Personality

• How does personality trigger the addiction?


  Temporary high gained from the use of a substance would make them continue doing it to reduce feelings of pathology
• Eysenck (1997)


  Proposes that personality is biologically determined - all people exhibit traits including psychosis, extroversion and neuroticism
• Eysenck's Addictive Personality Concept


  Psychoticism - more prone to to taking risks, impulsive actions

  Extraversion - outgoing and prosocial behaviour

  Neuroticism - more anxious and irritable, frequent state of fear
• Supporting evidence for personality (AO3) - Wan Sen Yen et al


  10% students had severe internet addiction

  Severely addicted bowed high levels of neuroticism and psychoticism and lower levels of extroversion
• Cloninger's Tridimensional Theory


  Three key traits that make an individual liable to substance use - novelty eking, reward dependence, harm avoidance
• Cloninger's Tridimensional Theory - Novelty Seeking


  The need for change and stimulation. Individuals have a low 'boredom thresholdʼ and are likely to seek out new sensations from drugs.
• Cloninger's Tridimensional Theory - Reward Dependence


  Individuals learn from and react to rewarding situations quickly and easily.
• Cloninger's Tridimensional Theory - Harm Avoidance


  The amount a person worries about the negative elements of a situation. This affects oneʼs likelihood of taking a drug or becoming addicted to it.
• Cloninger's Tridimensional Theory - Supporting evidence (AO3)


  Howard et al - conducted meta-analysis and found that 'novelty seeking' was a strong predictor alcohol abuse
• Evaluation of Personality As A Risk Factor (AO3) - Individual differences


  Being extraverted or novelty seeking does not mean that an addiction will occur. There are other factors that influence the development of an addiction such as genetics, family and stress.
• Evaluation of Personality As A Risk Factor (AO3) - Cannot establish cause and effect


  Research only indicates the likelihood of developing an addiction, rather than being the sole cause or mechanism through which addictions begin.
• Evaluation of Personality As A Risk Factor (AO3) - Contradictory research


  Eysenckʼs theory argues that addicts show lower than average levels of extraversion, however Cloningerʼs theory maintains that addicts are likely to show high levels of novelty seeking (which suggests extraversion should be high in addicts).