Biological explanations for addiction

Question 1

Gambling: what are the three symptoms of a gambling addiction?

Answer 1

Loss of control
Progressive increase over time
Continue despite negative repercussions

Question 2

Gambling: initiation

Answer 2

Role of genetics - Black et al (2006) found first degree relatives were more likely to suffer gambling than distant relatives

Question 3

Gambling: maintenance

Answer 3

Pituitary-adrenal response - Paris et al (2010) measured gamblers cortisol levels before and after watching a video of a neutral stimuli and gambling. Recreational gamblers showed a significant increase, pathological gamblers showed no change.
Sensation seeking - Zuckerman (1979) suggested gamblers are more likely to be high-sensation seekers as they have a lower appreciation of risk and anticipate arousal as more positive

Question 4

Gambling: relapse

Answer 4

Boredom avoidance - Blaszczynski et al (1990) found gamblers had significantly higher boredom scores than a control group of non-gamblers

Question 5

Gambling: individual differences evaluation

Answer 5

Diathesis stress model - it may explain why some people develop a gambling addiction when others don’t. It may also explain why some people are prone to relapse or resistant to treatments

Question 6

Gambling: limitations evaluation

Answer 6

It doesn’t explain why some gambling is more addictive than others. Breen and Zimmerman (2001) found video gambling addiction took around 1 year whereas horse racing and sports took 3 and a half

Question 7

Gambling: sensation seeking evaluation

Answer 7

Bonnaire et al (2006) tested 2 groups of French gamblers, one who played games in cafés and one who bet on horses. The race track betters were high sensation seekers compared to the café group. From this they created 2 subgroups of gamblers: those who play active games (horse racing) to get arousal, and those who play passive games (café) to avoid unpleasant emotions e.g. boredom.

Question 8

Smoking: initiation

Answer 8

Role of genetics - family and twin studies have estimated the heritability of smoking to be between 39% and 80%. Vink et al (2005) studied 1572 Dutch twin pairs and found differences in smoking were explained by genetic (44%) and environmental (54%)

Question 9

Smoking: maintenance

Answer 9

Effects of nicotine - Vink eta l reported that nicotine dependence was influenced primarily by genetic (75%) factors. This suggests dependence is due to individual differences in nicotine metabolism. Nicotine affects nAchRs in the brain; releasing dopamine. This creates a short-term feeling of pleasure, before mood and concentration drop again. This causes the individual to repeat the cycle to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Pre- natal exposure - Buka et al (2003) also found pre-natal exposure to nicotine can cause addiction

Question 10

Smoking: relapse

Answer 10

Xian et al (2003) with a twin study found that 54% of quit failure is due to heritability. Research has attempted to identify the specific gene cluster which is associated with quitting success

Question 11

Smoking: research evidence evaluation

Answer 11

Thorgeirsson et al (2008) identified a specific gene variant on chromosome 15 that influenced the number of cigarettes someone smoked per day, nicotine dependence, and likelihood of developing related illness. Those who smoked less than 10 a day had this variant.

Question 12

Smoking: limitations evaluation

Answer 12

Neglect other factors, e.g. social context

Question 13

Smoking: implications for treatment evaluation

Answer 13

Genomic medicines involve screening clients to see if they have genes which increase their susceptibility to addictions. These individuals can therefore be advised or given treatment early. However this isn’t fully successful yet.