Indiviudal Difference - Addiction

Question 1

Explanation 1 - eyesenck

Answer 1

One individual difference of addictive behaviour is - eyesencks personality questionnaire

P1- extroversion = lively, sociable, optimistic however there is very little evidence to suggest there is a link between the personality type extroversion and addiction
-12 found no significant relationship
-research is conflicting

P2-neuroticism
Highly anxious, moody and prone to depression therefore more likley to self medicate
-research highlights the role stress plays in the initiation of addiction / risk of relapse
-also significantly associated with online gambling addiction

3-psychoticism
Highly impulsive which links to salience
May lead them to ignore the consequences
-research shows that impulsiveness was both the cause/effect of drug abuse
-ppl are more likley to drop out of treatment programmes due to impulsivity

Question 2

Evaluation of eyesenck - explanation 1

Answer 2

P1- research support
S-strength as there is supporting research
E-research into psychoticism shows that impulsive rats are more likely to intake cocaine than non impulsive rats
C- however methodological issues - social desirability due to self report
W-despite supporting research there’s low validity and we should still remain critical of the explanation as its flawed

P2- correlation
S-weakness as Wes can’t draw clear cause and effect
E-lots of the research is conduced on those who are already addicts so can’t draw clear conclusions if addiction causes personality or if personality type causes addiction
E-likley a third factor e.g research suggests childhood trauma
C-however a prospective study on Chinese uni students shows addiction is the cause of high psychoticism and neuroticism - research on social media addiction
W-can only establish a relationship not a definite cause and effect - still remain critical about explanation

P3- ethics - determinism
S- weakness as its deterministic
E- means the addiction is not in the addicts control it is the fault of their personality- this is an issue as removes accountability
C-however could be positive as it shows addiction as a disorder which helps promote treatment and remove stigma
W- determinism removes free will so addicts may feel powerless and lose hope of a ‘cure’

Conclusion- is a suitable explanation but cannot be used alone as it has implications for treatments - should be considered along side biological

Question 3

Explanation 2 - brief summary - cognitive biases

Answer 3

P1- heuristics (schemas)
-Can be applied to guide decision making and are meant to be faster due to less info
-can result in errors = cognitive biases
2 types:
1- availability heuristic
Can recall certain memories more easily than others e.g hearing about ppl winning the lottery not losing
2-representativeness heiuristic
When making probability judgements
‘Gamblers falacy’
E.g thinking you are ‘due’ a win

Question 4

Explanation 2 - brief evaluation - research support

Answer 4

S- like eysencks personality there is research to support cognitive biases
E- Griffiths compared verbalisations of 30 regular gamblers compared to 30 non regular gamblers
E- regular gamblers showed many more irrational verbalisations (14%) compared to 2.5%
C- ISSUES - objective as the researcher biases due to them choosing what bias is being shown
W- despite their being supporting research we should still be critical as there are methodological flaws in supporting research