Addiction: Individual Difference Explanation

Question 1

What are the Individual Differences Explanations of Addiction?

Answer 1

1. Cognitive Bias

2. Addictive Personality Traits

Question 2

What is Cognitive Bias?

Answer 2

• Focuses on the way people think about a behavior
• If human behavior was rational then we wouldn’t become addicted because costs would outweigh the benefits - errors of thinking

Question 3

What are the Two Main Cognitive Biases?

Answer 3

1. Representativness Bias

2. Availability Bias

Question 4

Describe Representativness Bias

Answer 4

• Estimate likelihood of an event by comparing it to an existing prototype
• Mind’s prototype what we think is most relevant/typical example of event/object
• More likely to overestimate likelihood that something will occur
• Tendency to judge the frequency/likelihood of an event bu the the extent to which it resembles the typical case

Question 5

What is the Gambler’s Fallacy?

Answer 5

• Representitiveness Bias

- The belief that if something happens more frequently than normal it will happen less frequently in the future

Question 6

Describe the Availability Bias

Answer 6

• Works on the principle that an event is seen as more likely if it’s easier to recall from memory
• People make decisions based on how often they hear about something + how available information is rather than actual probability of it occurring
• Encourage people to engage + continue with behavior in the mistaken belief that they are likely to win
• Mistaken belief may have come media reports - make events seem more likely than they are

Question 7

Describe the Illusion of Control Bias?

Answer 7

• Gamblers falsely believe that it they can control some aspects of the process their chances of winning will be improved
• Example = Choosing a particular seat at a roulette table

Question 8

Describe the Hindsight Bias?

Answer 8

• Gambler will claim that they’re not surprised by outcome + could have predicted what the outcome would be
• Helps to maintain the belief that once their skills have improved they will be able to win consistently

Question 9

Describe the Self-Serving Bias

Answer 9

• Tendency of gamblers to attribute any wins to internal causes (e.g. own skill) and any losses to external causes (e.g bad luck)
• Helps them to feel it’s not their fault if they loose and should continue to gamble

Question 10

Cognitive Bias Evaluation

Supporting Evidence

Answer 10

• POSITIVE
• Griffiths (1994) = compared verbaisations of regular gamblers with non-gamblers - evidence showed more irrational verbalisations made by regular. These verbalisations show evidence of cognitive bias
• Joukhador (2003) = Developed a 65 item scale called the Gambling Belief Questionnaire - covers a range of cognitive bias - taken by problem gamblers - the problem gamblers scored higher in almost all different beliefs assessed

Question 11

Cognitive Bias Evaluation

Research Issues

Answer 11

• NEGATIVE
• Relays on participants to report what they’re thinking - creates s range of problems
• Griffiths (1994) = Researchers decide what a bias is being shown - researcher bias
• Questionnaires rely on gamblers being honest in what they’re thinking - issues created such as demand characteristics + social desirability

Question 12

Cognitive Bias Evaluation

Descriptive or Explanation

Answer 12

• NEGATIVE
• Cognitive bias provides a description of thoughts of gamblers rather than an explanation of what causes gambling
• Explanation of behavior should be able to predict what’ll happen in certain circumstance - feature of a cognitive bias is that it’ s impossible to predict when a particular bias may be used

Question 13

Cognitive Bias Evaluation

Everyone Exhibits Cognitive Bias

Answer 13

• NEGATIVE
• Cognitive biases found amongst gamblers/non-gamblers/those who gamble but aren’t addicted
• Gamblers may have more cognitive bias/apply heuristics inappropriately
• Babsoushkin (2001) = many heuristics are appropriate for everyday situation but not chance events - gamblers fail to recognize this

Question 14

Applying Cognitive Biases to Modifying Addiction: Cognitive Restructuring

Answer 14

• Clients are taught they have in gambling are irrational
• Griffiths (1994) = Verbalisations - asked gamblers to listen/highlight irrational nature- regular gamblers were surprised at what they heard - suggesting that they find they find it useful in overcoming problems
• Forture + Goodie (2012) = Report that some studies used parts of a broader CBT while others focus on correcting beliefs/biases - both methods have shown some success

Question 15

Explain Eyesenck’s Theory of Personality

Answer 15

• 3 dimensions related to personality upon which personality can be measured
  1. Extroversion/Introversion
  
  • Extroverts = sociable/lively/optimistic
  • Introverts = reserved/quiet
    
    2. Neuroticism/Stability
  • Neurotics = high anxiety/moody/irritable
  • Stability = controlled/even tempered
    
    3. Psychoticism/Normality
  • Psychoticism = impulsive/impatient/aggressive/creative

Question 16

How do the Personality Traits Link to Addiction?

Answer 16

• Eyesenck (1997) = resource model of addiction - addiction develops because if fulfills a need relating to individual’s personality profile - psychoticism + neuroticism particularly important
• Research shown patterns in score on Eyesenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) of addicts
• Gossop + Eyesenck (1980) = 200 drug addicts - found that addicts had higher N+P - people who are moody/irritable/anxious/impulsive/agressve more likely to develop a drug problem

Question 17

Describe Link Between Psychoticism + Impassivity

Answer 17

• Trait of psychoticism is impassivity
• Addicts act without thinking through consequences
• Impulsiveness was a cause + effect of drug abuse
• Impulsive rats increased cocaine intake than low impulsive rats
• Impassivity can cause problems when individual tries to abstain from addiction
• Stevens (2014) = impulsive individuals less successful in treatment programs - more likely to drop out + less likely to achieve/maintain abstinence

Question 18

Describe Link between Neuroticism + Self-Medication

Answer 18

• Neurotics use addiction as a form of self-medication to deal with the stress/worry they’re experiencing
• Sinha (2001) = highlighted the role of stress in initiation of addiction + risk of relapse when individual tries ti abstain
• If addict is more susceptible to stress they may feel that they need the addiction yo overcome it
• Low self-esteem = trait of neuroticism
• Baumeister (1997) = low self-esteem may lead people to act in manner that is self-defeating in order to escape self-awareness - using addiction to avoid negative feelings about themselves

Question 19

Describe Link between Extroversion + Addiction

Answer 19

• Gossop + Eyesenck = found that drug addicts had lower extroversion scores
• Blaszczynski replicated original study + found little difference in extroversion scores of gambling addicts + control group

Question 20

Addictive Personality Traits Evaluation

Establishing Cause + Effect

Answer 20

• NEGATIVE
• Relationship between addiction + personality in mainly correlation
• Personality tests are given once addiction has developed - cause + effect cannot be establish
• HOWEVER…
• Prospective studies support the idea of an addictive personality causing addictive behavior
• Doug (2013) = study in Chinese uni + 2 years given EPQ - researchers found higher N+P linked to addiction - prospective design suggest it was a cause rather than an effect

Question 21

Addictive Personality Traits Evaluation

Role of Personality Depends on the Addictive Behavior

Answer 21

• NEGATIVE
• McNamera (2010) = found that rats impassivity meant they’d more likely self-administer cocaine but not heroin
• Rozun + Stoss (1993) = looked at individual’s tendency to become addicted to range of different actives + couldn’t find a common pattern - type of personality involved might depend on the specific addictive behavior being investigated

Question 22

Addictive Personality Traits Evaluation

Myth of the Addictive Personality

Answer 22

• NEGATIVE
• Numerous traits linked to addiction - makes it difficult to reach conclusion about what is meant by addictive personality - many traits are not unique to addiction
• Eyesenck found high levels of N+P in criminals
• Kerr (1996) = refers to addictive personality myth + suggest that there are many traits typical of most individuals

Question 23

Addictive Personality Traits Evaluation

Link to Biological Processes

Answer 23

• NEGATIVE
• Many personality characteristics linked to addiction show a clear relationship with dopamine functioning
• Biological + personality interact to lead to addictive behavior
• Buckholtz (2010) = levels of impulsivity in non-addicts and recorded what happened in their brains when given amphetamines - those with greater dopamine releasing response to drug as well as lower receptivity

Question 24

Addictive Personality Traits Evaluation

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Answer 24

• NEGATIVE
• People with ASPD show a disregard for the rights of others - resulting in them violating social norms
• Tull (2004) = found a significant relationship between dependency,substance abuse + personality symptoms
• 40-50% substance abusers meet the criteria for ASPD
• 90% of those with ASPD have substance use dissorder
• Messina (1999) = ASPD likely to engage in most risky forms of addiction (e.g. needle sharing) + start at a younger age

Question 25

What are Heuristics?

Answer 25

• Proposed by Kahneman + Tversky in 1973
• Humans have a particular way of approaching decison making + making judgments of probabilities
• Heuristics used when we need to reach decisions quickly + effectively
• Useful in some situations - can lead people to deviating from logical decisions - Cognitive Bias