Evaluate
Cards (14)
- 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 behaviourProspective 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 dopamineImpulsive people may be more likely to become addicted due to greater dopamine high
- Interactionist explanationBiology and personality are considered factors in addictive behaviour
- Cognitive biasesHumans 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 explanationRecognises how behaviour, personality, and biology interact to cause addiction