Addictive Personality Traits Flashcards
What do addictive personality traits explain?
- Why not all of those who try a behaviour become addicted.
What are the biological differences that might be responsible for causing addiction?
- Dopamine Receptivity and Gene Differences are the biological differences.
What must one also consider in the development of addiction?
- Personality; traits and characteristics that may make addiction more likely.
Who established the Theory of Personality?
- Hans Eysenck.
What is the Theory of Personality and how does it work?
- 3 dimensional theory.
- Passed on genetically.
Describe the 3 dimensions and their traits.
- Extroversion/Introversion.
Extroverts = sociable, lively, optimistic.
Introverts = reserved, quiet. - Neuroticism/Stability:
Neuroticism = moody, irritable, high levels of anxiety.
Stability = controlled, even-tempered. - Psychoticism/Normality:
Psychoticism = impulsive, impatient, creative,
aggressive.
Normality = lacks these traits.
Eysenck suggested a resource model of addiction. What does this mean?
- An addiction develops because it fulfils a need relating to the individual’s personality profile.
What two dimensions, in particular, did Eysenck highlight an important role for?
- Psychoticism.
- Neuroticism.
What does the abbreviation EPQ stand for?
- Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire.
Michael Gossop and Hans Eysenck researched the personalities of drug addicts, looking for common patterns using an EPQ. Describe the research and its findings.
- Over 200 drug addicts.
- Addicts = higher scores; neuroticism and psychoticism.
- Moody + anxious and impulsive + aggressive = more likely to have substance dependence issues.
Name an important trait in those who are regarded as having high levels of psychoticism.
- Impulsivity
Give an example of a behaviour that someone who’s high in psychoticism may do in terms of impulsivity.
- Smoking; won’t affect them now so keep smoking.
Research by de Wit found that impulsiveness was a cause and effect of drug abuse. What did Dalley et al’s 2007 research regarding rats and cocaine find?
- Impulsive rats increased cocaine intake more than low impulsivity rats.
Why does impulsivity cause issues in abstinence, according to Laura Stevens et al (2014)?
- Impulsive = less successful in treatment programmes; more likely to drop out and less likely to achieve and maintain abstinence.
Why might neurotic individuals participate in addictive behaviours?
- As a form of self-medicating to deal with stress and worry; ‘treating’ these problems.
