Elena is highly dependent on nicotine. She began smoking at the age of 15 and now smokes 30 cigarettes a day. If she does not have a cigarette within 15 minutes of waking up, she experiences severe anxiety, hand tremors, and finds it impossible to focus on her work as an accountant. Elena's mother and maternal aunt were also lifelong heavy smokers who were never able to successfully quit.
Discuss one biological explanation for Elena's nicotine addiction. You must refer to the details of Elena's case 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.
