Evaluate

• Eyesenck's personality theory


  • Based on the idea that character traits cluster in three dimensions: extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism
  • Substantial research supports the link between personality and addictive behaviour
• Research on personality and addiction

  • Dong et al. (2013) found higher N and P scores linked to internet addiction in Chinese university students
  • Zhornitsky et al. found elevated impulsivity in individuals with substance use disorders
• Personality and engagement in addictive behaviour

  Prospective studies suggest a causal relationship
• Correlational research on personality and addiction makes it difficult to establish cause and effect
• Using personality to explain addiction can be reductionist as it doesn't fully explain complex behaviour
• Impulsivity and dopamine

  Impulsive people may be more likely to become addicted due to greater dopamine high
• Interactionist explanation


  Biology and personality are considered factors in addictive behaviour
• Cognitive biases


  Humans have a particular way of approaching decision-making and making judgments of probabilities known as heuristics
• Research on cognitive biases and gambling


  • Griffiths (1994) found regular gamblers showed more irrational verbalisations than non-gamblers
  • Joukhador et al. (2003) found problem gamblers scored higher on a scale of gambling beliefs and cognitive biases
• Verbalisations and self-report measures of cognitive biases can be subject to researcher bias and participant biases
• Cognitive biases can be found in non-gamblers and non-addicted gamblers, so they don't fully explain addictive behaviour
• Cognitive biases may be appropriate for everyday situations but not for events affected by chance, which problem gamblers fail to recognise
• Both personality traits and cognitive biases are reductionist explanations that fail to fully capture the nuance of human behaviour
• Interactionist explanation


  Recognises how behaviour, personality, and biology interact to cause addiction