November 2016

The addiction makes significant changes to the scheme described before. It adds another element called compulsiveness (the English verb “to compel” comes from the Latin word compello that means “to force”). The original meaning of the compulsiveness is a regular repetition of some simple actions (regular washing hands, multiple comebacks to check whether the entrance door is locked, etc.). Although some authorities like DSM view the addiction as compulsivenes

Individuals with addictive disorders suffer in the extreme with two basic aspects of human nature. They cannot control their emotions and they cannot control their behaviors. They either feel too much or they feel too little; they are over controlled or they are out of control. These two extremes are crucial if not essential aspects of addictive disorders. Such generalizations are a risky way to start a book. In doing so I run the risk of seeming to know the truth or of being dogmatic. 0

Unlike the thirst of water and the hunger of food that have to be satisfied without fail the consumption of ethanol isn’t necessary for the physiological functioning of a human body. So a normal wish to drink it can be compared to a desire to try some delicacies (as an additional regulative the esthetic determinant can be viewed in this aspect).

Since we are interested in understanding human behavior, not merely in predicting it, we must next identify the determinants of intentions. According to the theory of reasoned action, a person's intention is a function oftwo basic determinants; one personal in nature and the other reflecting social influence. The personal factor is the individual's positive or negative evaluation of performing the behavior; this factor is termed attitude toward the behavior. Note that the theory of reasoned action is concerned with attitudes toward behaviors and not with the more traditional attitudes toward objects, people, or institutions. The second determinant of intention is the person's perception of the social pressures put on him to perform or not perform the behavior in question. Since it deals with perceived prescriptions, this factor is termed subjective norm. Generally speaking, people intend to perform a behavior when they evaluate it positively and when they believe that important others think they should perform it. (Ajzen 1985, p. 12)

Ajzen, Icek. 1985. “From Intentions to Actions: A Theory of Planned Behavior.” In Action Control: From Cognition to Behavior, edited by Julius Kuhl and Jürgen Beckmann, 11–39. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69746-3_2.