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PSYC1022 Essay Instructions

Read the following vignette and then follow the essay instructions detailed below:
Peter has been using cocaine for five years. When he first started using cocaine, he only used it
socially at parties every other weekend. However, now he is using cocaine most days, even when he’s
at work or at home by himself. He remembers when he first started using cocaine, the effect was very
pleasant. Right after taking cocaine, he would experience an intense rush of euphoria that made him
feel energized, very sociable, and talkative. He felt like he was the life of the party. Over time, Peter has
found that he needed to use more cocaine to feel the intense euphoria that he did when he first started
using it. Peter’s regular cocaine use is starting to become a burden. He’s spending a lot of money on
cocaine, so he’s trying to go back to using it only socially on the weekends. However, during the week
he’s finding this really difficult because when he doesn’t have cocaine, he craves it. Everything in his
life seems boring and uninteresting without cocaine, and he feels constantly tired. So, rather than
waiting for the weekend, Peter ends up taking cocaine again to feel better.
Instructions
The essay requires you to read the vignette above and identify critical features of cocaine addiction.
You need to:
1. Identify and explain the two associative learning phenomena embedded in the vignette that
explain how cocaine use is established and how it is maintained.
2. Describe the neuropharmacological processes and changes in the dopaminergic system that
underpin the two behaviours identified in part 1 above.
Essay Format
A single, 1200 word essay must be submitted through the Turnitin portal on the PSYC1022
Moodle page by 11:59 pm Sydney time on Monday of Week 4. The essay contributes 45% to your
overall mark in the course.
• 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
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peripherals such as your name and student ID number.
• You will not be penalized for going under the word count. However, if you do go under the
word count then you should ensure that you are addressing all the instructions and
providing sufficient detail (see: “Things to consider” below). If you are more than 10% under
it is difficult to provide sufficient detail.
• 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 and are not required to do well).
• Do not include an abstract in your essay.
• 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 7th edition). 
• 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.