Q7

• Q7) evaluate 2 individual differences expl of addictive behaviour (10)

  
• Eysenck's theory of personality


  Individual differences explanation of addictive behaviours
• Addicts


  • Scored higher in neuroticism and psychoticism than non-addicts when investigating addiction to nicotine, alcohol and heroin
• High levels of psychoticism


  May be a form of self-medication for those with high levels of neuroticism
• Personality traits are implicated in an individual's likelihood of becoming an addict
• It is more complicated than just saying a set of traits will make someone an addict, there are many other factors that contribute to this complex disorder
• Personality theory of addiction


  No cause-and-effect relationship, research is correlational
• Cognitive explanation of addictive behaviour


  Assumes humans make errors in thinking that could explain why they initiate and continue to engage with damaging behaviours, these are known as cognitive biases
• Regular gamblers


  • Showed more irrational verbalisations (12% more) than non-regular gamblers
• Cognitive biases merely provide a description of the thoughts of gamblers rather than a true explanation of what causes gambling
• Cognitive biases cannot predict when a particular bias might be used, and explanations of behaviour should be able to predict what will happen in certain circumstances
• Research on cognitive biases requires participants to report to researchers what they are thinking and this creates a range of problems susceptible to research bias
• Individual differences explanations can be criticised for being reductionist and ignoring environmental and biological factors that could contribute to developing an addiction
• Individual differences explanations are also deterministic and ignore the role of free will in the decision-making processes
• Not every individual that has certain personality traits or cognitive biases will develop addictive behaviour
• Biological explanations such as the role of dopamine and social explanations, such as peer influence can also be useful and therefore, we should take a holistic approach when trying to understand addiction