Eduqas A-Level Psychology A290QS
Biological Approach
Psychodynamic Approach
Behaviourist Approach
Cognitive Approach
Positive Approach
Comparing the Five Approaches
Core Studies in Social and Developmental Psychology
Planning Psychological Research
Data Handling, Statistics and Mathematical Skills
Evaluating and Validating Research
Personal Investigations and Novel Research Scenarios
Addictive BehavioursAddictive
Autistic Spectrum BehavioursAutistic spectrum
Bullying BehavioursBullying
Criminal BehavioursCriminal
SchizophreniaSchizophrenia
StressStress
Controversies in Psychology
Addictive Behaviours
Individual differences explanations: Lang's addictive personality traits
- 3 things to know
- Component 3 Applications
Overview
Recall questions on Individual differences explanations: Lang's addictive personality traits.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Name four of the traits Lang identified as common among people with addictions.
Which of Lang's traits best explains the difficulty of staying abstinent, and why?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What conclusion did Lang (1983) actually reach about the addictive personality?
Model answer
That there is no single addictive personality type that leads inevitably to addiction, although a recognisable cluster of traits recurs among addicted people.
- 2
Name four of the traits Lang identified as common among people with addictions.
Model answer
Impulsivity and difficulty delaying gratification, sensation seeking, nonconformity with a weak commitment to conventionally valued achievement goals, and social alienation combined with a tolerance of deviance.
- 3
Besides those traits, what did Lang say about how addicted people handle stress?
Model answer
That they tend to be more sensitive to stress and to have poorer coping resources, so substances or activities are used as a way of managing distress.
- 4
Why does Lang treat these traits as risk factors rather than as a personality type?
Model answer
Because they are common in the general population, occur in many combinations, and none of them is either necessary or sufficient for an addiction to develop.
- 5
How does Lang's account explain why only one of a group of heavy drinkers becomes dependent?
Model answer
The traits raise vulnerability, so under the same exposure the more impulsive, more sensation-seeking and less well-coping member of the group is the one who crosses into dependence.
- 6
Which of Lang's traits best explains the difficulty of staying abstinent, and why?
Model answer
Impulsivity, because it leads the person to act on immediate craving without weighing the longer-term cost of relapsing.
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