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Drugs and personality: Extraversion‐introversion
Author(s) -
Spotts James V.,
Shontz Franklin C.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(198403)40:2<624::aid-jclp2270400243>3.0.co;2-s
Subject(s) - extraversion and introversion , psychology , eysenck personality questionnaire , personality , amphetamine , minnesota multiphasic personality inventory , clinical psychology , neuroticism , big five personality traits , social psychology , neuroscience , dopamine
Abstract Eysenck theorizes that stimulants induce introversion and that depressants induce extraversion; common sense suggests opposite expectations. Scores on the extraversion scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory yielded statistically significant differences among carefully matched series of heavy, chronic users of cocaine, amphetamine, opiates, barbiturate/sedative‐hypnotics, and a comparable series of nonusers. Cocaine users and opiates users were found to be more introverted; amphetamine users, barbiturates users, and nonusers were more extraverted. These findings did not fully support either set of hypotheses. These data also implied that, if drugs influence extraversion, they do so only by suppressing it. Data from two other measures of extraversion were consistent with this hypothesis.