Describe 2 individual diff exps for addiction (10)

• Eysenck’s Personality Theory

  Eysenck’s theory of personality suggests that individuals high in psychoticism (impulsivity, aggression) and neuroticism (emotional instability, anxiety) are more vulnerable to developing addictions. According to Gossop and Eysenck (1980), drug addicts scored significantly higher on psychoticism and neuroticism than non-addicted controls, indicating that personality traits may predispose individuals to addictive behaviours. High impulsivity, for instance, can lead to poor decision-making and a lack of self-control, making it harder to resist temptations such as drug use. Dalley et al (2007) supported this with animal research showing impulsive rats consumed more cocaine. Moreover, neurotic individuals may use addictive behaviours as a form of self-medication to cope with stress or anxiety (Sinha, 2001), and low self-esteem may drive such individuals to seek temporary relief or escapism through addiction…
• Eysenck‘s personality theory (2)

  ... (Baumeister, 1997). These findings support the idea that personality traits can both initiate and maintain addiction, though they may not fully explain all cases or types of addiction.
• Cognitive biases

  Cognitive biases such as heuristics also explain individual differences in addiction, especially gambling. Kahneman and Tversky (1973) identified shortcuts like the representativeness heuristic, where individuals wrongly believe that random events should ’even out’ over short sequences - leading to the gambler’s fallacy (e.g. “red is due to come up next”). This faulty logic leads to gamblers to persist despite losses. Another is the availability heuristic, where individuals overestimate the likelihood of winning because such events are easy to recall, often due to media coverage or hearing nearby slot machine wins. These biases distort an individual‘s perception of probability and risk, encouraging persistent gambling. evidence suggests that problem gamblers are more prone to such cognitive distortions, making them more vulnerable to addiction. However, not all gamblers display these biases. environment/bio contributes