Lesson 4.3.10.2

4.3.10.2 Explanations for nicotine addiction Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.3.10.2, Explanations for nicotine addiction: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 3: Issues and options in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which neurotransmitter is central to the reward pathway that nicotine activates?

    • Ghrelin
    • Dopamine
    • Adrenaline released by the adrenal medulla
    • Melatonin

  2. Which brain region is part of the mesolimbic reward pathway linked to nicotine's effects?

    • The nucleus accumbens
    • The medulla oblongata
    • The occipital lobe
    • The spinal cord

  3. Which learning process explains why cues such as a cigarette packet can trigger craving?

    • Taste aversion, in which a food becomes disliked after being paired with nausea
    • Fixed action patterns triggered by an innate releasing stimulus in the environment
    • Neophobia, in which unfamiliar objects are avoided because they are feared
    • Classical conditioning, in which neutral cues become associated with nicotine and trigger craving

  4. What is cue reactivity in the context of nicotine addiction?

    • Cravings and physiological responses triggered by environmental cues that were previously paired with smoking
    • A physical withdrawal reaction that occurs when a person stops eating for a whole day, and which is linked to hunger and low blood sugar
    • A reduced response to nicotine that develops after repeated exposure to the substance, so that more is needed for the same effect over time
    • An innate fear of new objects that prevents a smoker from trying other products, and which appears in the first years of life for most people

  5. Which form of learning explains why smoking is maintained by relief from withdrawal?

    • Positive punishment, in which an unpleasant consequence follows smoking and reduces it
    • Classical conditioning of a food stimulus paired with nausea
    • Negative reinforcement, in which the removal of an unpleasant state strengthens smoking
    • Observational learning, in which a person copies a model who does not smoke

  6. Which statement describes how nicotine acts on the brain?

    • Nicotine binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and increases dopamine activity in reward pathways
    • Nicotine acts only on the spinal cord and has no effect on brain reward circuits
    • Nicotine increases the production of ghrelin, which stimulates hunger in the stomach
    • Nicotine blocks all dopamine receptors and so reduces the reward of any substance

  7. A smoker finds that the urge to smoke is strong when drinking coffee, which they always do with a cigarette. Which explanation is best?

    • Cortisol release, with the coffee directly raising the level of stress hormones
    • Neophobia, with the smoker fearing the taste of coffee at all times
    • Cue reactivity, with coffee acting as a conditioned cue linked to smoking
    • Taste aversion, with the coffee having made the smoker ill in the past

  8. Which evaluation point applies to the dopamine explanation of nicotine addiction?

    • Dopamine is involved in many forms of reward, so it does not fully explain why nicotine specifically is addictive
    • Dopamine explanations are based on evidence from the spinal cord and not the brain, so they cannot be applied to reward in humans at all
    • Dopamine has been shown to cause nicotine addiction in every person who tries nicotine, so no other factor needs to be considered at all
    • Dopamine is unrelated to nicotine in all studies carried out on human participants, so the explanation has been dropped from the field

  9. Which evaluation point applies to learning theory explanations of nicotine addiction?

    • It explains how cues and reinforcement maintain smoking, but it may underplay biological drivers of dependence
    • It explains smoking fully and provides no role for cues or reinforcement at any stage, so biological explanations are no longer needed in the field
    • It shows that smoking is an innate fixed action pattern with no learned component, so the role of experience can be ignored in treatment
    • It has been disproven in every experiment ever carried out on smoking behaviour, so researchers now rely only on biological explanations

  10. A researcher finds that nicotine users show higher dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens when exposed to smoking cues. Which explanation does this best support?

    • A cognitive explanation based solely on distorted beliefs about body weight
    • Cue-induced dopamine release linked to learning theory and cue reactivity
    • An ethological explanation based on fixed action patterns triggered by an innate stimulus
    • A genetic explanation that finds no role for any environmental cues at all

  11. Why is nicotine withdrawal important in explaining continued smoking?

    • Withdrawal has no link to smoking, since it is caused only by a lack of food
    • Withdrawal is unpleasant, so continued smoking relieves the discomfort and reinforces the habit
    • Withdrawal causes smoking to become an innate behaviour that cannot be unlearned
    • Withdrawal makes smoking enjoyable, which encourages the person to smoke more often

  12. Which statement best describes the link between learning theory and nicotine addiction?

    • Learning theory explains how smoking is reinforced by pleasure and relief, and how cues trigger craving
    • Learning theory explains smoking only through genetic inheritance from parents who smoked
    • Learning theory explains smoking only through the effects of cortisol on the adrenal glands
    • Learning theory explains smoking only through the innate releasing stimuli in the environment

  13. A smoker who wants to quit is told that cues in their environment will continue to trigger cravings. Which concept is being described?

    • Taste aversion
    • Neophobia
    • Fixed action pattern
    • Cue reactivity

  14. Which evidence would most support a learning explanation of nicotine addiction?

    • Craving is only found in people who have never smoked in their lives
    • Craving decreases when cues are presented repeatedly without nicotine, a process called extinction
    • Craving increases permanently after a single exposure to a cue with no nicotine involved
    • Craving is unaffected by any cue, which shows learning has no effect on smoking

  15. Which of these best describes a neural explanation of nicotine addiction?

    • Nicotine alters the flow of blood to the stomach, which removes all cravings
    • Nicotine alters dopamine signalling in the reward circuits of the brain, reinforcing use
    • Nicotine has no effect on the brain, and its effects occur only in the lungs
    • Nicotine increases the activity of the occipital lobe, which causes visual hallucinations

  16. A person who smokes only in social settings with friends is showing a pattern most consistent with which factor?

    • Social influence and learned association between the setting and smoking
    • An innate releasing mechanism triggered by the colour of a cigarette packet
    • A fixed genetic tendency that operates equally in every setting at every time
    • A hormonal imbalance that is only triggered in the privacy of the home

  17. Which combination best explains why nicotine is hard to give up?

    • Taste aversion, neophobia and fixed action patterns triggered by food, which together explain why smokers struggle when they try to quit
    • Dopamine-based reward, conditioned cues and negative reinforcement from withdrawal relief
    • Fixed genetic codes that cannot be influenced by any learning or reward, which means that quitting depends on luck rather than treatment
    • Cortisol, adrenaline and ghrelin acting only on the stomach wall, which is thought to drive the urge to smoke after each meal

  18. Which conclusion best integrates the neural and learning explanations of nicotine addiction?

    • Nicotine has only a biological effect, and learning plays no part in maintaining smoking
    • Nicotine's effect on dopamine may make cues and reinforcement powerfully associated with smoking
    • Nicotine has no biological effect, and only learning explains the entire pattern of smoking
    • Nicotine has no effect on reward, so neither neural nor learning accounts are relevant

  19. Which result from a study would best support the idea that nicotine acts on the brain's reward system?

    • Participants show higher cortisol release in the spinal cord after nicotine than after a placebo
    • Participants show no change in brain activity but report a stronger sense of hunger afterwards
    • Participants show higher dopamine release in the reward region after nicotine than after a placebo
    • Participants show lower dopamine release in the reward region after nicotine than after a placebo

  20. Which evidence would support the idea that negative reinforcement maintains smoking?

    • Smokers report that lighting a cigarette makes them feel more irritable than they did before
    • Smokers report that cigarettes have no effect on their mood at any point during the day
    • Smokers report that they smoke only to celebrate a success with friends after dinner
    • Smokers report that lighting a cigarette relieves irritability that had built up during abstinence

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