Evaluating the Learning approach to smoking addiction

Question 1

AO3 - Experimental support?

Answer 1

P - There is experimental support which illustrates the role of vicarious reinforcment in smoking behaviour

E - Harakeh et al (2007) found non - smoking adolescents with older siblings that smoked and those with a smoking best friend were more likely to have started smoking one year later

E - However, older adolscents weren’t affected by smoking of their younger siblings

L - This illustrates that vicarious reinforcment does play a part in smoking addiction when linked to higher status role models.

• experimental support
• vicarious reinforcment
• Harakeh et al (2007)
• role models

Question 2

A03 - a Dilemma? (what determinism)

Answer 2

P - Takes an enviormental determenistic approach to explaining smoking, that although creates general laws, it also creates a deilemma for psychologists

E - The approach suggests that if your enviorment and role models are addicted to smoking it’s inevatable that you will face the same fate.

E - This doesn’t consider the role of personal outonomy and suggests we are “more puppets of circumstance”.

L - In contrast, society at large promotes personal responsability. This is a therotetical problem for the learning explanation.

• Enviormental Deterministic
• Dilemma
• role models/enviorment
• personal autonomy
• responsability

Question 3

A03 - Supporting evidence against?

Answer 3

P - The theory neglects to consider individual differences that may impact nicotine addiction.

E - For example, Robinson and Berridge (1993) argued that many people try drug taking, yet do not become addicted despite the rewarding experinces.

E - This suggests other factors must also be at work.

L - This implies that other biological and psychological factors, e.g. personality, may be needed to fully explaon nicotine addiction in some yet not in others.

• Individual differences
• Robinson and Berridge (1993)
• Other factors
• biological/psychological