©THEBRIGHT EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
GCSE Edexcel Psychology - Psychological
Problems Exam Study Guide
Nature - Answers✔Refers to the biological factors that can influence a persons' behavior and
these are generally in place even before we are born.
Nurture - Answers✔Refers to the environmental factors that can influence a persons' behavior
mostly after they are born.
Symptoms of Substance Addiction - Answers✔A feeling that the person needs to take the
substance.
Ignoring evidence that the use of the substance is harmful to them
Stopping or reducing is difficult
Symptoms of Behavioral Addiction - Answers✔They need to do the activity regularly
They ignore arguments that the activity is unhealthy or damaging
Reducing activity is very difficult
Features of Addiction - Answers✔Denial
Lack of patience
Impulsive behavior
Inability to deal with stress
Incidence of Addiction - Answers✔The change in the definition of addiction which makes it
difficult to estimate the true number of people with addiction
Many people may not realize they have an addiction or may not seek help
How addiction affects individuals - Answers✔Ignore their family
Daily life(work,school,etc)
Spend money on drugs instead
1
, ©THEBRIGHT EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Don't look after themselves
Low quality of life/health
How addiction affects society - Answers✔Impact on workplace
Health problems which means time taken away from work
Lack of self-care (not completing work)
Companies pay to cover the workload of individual
Cost of healthcare services
Criminal behavior
Emotional & physical costs for victims
The role of genes in explaining addiction - Answers✔The DDR2 gene has been shown to be
related to developing addiction. Many different addictions have been linked to a variation of this
gene, known as A1. This gene is thought to affect the way the brain reacts to pleasurable
activities so that a person needs to do something more often to get a normal 'buzz' from it.
Dorit Carmelli et al. (1992) - Answers✔Identical twins - if one was a smoker there was a higher
chance of the other one smoking then if the twins were not identical
Donald Goodwin et al. (1973) - Answers✔Adopted children who had at least one biological
parent with alcohol addiction were highly likely to show signs of alcohol addiction themselves
Cadoret et al. (1987) - Answers✔Adopted children who shared a biological link with someone
with alcohol problems were most likely to have problems with alcohol themselves
Alcohol misuse in the adoptive family, then the adoptee had a greater risk of developing an
addiction to alcohol.
Diana Marinez et al. (2004) - Answers✔Heavy users of cocaine were most likely to have a
particular version of a dopamine receptor gene
Strengths of the biological explanation of addiction - Answers✔There is a lot of scientific
evidence to support the genetic explanation for addiction
Twin studies and adoption studies act as a control for possible factors that could explain
addiction
Weaknesses of the biological explanation of addiction - Answers✔The genetic explanation is
reductionist because it fails to take social factors into account
Research has not been able to find a single gene that explains where addiction comes from. This
makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing the addiction.
2
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
GCSE Edexcel Psychology - Psychological
Problems Exam Study Guide
Nature - Answers✔Refers to the biological factors that can influence a persons' behavior and
these are generally in place even before we are born.
Nurture - Answers✔Refers to the environmental factors that can influence a persons' behavior
mostly after they are born.
Symptoms of Substance Addiction - Answers✔A feeling that the person needs to take the
substance.
Ignoring evidence that the use of the substance is harmful to them
Stopping or reducing is difficult
Symptoms of Behavioral Addiction - Answers✔They need to do the activity regularly
They ignore arguments that the activity is unhealthy or damaging
Reducing activity is very difficult
Features of Addiction - Answers✔Denial
Lack of patience
Impulsive behavior
Inability to deal with stress
Incidence of Addiction - Answers✔The change in the definition of addiction which makes it
difficult to estimate the true number of people with addiction
Many people may not realize they have an addiction or may not seek help
How addiction affects individuals - Answers✔Ignore their family
Daily life(work,school,etc)
Spend money on drugs instead
1
, ©THEBRIGHT EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Don't look after themselves
Low quality of life/health
How addiction affects society - Answers✔Impact on workplace
Health problems which means time taken away from work
Lack of self-care (not completing work)
Companies pay to cover the workload of individual
Cost of healthcare services
Criminal behavior
Emotional & physical costs for victims
The role of genes in explaining addiction - Answers✔The DDR2 gene has been shown to be
related to developing addiction. Many different addictions have been linked to a variation of this
gene, known as A1. This gene is thought to affect the way the brain reacts to pleasurable
activities so that a person needs to do something more often to get a normal 'buzz' from it.
Dorit Carmelli et al. (1992) - Answers✔Identical twins - if one was a smoker there was a higher
chance of the other one smoking then if the twins were not identical
Donald Goodwin et al. (1973) - Answers✔Adopted children who had at least one biological
parent with alcohol addiction were highly likely to show signs of alcohol addiction themselves
Cadoret et al. (1987) - Answers✔Adopted children who shared a biological link with someone
with alcohol problems were most likely to have problems with alcohol themselves
Alcohol misuse in the adoptive family, then the adoptee had a greater risk of developing an
addiction to alcohol.
Diana Marinez et al. (2004) - Answers✔Heavy users of cocaine were most likely to have a
particular version of a dopamine receptor gene
Strengths of the biological explanation of addiction - Answers✔There is a lot of scientific
evidence to support the genetic explanation for addiction
Twin studies and adoption studies act as a control for possible factors that could explain
addiction
Weaknesses of the biological explanation of addiction - Answers✔The genetic explanation is
reductionist because it fails to take social factors into account
Research has not been able to find a single gene that explains where addiction comes from. This
makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing the addiction.
2
