PSYC1022

Psychology of Addiction
Term 1, 2020

Essay Instructions

A single, 1200 word essay must be submitted through the Turnitin portal on the PSYC1022 Moodle
page by 11.59 pm AEDT on Friday 17th April 2020. Marks and feedback will be returned to students
within 10 working days from the due date (i.e. 4th May, 2020 11:59 pm AEDT) any essays submitted
after this date will not be marked and will receive a grade of 0.

Answer all parts of the question below:

1. Explain the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the development of substance use
disorder. With reference to instrumental conditioning, how does dopamine support initial
drug taking?

2. Explain how changes in the functioning of the dopamine system lead to the development of
withdrawal after drug use is ceased. With reference to instrumental conditioning, how does
withdrawal contribute to ongoing drug use and relapse?

3. Discuss how drug-associated environmental cues can contribute to ongoing substance use
and relapse. Hint: You may choose to approach this from the perspective of positive or
negative reinforcement theories of addiction.

• You may choose to address each part of the question sequentially, with or without subheadings, or
you may address it as a more integrated discussion about addiction. You could, for example, easily
integrate part 3 of the question with part 1 or 2 (or both). The important thing is to make sure you
address all parts of the essay question. Each part of the question is equally weighted, so you should
devote approximately the same amount of words to each section.

• You should ensure that you explicitly define addiction and any models, theories, frameworks or
concepts you discuss in your essay.

• You need to select appropriate literature to cite in your essay (i.e. websites, blogs, etc. are not
considered appropriate sources; published scientific literature, DSM-5 are appropriate). You should
use empirical evidence (e.g. published journal articles) to support your discussion.

• You should not simply list a general description of facts. Instead, you need to clearly discuss
important concepts in the literature and research evidence and then provide a detailed explanation
of how/why these points are relevant in answering the essay question.
Essay Format:

• The 1200 word limit is very strict. There will be a 5% penalty for a word count of 1201-1250, plus a
further 5% penalty for every 50 words thereafter. Thus, an essay of 2200 words would receive a
mark of 0 (The “10% over rule” does not apply here).
• In-text citations and any subheadings are included in the word count

• The reference list itself does not form part of the word count, nor does the title, or other
peripherals such as your name and student ID number.

• If you choose to include appendices in your essay then these will be included in the word
count. You should ask yourself if you really need appendices before including them -
information pertinent to answering the question should be included in the main body of the
essay.

• If you choose to include figures or tables within your essay, make sure that the figure
caption contains sufficient information to understand its content. In addition to this, you
should not present new information or arguments in your figure captions that is not
mentioned within the main body of your essay (Figure captions/headings do not contribute
to the word count).

• Do not include an abstract in your essay

• The flow of your essay is important. You may choose to approach the essay how you like, but your
ideas should link together and flow in a logical fashion.

• Formatting (i.e. document setup parameters such as margins, line spacing, font size & type,
paragraph indents, etc.) and referencing (both in-text citations and the reference list) are to be done
using APA style (as per the APA manual’s 6th or 7th editions). See: http://www.apastyle.org/manual/.
A copy of the manual can be found in the library.

• Being an essay, it is expected that submissions adhere to the standard format of all academic
essays (i.e. introduction, body, conclusion). It is assumed that students have polished academic
essay writing skills, if not, it is highly recommended that students seek assistance with essay writing
skills prior to submitting this assessment. Poor academic writing skills will negatively impact the
mark achieved in this piece of assessment. For help with academic writing see:
http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/ or engage with a Smarthinking tutor for feedback on your writing (see:
Smarthinking toggle in Moodle).

Submission Guidelines:
• Late submissions will incur a penalty of 2% of the essay mark per day - make sure you submit well
ahead of the deadline to avoid last minute complications

• Should accident/illness/misadventure prevent you from submitting your essay on time, you need
to apply formally online for special consideration and provide appropriate supporting
documentation with your application
• Students’ with ELS adjustments for written assessments need to notify the course coordinator via
email (h.pacitti@unsw.edu.au) of their intention to exercise their support no later than one week
prior to the due date or as per provisions stated on the letter of support.

Plagiarism:
• Please familiarize yourself with UNSW’s policy on plagiarism. This is very important. Plagiarism is a
serious academic offence. This course takes all forms (e.g. inappropriate citation and/or
paraphrasing, excessive quoting, copying, self-plagiarism etc.) of plagiarism seriously and action will
be taken if plagiarism is identified in your work. For more information see:
https://student.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism

• Originality reports will not be available to students. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that
their work is original and free of plagiarism prior to submission. If there are issues with your
originality report you will be contacted by the School of Psychology in due course.

Things to consider – What makes a good essay?

• Remember to clearly define any concepts/models/theories that you introduce in your essay. Don’t
assume that the marker will know what you are talking about – we need to be able to see your
understanding of the material you discuss in your essay.

• Make sure you select appropriate literature to support your discussion – published scientific
literature or textbooks are considered appropriate sources. Websites, blogs etc. are not considered
appropriate sources for a scientific essay.

• You should aim to clearly discuss important concepts in the literature and course content, and
then provide a detailed explanation of how and why these are important. Simply listing facts or
knowledge is not considered an adequate response.

• The number of references you use is not important or an indication of essay quality. A high quality
response can achieve a strong argument by carefully selecting a few good research papers and
discussing them in sufficient detail to effectively support your argument.

• Avoid relying too heavily on review papers that express the opinion of others. You need to locate
the empirical evidence, evaluate it and formulate your own interpretation of its relevance to your
discussion.

• The quality of essays will be judged on the clarity of the information provided, and the integration
of empirical evidence into a persuasive argument.

• The marking will be based on the strength of your argument and the clarity of your expression.
When writing in science, the key is to clearly explain complex ideas. With this in mind, the audience
you are writing for is an intelligent person who is ignorant of addiction/substance use disorder.