Addiction Flashcards
Cognitive explanation for gambling initiation
AO1-
Self medication (Gelkopf). People gamble to treat the psychological symptoms that they already suffer from.
They perceive it to make things better.
AO2-
Becona- major depressive disorder evident in majority of gamblers
There is no cause and effect relationship between depression and gambling
Li et al - Pathological gamblers who do it to self medicate were more likely to have other substance dependencies
Cognitive explanation for gambling maintenance
AO1-
Irrational beliefs about their ability, such as superstitious beliefs, a self confidence to ‘beat the system’, an attribution of successes to skill and failures to chance factors
AO2-
Delfrabbro- pathological gamblers were irration in some ways but just as accurate as none gamblers in estimating the odds of winning
Implications that there are more than one motivation leads to different treatments. CBT can correct these cognitive errors, therefore it gives the patient free will.
Cognitive explanation for gambling relapse
AO1-
Blanco et al- ‘recall bias’ is overestimating the wins and underestimating the losses, so that you remember the losses
Losses are not viewed as a disincentive, as they instead have the belief that more losses leads to the fact that they deserve to win (‘Just world’ hypothesis), motivating them to return
AO2-
CBT can correct these incorrect beliefs, thus giving the patient free will
Behavioural explanation for gambling initiation
AO1-
Psychological, physiological, social and financial rewards reinforce the behaviour
Rewards may be infrequent, but they focus more on the wins
AO2-
Adaptation means that we generally learn behaviours that work out on average
Behavioural explanation for gambling maintenance
AO1-
There is occasional reinforcement, and they become used to this.
More reinforcement comes from social approval. Lambos found that gamblers with peers and family’s approval were more likely to gamble more and less likely to intend to stop
AO2-
Social reinforcement- Anti-addiction programmes target beginner adolescents as they are most vulnerable to peer influences
Behavioural explanation for gambling relapse
AO1-
They relapse due to conditioned cues for gambling. The triggers increase arousal
Biological explanation for gambling initiation
AO1-
Gambling can be seen to run in families due to a genetic link. Black et al found that first degree relatives of pathological gamblers were more likely to suffer from pathological gambling than more distant relatives
AO2-
Explains why some out of two people with the same environment, one may gamble and be more resistant to treatment
However, this could also be due to social modelling
Diathesis stress model- some are more vulnerable to addiction, but only in situations of environmental stress.
Doesn’t explain why some forms of gambling are more addictive. Video gambling- takes a year to become addicted. Horse betting takes 3 and a half.
Biological explanation for gambling maintenance
AO1-
Gamblers have an underactive pituitary adrenal response, meaning they have a lower appreciation of risk. Paris et al- measured cortisol levels before and after participants watched a gambling video. Recreational gamblers had increased levels, pathological gamblers didn’t. Shows how they seek more arousal
Biological explanation for gambling relapse
AO1-
They are sensation seekers are need intense stimulation because they have a poor tolerance for boredom. Boredom leads to their relapse
Cognitive explanation for smoking initiation
AO1-
Smokers become addicted because of their expectancies of the costs and benefits
They report smoking when in negative mood states and expect it to alleviate their moods
AO2-
Research focusses on ‘problematic’ behaviour but does not explain the role of expectancy in ‘loss of control’
Cognitive explanation for smoking maintenance
AO1-
Unconscious expectancies involve automatic processing, which explains ‘loss of control’
Tate et al- told smokers they should expect no negative experiences during a period of abstinence, this lead to fewer somatic and psychological effects than a control group
Cognitive explanation for smoking breakdown
AO1-
The perceived pros and cons of smoking behaviour affected participants quitting behaviour. Those who perceive smoking to have many benefits and quitting to have few benefits will be more likely to relapse
AO2-
Moolchan- Nicotine patches improved cessation rates and reduced relapse rates, but only when taken with CBT to change the positive expectancies of smoking behaviour
Biological explanation for smoking initiation
AO1-
A US study by Boardman et al found that heritability for regular smoking is 42%, Vink et al found 44%
AO2-
Shows how genetics play a part, but that the external factors have an equal role
Biological explanation for smoking maintenance
AO1-
Nicotine releases dopamine which creates feelings of pleasure, which drops as nicotine levels drop, leading to a cycle of smoking which is hard to break away from
Vink et al found that nicotine dependency was influenced by 75% genetic factors
AO2-
Initiation is due to external factors more so, while maintenance is due to biology more
Leads to pharmacological treatments
Thorgurrson- found a gene variant that influenced the amount of cigarettes smoked a day and the risk of smoking related disorders. It is possible you could be genetically screened to find those with the higher genetic risk, to then change their behaviour. If successful, this would reduce the burden on public health care, however it is unlikely to be successful due to the small associations between specific genes and smoking addiction
Biological explanation for smoking relapse
AO1-
Xian et al- 54% of the risk for quit failure was attributed to genetics
Behavioural explanation for smoking initiation
AO1-
Begin smoking due to social modelling, ‘experimental smoking’.
AO2-
Karcher and Finn- youth whose close friends smoked were 8 times more likely to smoke themselves
Behavioural explanation for smoking maintenance
AO1-
Sensory cues become conditioned stimuli with the effects of nicotine, so activate the same brain areas, making cessation difficult
AO2-
Thewissen- in one room smokers were presented with a cue predicting smoking in another, a cue predicted the unavailability of smoking. The first cue led to a greater desire to smoke
Behavioural explanation for smoking relapse
AO1-
Conditioned cues. Hogarth- craving increased significantly in response to conditioned stimulus
AO2-
Drummond et al- Cue Exposure. Presenting a cue without the opportunity to smoke may ‘unlearn’ the behaviour by extinguishing the association between the cue and smoking
Sulkunen (AO1 for Research into Film Representations of Addiction)
Looked at scenes from films that represented addictions. They presented drug use and the enjoyment of the effect, and contrasted it to a dull, ordinary life to show it as a way of alleviating problems
Gunasekera (AO1 for Research into Film Representations of Addiction)
Reviewed popular films for their portrayal of drug use. They portrayed drug use positively without showing the negative consequences of it
Sargant and Hanewinkel (AO2 for Film Representations of Addiction)
Tested whether adolescents seeing smoking in movies influenced their initiation of smoking. Surveyed 4000, and again a year later. Those who hadn’t smoked when fist surveyed were more likely to start smoking the following year if they had been exposed to it in films. -SHOWS LINK
Boyd (AO2 for Film Representations of Addiction)
Films do show the negative consequences. They show physical deterioration, sexual degradation, violence, crime and moral decline of drug use.
+ Also, film makers are provided with an incentive to show addiction in a negative way in the US!
