Learning Explanation Of Substance Abuse Evaluation

Question 1

Evaluate in terms of the psychological withdrawal symptoms

Answer 1

The psychological withdrawal symptoms support the learning explanation. Eg, heroin addicts will experience depression which is a negative reinforcement so they will take more heroin to avoid that feeling.

Question 2

Evaluate in terms of ethnocentric

Answer 2

Learning approach explains why different drugs are used in different cultures due to what is socially acceptable and positively reinforced by others. Eg, alcopops are culturally acceptable in the UK, and therefore a positive reinforcement.

Question 3

Evaluate in terms of genetics.

Answer 3

Cloninger found that children of alcoholics were more likely to become alcoholics even when taken away from their biological parents, suggesting that is it because of genetics rather than learning

Question 4

Evaluate in terms of negative symptoms

Answer 4

Does not explain why negative symptoms don’t turn people off drugs. Eg, first cigarettes often cause nausea but doesn’t seem to stop people from smoking them again.

Question 5

Evaluate in terms of supporting evidence

Answer 5

studies on rats support operant conditioning to explain substance misuse as they found that self reinforce cocaine addicted rates opted for cocaine over water, suggesting addiction is learned through the consequences of behaviour