3.1.3 Personality and Addiction

Question 1

What are individual differences?

Answer 1

Differences in how we respond to the influences in our lives

Question 2

What is personality?

Answer 2

Set of behaviours, attitudes and emotional temperament distinguishing one individual from another

Question 3

Is a persons personality relatively stable over their life?

Answer 3

Yes

Question 4

An addictive personality refers to a personality that might make an individual:

Answer 4

More likely to try an addictive substance, become addicted and find it hard to quit

Question 5

What did Hans Eysencks theory suggest personality can be measured on?

Answer 5

2 dimensions

Question 6

What are the six elements to the theory of personality?

Answer 6

Unstable - stable (neuroticism)
Extroverted - introverted
Normality - psychoticism

Question 7

What does the resource model of addiction suggest?

Answer 7

Addiction develops as it fulfils a need in an individual’s personality

Question 8

In the resource model of addiction Eysenck highlighted an important role in the dimensions of what?

Answer 8

Psychoticism and neuroticism

Question 9

How do psychoticism and impulsivity link? (Resource model of addiction)

Answer 9

Those with high levels of psychoticism show low levels of impulse control - more likely to participate in maladaptive behaviours without considering the consequences

Question 10

Give an example of how some psychotic addicts act impulsively -

Answer 10

Drug addicts take the drugs without thinking

Gamblers place a large bet without thinking

Question 11

When will impulsivity cause issues?

Answer 11

When a person tries to stop their addiction

Question 12

Impulsivity makes it more difficult to follow treatment, why?

Answer 12

It requires self control

Question 13

neurotic people will use self medication as a way of doing what?

Answer 13

treating themselves

Question 14

what is a characteristic of neurotic individuals?

Answer 14

low self esteem

Question 15

what is self esteem?

Answer 15

self worth - how you feel about yourself

Question 16

Baumeister suggested low self esteem may lead people to act in what way?

Answer 16

self defeating in order to escape awareness

Question 17

neurotic individuals are using addiction as a way of avoiding what?

Answer 17

negative feelings

Question 18

What did Gossop and Eysenck find and what year did they find it

Answer 18

Researched over 200 drug addicts and found that addicts had high P (psychotism) and N (neurotism) scores but lower E (Extroversion) and L (impulse control) scores than the control group.
Found this in 1980

Question 19

What did Dalley et al find and when did he find it

Answer 19

Found that impulsive rats (p) increased cocaine intake more increased cocaine intake more than low impulsivity rats (L).
Found this in 2007

Question 20

What did Blaszcynski et al find and when

Answer 20

Little difference in extroversion between addicts and non-addicts