program
The trials were conducted in German inpatient clinics as an addition to standard treatment, with patients who had completed detoxification and were in a structured setting. Marcus noted that the Michigan program resembles that setting in being residential, but differs in patient mix, including more people using drugs other than alcohol, for whom the evidence is weaker. The training requires a computer with a joystick or a similar device, a quiet space and about fifteen minutes per session.
What Clients Say About the Training
Marcus spoke with staff at another program that had tried a similar training. They reported that most clients found the task boring but tolerable and that some were skeptical it could help. Clients who understood the rationale, that it was practice for an automatic response rather than a test, were more willing to complete the sessions. These are informal observations rather than data, but they shaped how the program planned to introduce the training.
Ethical Considerations
Adding a computer training to treatment raises modest ethical questions. Clients should know what the task is for, that it is optional and that declining will not affect their other care. Because the evidence is strongest for alcohol, the program should be honest with clients who use other drugs that the training's benefit for them is uncertain.
The Decision
The program decided to pilot the training for clients with alcohol use disorder who were willing to try it, as an addition to existing treatment, not a replacement. Clients would complete six sessions during their stay. The program would measure approach bias before and after and track relapse at three and six months after discharge, comparing pilot clients with those discharged in the previous year. Denise volunteered; her counselor explained the training as practice for the part of her mind that moves before she thinks.
Conclusion
Implicit associations and approach tendencies form through repeated drinking and can act before deliberate thought, as Stacy and Wiers describe. Wiers and colleagues showed that training patients to push alcohol away reversed their approach bias and reduced relapse, and Eberl and colleagues replicated the finding and showed who benefits most. The program's pilot follows from this evidence while measuring whether the results hold in its own setting.
References
Eberl, C., Wiers, R. W., Pawelczack, S., Rinck, M., Becker, E. S., & Lindenmeyer, J. (2013). Approach bias modification in alcohol dependence: Do clinical effects replicate and for whom does it work best? Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 4, 38-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2012.11.002
Stacy, A. W., & Wiers, R. W. (2010). Implicit cognition and addiction: A tool for explaining paradoxical behavior. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6, 551-575. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131444
Wiers, R. W., Eberl, C., Rinck, M., Becker, E. S., & Lindenmeyer, J. (2011). Retraining automatic action tendencies changes alcoholic patients' approach bias for alcohol and improves treatment outcome. Psychological Science, 22(4), 490-497. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611400615
Reading the ADC 515 Module 5 assignment instructions
The fifth module of ADC 515 typically asks for a paper on implicit associations and approach tendencies, often including interventions that target them. Follow the Module 5 instructions in your Aspen course; the program here is fictional. Distinguish associations from action tendencies, since they are measured differently and may respond to different training. Explain how they form and how they are measured. Describe at least one training approach and report trial results with numbers. Discuss replication and who benefits, including groups for whom the evidence is thin. Consider practical questions about adding training to treatment. Use APA 7 for every study, and describe what the training actually involves. If you recommend adoption, say how the setting would measure whether the results hold there.
How the ADC 515 Module 5 example is put together
The composite clinical director at the Michigan program asks whether to add approach-avoidance training for inpatients like Denise. Stacy and Wiers's review distinguishes associations from approach tendencies. Wiers and colleagues' Psychological Science trial shows that four brief sessions of pushing alcohol pictures away reversed approach bias and lowered relapse a year later. Eberl and colleagues' Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience replication found similar effects and stronger benefit for older patients and those with stronger approach bias. A four-row table separates concepts. The program decides to pilot the training as an addition to its existing treatment, measuring approach bias and relapse against the previous year's clients.
Reading the ADC 515 Module 5 grading rubric
Intervention papers earn credit for explaining the mechanism, reporting trial results accurately and weighing whether results apply to a setting. This example explains why approach tendencies might matter and what the training does, session by session. It reports the original trial's effect on relapse and the replication's refinements. The question of who benefits most is addressed with data, and limits such as self-reported relapse are named. The decision to pilot, rather than adopt wholesale, follows from the evidence and from the setting's differences from the trial sites. The paper also notes the weaker evidence for drugs other than alcohol and the smaller effects in later meta-analyses, which keeps the recommendation within the data.
ADC 515 Module 5 help from the desk
Papers on bias training often describe it vaguely as "brain training." Explain exactly what participants do. Report results with numbers and follow-up periods. Note replication and limits. Consider who benefits; average effects can hide large differences. Think about fit: the trials added training to inpatient treatment in Germany, which may differ from your setting. Recommend piloting with measurement rather than broad adoption. Ask how clients experience the task, since a training they find pointless will not be completed. Explain the rationale to clients in plain terms before they start, and track completion, since a training that clients abandon halfway cannot be judged fairly.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More ADC 515 and Psychology and Addiction Studies sample papers
- ADC 515 Module 1: Psychological Factors in Addiction
- ADC 515 Module 2: Dual-Process Models
- ADC 515 Module 3: Implicit Cognition and Its Measurement
- ADC 515 Module 4: Attentional Bias and Craving
- ADC 515 Module 6: Self-Control and Executive Function
- ADC 515 Module 7: Implicit Processes in Relapse
- ADC 515 Module 8: Prevention and Treatment Targeting Implicit Cognition
- PAC 102 Module 6: Recovery High Schools
- PAC 302 Module 8: Interpreting and Reporting Results
- PAC 115 Module 5: Nervous System and Mental Health Terms
- PAC 230 Module 1: Health Psychology and the Family
ADC 515 Module 5 questions, answered
What does ADC 515 Module 5 usually ask for?
Aspen's ADC 515 covers implicit associations and approach tendencies in this module, so a paper on these processes and training that targets them is typical. Look at your Module 5 prompt.
What is approach-avoidance training?
A computer task in which people repeatedly push alcohol pictures away and pull neutral pictures closer with a joystick, aiming to reverse automatic approach tendencies.
Does approach-avoidance training reduce relapse?
Wiers and colleagues found that inpatients who completed it relapsed less over the following year, and Eberl and colleagues replicated the effect in a larger sample.
Where can I find a free ADC 515 Module 5 sample paper?
This page has the full paper: implicit associations and approach tendencies, the training trials and a program's decision to pilot the approach.
Who benefits most from approach bias training?
In Eberl and colleagues' replication, gains were bigger for older patients and for people who started with a stronger pull toward alcohol.