Pearson BTEC National Applied Psychology: Book 2

Marcus spends at least five hours each day playing on his Xbox. This means he is neglecting his homework and has found himself in trouble at school. When he can’t play, he is thinking about playing most of the time. He pays little attention in class and his work is suffering. Marcus’ behaviour causes a lot of arguments at home. Sometimes his parents ban him, and he becomes irritable and moody. He once tried to reduce his playing time to one hour a day but it didn’t last. If anything, he is spending longer than ever playing. 1. Define what is meant by ‘behavioural addiction’. (2) 2. Explain one difference between physiological addiction and behavioural addiction. (2) 3. Griffiths identified six characteristics of addiction. Give two of these. (2) 4. Identify two features of the scenario above that suggest Marcus has an addiction. Explain one of these features in more detail. (3) 5. Define what is meant by ‘tolerance’. What evidence is there that Marcus is experiencing tolerance? (2) 6. Psychology helps us to understand addiction in terms of relapse and mood alteration. Define both of these terms with reference to Marcus. (4) Exam-style questions Not everyone is equally likely to try drugs (or gambling) and not everyone is equally likely to become addicted to them. What are the factors that increase (or decrease) the risk of addiction? For teenagers, peer influences are perhaps the most important factor. Some people may have genes that make them more vulnerable to addiction (so not all risk factors are environmental). Can you think of any others? An issue to consider A1 Psychological definition of health and ill health, addiction and stress Definitions and characteristics of health and ill health, addiction and stress. ● Behavioural and physiological addiction. ● Griffiths’ six components of addiction: physical and psychological dependence (salience), tolerance, withdrawal, relapse, conflict, mood alteration. Specification content Griffiths’ six components of addiction As we have seen, withdrawal and tolerance are two signs of addiction. But Mark Griffiths (2005) argues that there are actually six key components that should be required for a diagnosis of behavioural addiction. 1. Physical and psychological dependence (salience) occurs when it becomes impossible to lead a normal life without the substance or behaviour. Salience means that the addictive behaviour comes to dominate the individual’s life. It is their most important activity, at the centre of their thinking, feelings and behaviour, and it takes up most of their time. Other behaviours (e.g. social ones) are neglected and deteriorate. When the person is not engaging in the behaviour they are preoccupied with thoughts about it and crave it in its absence. 2. Tolerance occurs when an individual requires increased doses of the substance in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses. Someone who repeatedly takes a drug such as cocaine finds that eventually they get less of a ‘buzz’ from their normal dose. The same process occurs in behavioural addictions – increasing ‘amounts’ of the activity are needed to get the earlier effects. For example, an addicted gambler may need to place bigger and bigger bets to get the ‘rush’ they used to get from placing smaller bets. 3. Withdrawal refers to the effects that occur when an individual suddenly reduces or ceases the addictive activity. These can be divided into physiological ones (such as headaches, nausea, loss of appetite and insomnia) and psychological ones (such as irritability and low mood). There is some evidence that addicted gamblers can experience stronger withdrawal effects than people who are physiologically dependent on drugs (Rosenthal and Lesieur 1992). 4. Relapse happens when a person repeatedly reverts to their earlier dependent patterns of behaviour after having given them up. This can happen even after a very long period of abstinence. For example, when someone takes up gambling or smoking again having stopped years earlier. 5. Conflict A person’s addictive behaviour almost inevitably gives rise to conflict . Inter personal conflict occurs between an addicted person and other people. The addict frequently chooses short-term pleasure and ignores the consequences of their behaviour, creating conflict in their relationships, work, education and/or social lives. Intra personal conflict occurs within the addicted individual. The person experiences a loss of control because they want to stop behaving in ways that are damaging but cannot do so. 6. Mood alteration An addictive activity such as gambling produces various positive and negative subjective experiences. For example, the person may feel a ‘high’ or ‘rush’, or in other cases a feeling of ‘numbness’. The same substance or activity can produce different mood-altering effects on different occasions, probably due to expectations (e.g. smokers experience arousal in the morning but more relaxing effects at other times of day). The salience of an addiction refers to its importance in our lives. When we’re not doing it, we’re thinking about it. I am not addicted D aryl tells his girlfriend that he is not addicted to cigarettes even though he has been smoking for several years. He says he can quit any time he wants. His girlfriend is not so sure because Daryl always seems to want to have a cigarette and gets irritated when he can’t. She also knows he has tried to give up several times in the past. He carries on smoking even though he’s well aware that it could give him cancer. In fact he seems to be smoking more than ever. She is reluctant to push him too hard to quit because he says smoking is the most important thing in his life, even more important than her. Identify Griffiths’ six components of addiction in Daryl’s behaviour. Write one sentence for each component. ACTIVE GET 13