Addiction
- Created by: Kayliss71
- Created on: 23-05-18 21:24
View mindmap
- Addiction
- Describing addiciton
- Tolerance - when we have to have more of the substance to get the original affect
- Withdrawal symptoms - uncomfortable feelings that arise when our body hasn't had the substance/ thing were addicted to
- Psychological dependence- more of a mental state e.g you believe that you need it
- Physical dependence - where your body becomes dependent
- Risk factors in developing addictions
- Stress
- People may take on addictive behaviours to relieve stress
- Alcohol is a depressant so will relax the individual relieving stress - positive reinforcement
- Peers
- Research has shown that although isolation is negative for adolescents it can protect them from the influence of their peers in relation to addiction
- We may develop an addiction due to the desire to fit in with our social group e.g social smoking
- Family
- Baer et al found that adolescents were more likely to use alcohol if they had experienced family conflict suggesting they turned to alcohol as a way of avoiding negative things
- Negative reinforcement
- Baer et al found that adolescents were more likely to use alcohol if they had experienced family conflict suggesting they turned to alcohol as a way of avoiding negative things
- Personality
- Eysenck and Eysenck outlined 3 main personality traits : P - psychoticism, E - extroversion, N - neuroticism
- They suggested that certain personality traits make people more vulnerable to addiction
- However its a teleological argument as addiction may cause certain personality traits or vice versa
- Genetic predipositon
- Sayette and Hufford concluded that identical twins show a higher concordance rate for alcoholism than non identical twins
- Goodwin et al found that adopted males whose biological parents had an alcohol addiction were 4x more likely to develop the addiction than those whose parents didn't have an addiciton
- Stress
- Biological explanation for nicotine addiciton
- Nicotine stimulates the release of dopamine increasing the level of dopamine in the brain and stimulating dopamine receptors on neurons providing feelings of pleasure and relaxation
- Once the dopamine has been removed from the synapses the feeling disappears, in order to regain it the person wants to take more of the substance
- If nicotine is taken regularly the body expects it and reduces the amount of dopamine released naturally
- In order to maintain normal dopamine levels nicotine needs to be taken regularly - reinforces smoking behaviour
- Olds and Milner conducted a study into dopamine levels in rats where to experience dopamine release they had to press a lever, they found that dopamine release is addictive
- Learning theory as applied to smoking behaviour
- New behaviour can be learned through observation or modelling
- Through operant conditioning smoking behaviour may be positively reinforced e.g being accepted as part of a social group. Withdrawal symptoms then act as negative reinforcement, person smokes to relieve the withdrawal symptoms
- Often smoking becomes associated with other activities or objects, which makes it difficult not to smoke in certain environments - cue reactivity
- Cue reactivity can be explained by classical conditioning - learning by assosciation
- Behavioural explanation for gambling addictions
- Classical conditioning explains gambling addiction in terms of the person becoming conditioned to the excitement and arousal they feel when they gamble
- UCS = gambling win UCR = excitement and increased heart rate
- Behavioural explanation for gambling addictions
- Classical conditioning explains gambling addiction in terms of the person becoming conditioned to the excitement and arousal they feel when they gamble
- UCS = gambling win UCR = excitement and increased heart rate
- UCS = gambling win UCR = excitement and increased heart rate
- Gambling can also be explained through operant conditioning, but people are only partially reinforced
- Can occur due to variable reinforcement - wins don't follow a pattern so the pattern of reward and reinforcement is irregular
- Skinner believed that a person must experience a big win before they develop an addiciton
- Social learning theory could also explain the development of an addiction as people may be encouraged through vicarious reinforcement
- Classical conditioning explains gambling addiction in terms of the person becoming conditioned to the excitement and arousal they feel when they gamble
- Behavioural explanation for gambling addictions
- UCS = gambling win UCR = excitement and increased heart rate
- Gambling can also be explained through operant conditioning, but people are only partially reinforced
- Can occur due to variable reinforcement - wins don't follow a pattern so the pattern of reward and reinforcement is irregular
- Skinner believed that a person must experience a big win before they develop an addiciton
- Social learning theory could also explain the development of an addiction as people may be encouraged through vicarious reinforcement
- Classical conditioning explains gambling addiction in terms of the person becoming conditioned to the excitement and arousal they feel when they gamble
- Cognitive explanation for gambling addicitons
- Gambling addictions can be explained by cognitive biases which are mental errors or distortions of thinking
- Cognitive biases can be like optical illusions, even though you're aware of the mistaken thinking it still feels right
- Cognitive biases often appear in gambling e.g people often believe that the probability of a future event is dependent on past events
- Drug therapy
- Agonists can be used which trigger a response by binding to receptors on cells
- Some agonists can replace and replicate the effect of some drugs but have less harmful side effects
- Antagonists are also used which reduce the effects of addictive drugs by blocking receptors
- Aversion therapy and covert sensitisation
- Aversion therapy aims to break addictions by forming negative associations with them
- Covert sensitisation is where the person forms negative associations using their imaginations rather than actually experiencing the consequence
- Cognitive behavioural therapy
- Aims to change the way an addict behaves by changing their thought processes
- Successful in many cases however requires motivation
- Theory of planned behaviour
- Proposed by Ajzen and Fishbein
- It states that an individuals behaviour can be predicted by their intention to perform it
- 1) persons attitude to the behaviour 2) subjective norms 3) a persons perceived behavioural control
- Suggests behaviour is influenced in two ways ; indirectly- if a person believes the behaviour is too difficult they don't form the initial intention to carry it out
- Directly- if the perception of their own level of control is accurate
- Prochaskas 6 stage model
- 1) Pre- contemplation. person isn't ready to change
- 2) Contemplation - person is starting to consider that they have a problem
- 3) Preparation - person begins to put goals in place and make commitments
- 4) Action - person is actively working towards changing their behaviour
- 5) Maintenance- person is focused on sticking to lifestyle changes, they receive support to prevent rellapse
- 6) Relapse - where the person goes back to the addictive behaviour after successfully being free of it for a while
- Describing addiciton
Comments
No comments have yet been made