Marcus is addicted to alcohol. When Marcus was growing up, he observed his father, a successful executive whom he deeply admired, return home highly stressed and immediately pour a glass of whiskey, which instantly relaxed him.
Now, Marcus drinks alcohol to experience a warm, euphoric glow and to temporarily escape his intense work anxiety. He frequently drinks while sitting in his leather armchair listening to jazz music in the evenings, and now finds he experiences an overwhelming craving to drink whenever he sits in that chair. He has also noticed he needs to drink double the amount of whiskey he used to in order to feel any effect.
Furthermore, Marcus's colleagues at his corporate firm mock those who abstain from drinking and loudly cheer Marcus when he downs shots during Friday night drinks. When Marcus tries to go a full weekend without drinking, he experiences severe physical tremors and extreme restlessness.
Discuss how far one learning explanation can account for Marcus's addiction to alcohol.
You must make reference to the context in your answer.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Content with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 100 questions covering Main features of classical conditioning, Pavlov (1927) salivation in dogs, Main features of operant conditioning, Properties of reinforcement, Behaviour modification and shaping, Main features of social learning theory, Social learning stages, Bandura (1961, 1963) Bobo doll experiments, Bandura (1965) vicarious reinforcement, Learning theories and phobias, Treatments for phobias, 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.