Personality

Question 1

Eysenck’s theory of personality, link to addiction

Answer 1

personality measured on three dimensions: extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism.
addiction develops as it meets a persons need relating to personality profile

Question 2

Neuroticism and self-medication

Answer 2

neurotic - anxious, moody, irritable.
addiction used to self-medicate stress/worry. low self esteem

Question 3

Sinha

Answer 3

stress can initiate addiction and can cause relapse. feel they need addicition to ‘treat’ how they’re feeling. if someone is more susceptible to stress they may feel they need addictive behaviour to overcome it

Question 4

Baumeister

Answer 4

low self esteem can lead to people acting in self-defeating manner to escape self awareness. use addictive behaviour to avoid negative feelings about themselves.

Question 5

Psychoticism and impulsivity

Answer 5

psychotic - impulsive, impatient, aggressive.
don’t consider consequences of engaging with behaviour. e.g. smoking wont hurt them in the moment so it’s ok.
Dalley et al - impulsive rats had higher cocaine intake than low impulsivity rats.

Question 6

Stevens

Answer 6

impulsive people less successful in treatments and abstinence. more likely to drop out and less likely to achieve and maintain abstinence

Question 7

link between introversion/extraversion and addiction

Answer 7

no clear link. Gossop & Eysenck - drug addicts were more introverted. B

Question 8

National Institute of Drug Abuse
(novel)

Answer 8

extroverts tend to have more positive thoughts. Introverts have more negative thoughts and emotions, such as anxiety and depression. This relationship between introverts and addiction could leave introverts more vulnerable to substance abuse.

Question 9

link to biology

Answer 9

Eysenck - personality has innate bio basis. genes determine activity of nervous system - can determine extrover/introvert, extroverts seek stimulation (under active ns) could cause addiction.

Question 10

Terraccino et al

Answer 10

Five-factor model personality profile of drug users.
smokers score lower on conscientiousness and higher of neuroticism than never smokers.
cocaine/heroin users very high neuroticism, very low conscientiousness.

link between addiction and low conscientiousness

Question 11

heroin addicts in India

Answer 11

110 addicts took EPQ
high scores on psychoticism and neuroticism and lie scale. low score on extroversion.

Question 12

Antisocial personality disorder

Answer 12

disregards tights of others, violates social norms, irresponsible. lack of remorse, manipulative.
rare in population but 40-50% with substance abuse disorder meet criteria

Question 13

cause and effect

Answer 13

research mainly correlational, tests given to people already addicted, don’t know what they were like before.

Question 14

Dong et al

Answer 14

give Chinese uni students EPQ at beginning and 2 yrs later. assessed internet addiction, high N and P

Question 15

biology and personality

Answer 15

not sufficient explanation alone. personality characteristics have relationship with dopamine. Bucknoltz - high impulsivity people had greater dopamine release in response to amphetamines. more vulnerable to addiction as experience greater higher

Question 16

Addictive personality myth

Answer 16

too many traits linked to addiction and not often exclusive - high N + P also linked with criminality. hard to define what addictive personality is

Question 17

Kerr

Answer 17

addictive personality is a myth, too many traits that are typical in normal people. too simple for a complex issue

Question 18

type of addictive behaviour

Answer 18

McNamara - impulsive rats more likely to administer cocaine but not heroin
Rozin and Stoess - no common pattern in individuals tendency to become addicted to range of behaviours.