Homework Clinic
Social Science Clinic => Psychology => Topic started by: karen on Jun 22, 2018
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Describe how both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement contribute to the development of addiction on opioid drugs.
What will be an ideal response?
Question 2
Describe the most typical pattern of opioid addiction in the early 1900s, in the middle to late 1900s, and in recent times.
What will be an ideal response?
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Answer to Question 1
Each injection appears to act as a positive reinforcer, similar to giving a piece of food to a hungry animal. Withdrawal symptoms are aversive, so once physical dependence has developed, each injection removes that aversive stimulus, which is an example of negative reinforcement.
Answer to Question 2
Early 1900s, high proportion of the population, including many middle-class women who used patent medicines. Middle to late 1900s, small proportion of the population, heroin injectors with a higher frequency in some inner-city areas, association with crime to obtain funds to purchase the drug. Recently: abuse of prescription opioids by otherwise law-abiding citizens, often with sufficient funds to purchase the drugs on the Internet or by getting multiple prescriptions.