Dr. Aris is a clinical psychologist investigating the behavioral mechanisms underlying nicotine addiction among young adults using case files from his outpatient clinic.
In one file, Dr. Aris noted that a client, Marcus, experienced intense cravings the moment he sat in his car where he usually vaped, showing high tolerance during his daily commute. However, when Marcus used the exact same vape pen and nicotine concentration at a formal outdoor wedding in a novel garden setting, he suffered unexpected, severe lightheadedness and nausea.
Another client, Chloe, described her motivations for vaping. She explained that she initially began vaping to enjoy the sweet flavor profiles and the immediate, pleasant "head rush" and alertness it gave her. Now, she also vapes to relieve the highly unpleasant irritability, physical tension, and "brain fog" that set in if she goes too long without a device.
Dr. Aris also observed that many of his clients grew up with older siblings who vaped regularly to wind down after school, or belonged to social groups where performing vaping tricks on social media was highly praised and viewed as cool.
Evaluate one learning explanation for nicotine addiction in relation to Dr. Aris's case studies.
You must make reference to the context in your answer.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Content with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 1,059 questions covering Issues around drug taking, Biological explanations of drug addiction, Learning explanations of drug addiction, Treatments for drug addiction, Anti-drug campaign and strategies, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
