{{Short description|Canadian psychologist (born 1939)}} {{Infobox person | name = Bruce K. Alexander | birth_name = Bruce K. Alexander | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1939|12|20|df=y}} | occupation = * psychologist * Professor | awards = * In 2007, Alexander received the Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy from Simon Fraser University. * In 2011, he was invited to present at the Royal Society of Arts and Manufactures in London. }}
'''Bruce K. Alexander''' (born 20 December 1939)<ref name="BruceAlexanderCV">Alexander, Bruce. [http://www.brucekalexander.com/curriculum-vitae "Curriculum Vitae "] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607134528/http://globalizationofaddiction.ca/curriculum-vitae.html |date=June 7, 2013 }}, Retrieved on 12 May 2013.</ref> is a psychologist and professor emeritus from Vancouver, BC, Canada.<ref name="BruceAlexanderCV" /> He has taught and conducted research on the psychology of addiction at Simon Fraser University since 1970.<ref>http://www.psyc.sfu.ca/people/index.php?topic=finf&id=74{{full citation needed|date=June 2018}}</ref> He retired from active teaching in 2005. Alexander and SFU colleagues conducted a series of experiments into drug addiction known as the Rat Park experiments. He has written two books about addiction: ''Peaceful Measures: Canada's Way Out of the War on Drugs'' (1990)<ref>Alexander, B.K. (1990) Peaceful Measures: Canada's Way Out of the War on Drugs. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. {{ISBN|0-8020-6753-0}}{{page needed|date=June 2018}}</ref> and ''The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit'' (2008).<ref name="GlobalizationOfAddictionBook">Alexander, B.K. (2008). The Globalization of Addiction: A study in poverty of the spirit. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-958871-6}}{{page needed|date=June 2018}}</ref>
== Rat Park == The "Rat Park" experiments were published in the journal ''Psychopharmacology'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Alexander and his colleagues found that the rats in their study that were housed in isolation consumed more morphine than the rats in the rat park colony.<ref name=pmid9148292>{{cite journal |doi=10.2466/pr0.1996.78.2.391 |pmid=9148292 |title=Environment is not the Most Important Variable in Determining Oral Morphine Consumption in Wistar Rats |journal=Psychological Reports |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=391–400 |year=2016 |last1=Petrie |first1=B. F |s2cid=45068460 }}</ref><ref name=Bozarth>{{cite journal |pmid=2616610 |year=1989 |last1=Bozarth |first1=M. A |title=Influence of housing conditions on the acquisition of intravenous heroin and cocaine self-administration in rats |journal=Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=903–7 |last2=Murray |first2=A |last3=Wise |first3=R. A |doi=10.1016/0091-3057(89)90490-5|s2cid=6910048 }}</ref> Further studies by other researchers failed to reproduce the original experiment's results.<ref name=pmid9148292/><ref name=Bozarth/> One of those studies found that both caged and "park" rats showed a decreased preference for morphine, suggesting a genetic difference.<ref name=pmid9148292/> Other studies have supported the conclusions, finding that environmental enrichment induces neurological changes that would serve to decrease the chances of opiate addiction<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.expneurol.2006.12.027 |pmid=17331503 |title=Effects of enriched environment on morphine-induced reward in mice |journal=Experimental Neurology |volume=204 |issue=2 |pages=714–9 |year=2007 |last1=Xu |first1=Zhiwei |last2=Hou |first2=Bing |last3=Gao |first3=Yan |last4=He |first4=Fuchu |last5=Zhang |first5=Chenggang |s2cid=43363493 }}</ref><ref name=pmid28552458>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.017 |pmid=28552458 |title=Opioid addiction: Who are your real friends? |journal=Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews |volume=83 |pages=697–712 |year=2017 |last1=Eitan |first1=Shoshana |last2=Emery |first2=Michael A |last3=Bates |first3=M.L.Shawn |last4=Horrax |first4=Christopher |s2cid=36995951 }}</ref> Alexander's work laid the groundwork for a body of work in rodents on the social influences on addiction.<ref name=pmid28552458/>
== Writings and views == Alexander then explored the broader implications of Rat Park experiments for human beings. The main conclusions of his experimental and historical research since 1985 can be summarized as follows: # Drug addiction is only a small corner of the addiction problem. Most serious addictions do not involve either drugs or alcohol<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1037/h0084530 |title=Defining 'addiction' |journal=Canadian Psychology |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=151–62 |year=1988 |last1=Alexander |first1=Bruce K |last2=Schweighofer |first2=Anton R. F }}</ref> # Addiction is more a social problem than an individual problem. When socially integrated societies are fragmented by internal or external forces, addiction of all sorts increases dramatically, becoming almost universal in extremely fragmented societies.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.3109/16066350008998987 |title=The Globalization of Addiction |journal=Addiction Research |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=501–26 |year=2009 |last1=Alexander |first1=Bruce K |s2cid=143487382 }}</ref> # Addiction arises in fragmented societies because people use it as a way of adapting to extreme social dislocation. As a form of adaptation, addiction is neither a disease that can be cured nor a moral error that can be corrected by punishment and education.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brucekalexander.com/articles-speeches/176-change-of-venue.html |title=A Change of Venue for Addiction: From Medicine to Social Science |accessdate=2011-12-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113161234/http://globalizationofaddiction.ca/articles-speeches/176-change-of-venue.html |archivedate=2011-11-13 }}</ref>
In 2014, Alexander published the book ''A History of Psychology in Western Civilization''.<ref>Alexander, Bruce. A History of Psychology in Western Civilization. Cambridge University Press (2014). {{ISBN|978-0521189309}}{{page needed|date=June 2018}}</ref>
== Awards and recognition == In 2007, Alexander received the Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy from Simon Fraser University.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sfu.ca/sterlingprize/recipients/bruce-alexander.html | title=Bruce Alexander }}</ref> In 2011, he was invited to present at the Royal Society of Arts and Manufactures in London.<ref>https://www.thersa.org/discover/videos/event-videos/2011/03/addiction-what-to-do-when-everything-else-has-failed-/{{full citation needed|date=June 2018}}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
== External links == * {{official website|http://brucekalexander.com/}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Bruce K.}} Category:Canadian addiction medicine doctors Category:Academic staff of Simon Fraser University Category:Living people Category:1939 births Category:Writers from Vancouver Category:Writers on addiction