Addiction, Personality and Motivation

It is suggested that addictive behaviour, so called, ®ts into a psychological resource model. In other words, the habits in question are acquired because they serve a useful function for the individual, and the nature of the functions they ful®l is related to the personality pro®le of the `addict'. For some people this resource function develops into a form of addiction, and it is suggested that the reason this occurs is related to excessive dopamine functioning. This in turn is used to suggest the nature of the addictive personality. Excessive dopamine functioning is related to the personality dimension of psychoticism, and evidence is cited to the e€ect that psychoticism is closely related to a large number of addictions. The precise reasons for the addictive e€ects of dopamine are still being debated, but clearly there is a causal chain linking personality and biological factors together in the production of addictive behaviour. # 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.