addictioncharacteristics and individual difference explanations

Question 1

WHO definition of addiction

Answer 1

‘a state of periodic or chronic intoxication produced by repeated consumption of a drug, natural or synthetic’

Question 2

explain mark griffiths -diagnosing addiction

Answer 2

suggests there are 6 criteria which need to be met for a behaviour to be considered an addiction.

Question 3

6 criteria for addiction

Answer 3

salience
mood modification
tolerance
withdrawal symptoms
conflict
relapse

Question 4

explain salience

Answer 4

the activity becomes the most important thing in the individuals life, it dominates their thoughts, feelings and behaviour. even when not engaged in the behaviour it dominates their working thoughts

Question 5

example of salience

Answer 5

someone who is addicted to drugs might be constantly thinking about when they will get their next fix

Question 6

explain mood modification

Answer 6

when the individual engages in the bahviour they expeience a temporary improvement in mood. this may be experienced as a ‘buzz’ or ‘high’
could also be a sensation of escape or numbness during of periods of stress/depression

Question 7

why does mood modification lead to addiction

Answer 7

the mood-modification is short-lived hence why the behaviour must be repeated frequently

Question 8

example of mood modification

Answer 8

gambler: each win acts as a boost to their mood so they will continue to gamble

Question 9

explain tolerance

Answer 9

as the individual continues to engage in the addictive behaviour they will need more and more of their chosen drug to achieve the same effects. especially for chemical addictions e.g alcohol, can also be applied to gambling

Question 10

how can tolerance be linked to gambling addiction

Answer 10

a gambler may need to bet with increasing amounts of money to experience a ‘buzz’

Question 11

example of tolerance

Answer 11

a drug addict might need a lot more drugs or even mix their drugs to feel the same ‘buzz’ compared to how much they would’ve originally needed

Question 12

explain withdrawal symptoms

Answer 12

if the behaviour is stopped or substance abstained from the individual will experience uncomfortable side effects

Question 13

different types of withdrawal symptoms

Answer 13

physical and psychological

Question 14

example of physical symptoms

Answer 14

insomnia, nausea , headaches

Question 15

example of psychological symptoms

Answer 15

irritability, inability to concentrate

Question 16

explain conflict

Answer 16

addicts will often experience breakdown in relationships with friends and family or by compromising their job and neglecting other activities which were previously a source of pleasure. addicts may experience a personal struggle as they continue to engage in the addictive activity despite wanting to quit

Question 17

example of conflict

Answer 17

gamblers family might have to borrow money to pay off gamblers existing debt, causing stress and conflict between people

Question 18

explain relapse

Answer 18

addicts will continue to have a strong desire to return to the addictive behaviour even after a years of not engaging in it or after a seemingly successful treatment.

Question 19

example of relapse

Answer 19

a smoker accepting a cigarette after a long period of abstinence

Question 20

NHS definition of addiction

Answer 20

not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you

Question 21

example of withdrawal symptoms

Answer 21

irritability: a gambler might be short tempered if they cannot gamble

Question 22

criteria for diagnosis

Question 23

what are the two individual difference explanations

Answer 23

cognitive biases
personality

Question 24

What are hueristics

Answer 24

mental shortcuts that we use to solve problems or make decisions and they often involve focusing on one thing at the expense of others

Question 25

what can heuristics lead to sometimes

Answer 25

illogical decisions being made and cognitive biases, making addiction more likely

Question 26

what are 2 heuristics that are particularly relevant in gambling addiction

Answer 26

representativeness and availability

Question 27

explain representativeness

Answer 27

this is the belief that random events have a pattern and, what happens in a small sample should represent what would happen in larger samples

Question 28

example of representativeness in addiction

Answer 28

gamblers fallacy: belied that is something happens more frequently than normal it will happen less frequently in the future

Question 29

example of gamblers fallacy

Answer 29

in Monte Carlo in 1913, one roulette wheel showed a run of black for 26 times in succession. gamblers believed a red was 'due' and there was a rush to bet on red leading to lots of money being lost

Question 30

how do problem gamblers adopt the representative style of thinking

Answer 30

they might believe they are 'due' or 'owed' a win or believe they can predict the outcome of their next bet

Question 31

what is availability heuristic

Answer 31

works on the principle that an event is seen as more likely if it is easier to recall from memory. people often make their decisions based on what they have heard happen recently

Question 32

what might the availability heuristic mean for gamblers

Answer 32

this pattern of thinking may encourage people to engage in and continue with the behaviour in the belief they are likely to win. mistaken beliefs come from media reports on big wins by lottery winners which makes these events seem a lot more common then they are

Question 33

explain illusion of control heuristic

Answer 33

the idea that you have a certain level of control in the outcome of random events

Question 34

example of illusion of control

Answer 34

participants in a lottery experiment believed they had more control over the outcome if they chose their numbers rather than them being randomly selected

Question 35

explain hindsight bias

Answer 35

the tendency people have to view events as more predictable than they really are before an event you might be able to offer a guess to the outcome, there is no real way of actually knowing what's going to happen

Question 36

hindsight bias example

Answer 36

after an even, people often believe they knew the outcome of the event before it actually happened

Question 37

example of illusory correlation

Answer 37

'craps' players rolled the dice softly to get low numbers and harder for high numbers

Question 37

what is illusory correlation

Answer 37

superstitious behaviours where people believe two actions are related when they're not also called accidental associations

Question 38

how can heuristics lead to problem gambling

Answer 38

because gamblers select heuristics on the wrong occasions, caused by defective reasoning. they don't learn from losses

Question 39

strength of the cognitive bias explanation Griffiths

Answer 39

he compared the verbalisation of 30 regular gamblers with 30 non-regular gamblers whilst playing on a fruit machine. he found that the regular gamblers were far more likely to use irrational verbilisations than the non-regular gamblers (14% compared to 2.5%) the verbalisations also showed evidence of cognitive biases such as availability and representativeness

Question 40

contradictory evidence to Griffiths (PB)

Answer 40

in both gamblers and non-gamblers the % of irrational verbalisations are quite low and there isn't very much of a difference between the two. a high percentage of the regular gamblers didn't use irrational verbalisation. this suggests this evidence shows weakness, everyone displays cognitive biases, non-gamblers and also gamblers who don't become addicted. doesn't fully explain addiction

Question 41

another strength of cognitive bias explanation

Answer 41

Joukhador developed a 65 item scale called the gambling belief questionnaire that includes a range of cognitive biases including the gamblers fallacy. compared responses of 56 problem gamblers and 53 social gamblers, found that problem gamblers scored higher. shows there's a clear difference in the thought patterns of problem gamblers and those who gamble occasionally (strengthens validity)

Question 42

weakness of cognitive bias explanation griffiths

Answer 42

lacks applicability and predictability about real world addictive behaviours. seems this provides us with a description as to why someone may be come addicted to gambling as apposed to its causes. explanations of behaviour should be able to predict what would happen under certain circumstances, not the case with this model. even in the same individual doesn't always follow the same pattern as to which bias might be applied at any time. G- gives the example of the first time there was a triple rollover in the UK national lottery, the media reported the number 13 had come up fewer times than any other number. those applying representativeness bias would pick 13 and those applying availability bias wouldn't pick it demonstrates lack of predictive power within the explanation so reduces its validity

Question 43

another weakness of cognitive bias explanation Baboushkin

Answer 43

we all display cognitive biases to a certain extent, illogical thought patterns have been found in non-gamblers and gamblers who don't become addicted, doesn't explain why only some people become addicted B suggested may be because heuristics are appropriate when applied in everyday situations but not when dealing with chance events which is something gamblers fail to recognise

Question 44

what did Eysenck suggest

Answer 44

highlighted an important role for psychoticsm and neuroticism

Question 44

what is meant by psychoticsm

Answer 44

a personality type that is prone to tale risks, might engage in anti-social behaviour, impulsiveness or non-conformist behaviour

Question 45

what are people with psychoticsm characteristics more prone to

Answer 45

mental disorders (psychosis)

Question 46

characteristics of phychoticsm

Answer 46

impulsive impatient irritable creative aggressive unempathetic

Question 47

what is meant by neuroticism

Answer 47

trait that reflects a person's level of emotional stability. it often defined as a negative trait involving negative emotions, poor self-regulation, trouble dealing with stress, tendency to complain

Question 48

what are people with neuroticism personality type more prone to

Answer 48

anxiety and depression as they are easy to worry/panic

Question 49

characteristics of neuroticism

Answer 49

anxious moody irritable guilt ridden loneliness

Question 50

psychoticism linked to addiction

Answer 50

addicts show high levels of psychoticism compared to control group. impulsivity is a key trait. often addicts act impulsive without thinking. e.g smokers believe it won't affect them now they don't consider the long term affects of their actions

Question 51

explain Dalleys research

Answer 51

people who score highly on impulsivity measures showed significantly higher heart rate levels during gambling behaviour than people with low impulsivity scores. also found impulsivity score correlated with the severity of the gambling

Question 52

what will impulsivity also cause problems with

Answer 52

abstaining from their addictive activity after quitting. Stevens et al. found that impulsive individuals were less successful in their treatment programs as they were more likely to drop out and less likely to maintain abstinence long term

Question 53

how is neuroticism linked to addiction

Answer 53

neuroticism is a trait where people are more likely to experience anxiety and depression and therefore use drugs to self-medicate(tobacco, alcohol, drugs)

Question 54

research linked to neuroticism and addiction sinha

Answer 54

Sinha- researched how stress plays a role in the initiation of an addiction but also increased the risk of relapse. neurotic individuals are more prone to anxiety and depression also low self-esteem so may be more inclined to turn to an addictive behaviour to overcome it

Question 55

evidence to use about the link between neuroticism and addiction

Answer 55

-sinha

Question 56

evidence to use about the link between psychoticism and addiction

Answer 56

-Dalley -stevens

Question 57

weakness of individual difference explanation 2 (personality)

Answer 57

difficult to establish cause and effect. one hypothesis is that addicts will score lower for self-esteem as a sign of their neuroticism than the general population. however we can not tell whether low-self esteem is a cause or an effect of addiction. it is possible that low-self esteem drives people tp use, e.g the internet more, but it is also possible that the internet addiction leads people to become more socially isolated leading to lower self esteem. this suggests one should be cautious before suggesting that self-esteem or holding particular personality traits as being the cause of addictive behaviour

Question 58

strength of personality explanation

Answer 58

Dong et al, carried out a study on Chinese university students. the students were given the Eysneck personality questionnaire just after starting uni and two years later their rates of internet addiction were measured. found that those scoring high on neuroticism and psychoticism previously were most likely to show problem internet usage. suggests there may be some validity in the explanation that personality traits may be causing addiction