addictioncharacteristics and individual difference explanations Flashcards
characteristics and individual difference explanations
WHO definition of addiction
‘a state of periodic or chronic intoxication produced by repeated consumption of a drug, natural or synthetic’
explain mark griffiths findings
suggests there are 6 criteria which need to be met for a behaviour to be considered an addiction.
6 criteria for addiction
salience
mood modification
tolerance
withdrawal symptoms
conflict
relapse
explain salience
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
example of salience
someone who is addicted to drugs might be constantly thinking about when they will get their next fix
explain mood modification
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
why does mood modification lead to addiction
the mood-modification is short-lived hence why the behaviour must be repeated frequently
example of mood modification
gambler: each win acts as a boost to their mood so they will continue to gamble
explain tolerance
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
how can tolerance be linked to gambling addiction
a gambler may need to bet with increasing amounts of money to experience a ‘buzz’
example of tolerance
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
explain withdrawal symptoms
if the behaviour is stopped or substance abstained from the individual will experience uncomfortable side effects
different types of withdrawal symptoms
physical and psychological
example of physical symptoms
insomnia, nausea , headaches
example of psychological symptoms
irritability, inability to concentrate
explain conflict
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
example of conflict
gamblers family might have to borrow money to pay off gamblers existing debt, causing stress and conflict between people
explain relapse
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.
example of relapse
a smoker accepting a cigarette after a long period of abstinence
NHS definition of addiction
not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you
example of withdrawal symptoms
irritability: a gambler might be short tempered if they cannot gamble
criteria for diagnosis
what are the two individual difference explanations
cognitive biases
personality
What are hueristics
mental shortcuts that we use to solve problems or make decisions and they often involve focusing on one thing at the expense of others
what can heuristics lead to sometimes
illogical decisions being made and cognitive biases, making addiction more likely
who proposed the idea of addiction
Kahneman and Tversky
what are 2 heuristics that are particularly relevant in gambling addiction
representativeness and availability
explain representativeness
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
example of representativeness in addiction
gamblers fallacy:
belied that is something happens more frequently than normal it will happen less frequently in the future
example of gamblers fallacy
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
how do problem gamblers adopt the representative style of thinking
they might believe they are ‘due’ or ‘owed’ a win or believe they can predict the outcome of their next bet
what is availability heuristic
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
what might the availability heuristic mean for gamblers
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
explain illusion of control heuristic
the idea that you have a certain level of control in the outcome of random events
example of illusion of control
participants in a lottery experiment believed they had more control over the outcome if they chose their numbers rather than them being randomly selected
explain hindsight bias
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
hindsight bias example
after an even, people often believe they knew the outcome of the event before it actually happened
example of illusory correlation
‘craps’ players rolled the dice softly to get low numbers and harder for high numbers
what is illusory correlation
superstitious behaviours where people believe two actions are related when they’re not
also called accidental associations
how can heuristics lead to problem gambling
because gamblers select heuristics on the wrong occasions, caused by defective reasoning. they don’t learn from losses
strength of the cognitive bias explanation
Griffiths
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
contradictory evidence to Griffiths (PB)
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
another strength of cognitive bias explanation
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)
weakness of cognitive bias explanation
griffiths
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
another weakness of cognitive bias explanation
Baboushkin
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
final weakness of cognitive bias explanation
research
cognitive bias research requires pps to report to the researchers what they are thinking. in griffiths research= research bias
questionnaires- demand characterstics/social desirability bias, may be reluctant to admit thoughts if they’re aware they are irrational, make the research biased
what did Eysenck suggest
highlighted an important role for psychoticsm and neuroticism
what is meant by psychoticsm
a personality type that is prone to tale risks, might engage in anti-social behaviour, impulsiveness or non-conformist behaviour
what are people with psychoticsm characteristics more prone to
mantel disorders (psychosis)
characteristics of phychoticsm
impulsive
impatient
irritable
creative
aggressive
unempathetic
what is meant by neuroticism
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
what are people with neuroticism personality type more prone to
anxiety and depression as they are easy to worry/panic
characteristics of neuroticism
anxious
moody
irritable
guilt ridden
loneliness
psychoticism linked to addiction
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
explain Dalleys research
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
what will impulsivity also cause problems with
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
how is neuroticism linked to addiction
neuroticism is a trait where people are more likely to experience anxiety and depression and therefore use drugs to self-medicate(tobacco, alcohol, drugs)
research linked to neuroticism and addiction
sinha
Sinha- researched into how stress a role in the initiation of an addiction but also int he 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 t overcome it
neuroticism to addiction
evidence
Taylor
analysed data from a sample of 872 boys collected over a period of nine years. those who had particularly low self-esteem at age 11 were at higher risk for addiction (particularly drugs)
at age 20
neuroticism to addiction
armstrong
baumeister
a- found that self-esteem was a good predictor of internet addiction and the amount of time spent online
b- suggests that low self-esteem may lead to people to act in self-defeating ways in order to avoid self-awareness. therefore they turn to addictive behaviours as a way to avoid the negative feelings
evidence to use about the link between neuroticism and addiction
-armstrong
-baumeister
-Taylor
-sinha
evidence to use about the link between psychoticism and addiction
-Dalley
-stevens
weakness of individual difference explanation 2 (personality)
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
strength of personality explanation
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
