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aqa alevel psychology addiction summary
A concise summary of all the content needed for the addiction module of alevel aqa psychology
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Addiction: a disorder in which the individual engages in a behaviour that is pleasurable inthe short term but eventually becomes compulsive with harmful consequences.
Craving: an intense desire to repeat the experience associated with a certain drug/activity
Characteristics:
1) Physical dependency
After long term drug use people depend on a substance to feel normal and gets withdrawal
syndrome if they abstain
2) Psychological dependency
A drug becomes a central part of an individual's thoughts/emotions because they feel unable
to cope without it so they get strong urges to use as they believe it is needed. This means it
becomes a habit regardless of the consequences.
3) Tolerance
Repeated exposure to a substance reduces the response to it so they need to take greater
doses, because enzymes that metabolise the drug become more efficient, therefore leaving
lower blood concentration.prolonged drug use also changes receptor density so they get
less of a response. Learned tolerance is when you feel less of a response because you've
learnt to function normally under the influence
4) Withdrawal syndrome
Unpleasant physical (flu-like symptoms, headaches etc) and mental (cravings, anxiety and
low mood) when they no longer engage in a behaviour that they have a tolerance to. When
the brain realises the substance is no longer present in the body, it will seek it out
Family influences:
- Perceived parental approval is when they believe their families have a positive
attitude toward a behaviour. This done by: providing social models, children believing
adults have no interest in monitoring their behaviour or exposure to it
- Social learning theory says that we learnt through observation of those we spend the
most time with. Imitation is done through Attention (watching if the family member is
happy when they do it), Retention (were there consequences), Motivation- broken
down into Vicarious Reinforcement (seeing someone else be rewarded for the
behaviour) and Identification (wanting to be like that person)- and Reproduction with
an expectancy that they will get the same rewards.
P) E) evidence from Livingston et al
E) final year high school students who were allowed by parents to drink alcohol were more
likely to drink excessively at college the following year
L) perceived approval increases vulnerability
P) E) biological determinism says that there's no free choice, only environmental influences
E) even after exposure/tolerant parents, we still have a choice whether to start/maintain stuff
L) ignores the role of free will, not a full explanation
P) E) environmental reductionism, unfairly simplifies to only environmental influences
E) family is environmental but what about genetics that make us vulnerable
L) questions the validity as it ignores other factors
, Peers:
- Peers = same age and status as us with shared values and behavioural standards
- Social learning theory says peer pressure makes us imitate peers as we hope to get
the same rewards as them .
- Social identity theory (tajfel and turner) says our self concept is significantly formed
as a result of the group they are part of. It's essential to be associated with the in-
groups in order to be socially accepted so were more likely to imitate them
- Diclemente and peer pressure. Peers exert influence by introducing people to risky
behaviours and pressuring them to take part in antisocial behaviour. Social networks
are created so there's easy access to the behaviour, then non-addicted peers will
reject them so they distance themselves from these people. This means they are
surrounded by addicted people and find it difficult to quit.
P) E) evidence from Taylor
E) studied 900 US boys over 9 years and found that by 20 64% had fell to peer pressure to
use drugs and 10% were addicted
P) E) evidence from Devries et al
E) parental smoking was a stronger predictor of smoking than peer influence
L) peer pressure may not be such a large risk factor
P) E) practical application, meaning it positively impacts wider society
E) Tobler’s peer pressure resistance programme to prevent young people from smoking
L) shows that researching risk factors is a promising strategy for prevention/treatment
Genetics:
- You may be predisposed to addiction with a biological vulnerability that is hereditary
- Slutske et al found that mz twins had higher concordance rate of both being gambling
addicts (if one was already addicted) than dz
- Vink et al studied over 1500 dutch twins and found nicotine addiction was 75%
influenced by genetics
Dopamine receptor gene:
- Blum and Payne found those who are unable to addiction have low D2 receptors so
have low dopamine and less ability to activate the reward centre of the brain.
Therefore taking substances helps raise dopamine level and feel reward/happy
- Blum et al found the A1 variant of D2 (associated with lower dopamine receptor
availability) was more frequent in the DNA of alcoholics than non-alcoholics
Interactionism:
- A gene-environment interaction needs to happen because if they are never exposed
it won't develop into addiction
P) E) evidence from Kendlar et al
E) data from the National Swedish Adoption Study found those with a biological parent with
addiction had a greater risk (8.6%) of developing one than those without (4.2%)
L) higher validity
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