Essay
Introduction to addiction
3- Motives are generated by drives, emotional states and evaluations and past experiences play an important role in their generation. Past experiences have attached emotion to them and when these are in our mind can lead to motives. More than one motive can co-exist at the same time those with more powerful valance prevail in generating an impulse to action or oppositely inhibit action (West, R.)
These 5 components are the most important elements of the motivational system. The elements come into and out of existence as a result of the influence in the system, together with stimuli and information coming from our sense and from our memory influence directly on all five level of motivation mentioned before.
First, there is a “law of proportionate effect” (West, R.) that considered that the escalate of appetitive consumption will increase whether the individual perceive the activity to be great and the restraint to be weak. Second, using the learning theory explains why an activity can have an strong attachment and this could increase the risk in terms of physical or social, immediate or long term, and even affecting others. Under this point of view Orford considered important to understand how appetitive behaviours are distributed within populations.
Conclusion
I have tried to show briefly some of the theories that explain addiction behaviours, because of the limitations it has not been possible to explain in depth all of them. Others which are not include in this essay allow us to have a wilder view of the phenomenon of addiction.
It is difficult to find a correct definition of addiction, thus the integration of biological changes, social learning, environmental, genetic and psychological factor are necessary to considered when one try to understand addiction.