Addiction - 04 Explanations for gambling addiction Flashcards
What are the two explanations of gambling addiction?
cognitive theories
learning models
What do cognitive theorists look at to explain how addiction starts and how it develops?
the thinking of the addict
What is a cognitive bias?
an error in thinking that affects the decisions and judgments that people make
What are the 4 cognitive biases of gamblers?
1)illusion of control
2)recall bias
3)gambler’s fallacy
4)the near miss bias
What is illusion of control?
-the feeling gamblers have that they can exert control over an uncertain outcome
-may show exaggerated self-confidence in their abilities because they believe success is down to their skill/abilities
What is recall bias?
-tendency to only remember wins while underestimating/forgetting losses
-so a string of losses does not always act as a deterrent for future gambling
What is gambler’s fallacy?
the belief that a losing streak cannot last and is always about to be ended by a win
What is the near miss bias?
-occurs when an unsuccessful outcome is close to a win
-As a result of these near misses, the gambler may feel that they are not constantly losing but constantly nearly winning
-near misses appear to have some rewarding value
What was the aim of Griffiths study?
to test the idea that gamblers think and behave differently to non-gamblers due to cognitive biases
Describe the procedure of Griffiths’ study
-field experiment in arcade
-30 regular and 30 no-regular gamblers
-given £3 to gamble on fruit machine (each gamble 10p)
-given objective of staying on machine for 60 gambles and to win back the £3
-if these were met they could keep the money and continue if they wished
How was cognitive activity and how skilled the p’s though they were at gambling measured in Griffiths’ study?
-verbalisations uttered while gambling (assumption was that they would speak their thoughts out loud)
-skills measured through semi-structured interview
Describe the comments made by the regular gamblers in Griffiths’ study
- thought they were more skilful than they actually were
-made irrational comments saying that the machine had personality and experienced moods
-when they lost they described them as near wins
Explain why the ecological validity would be high in Griffiths’ study and what the impact of this would be?
-the experiment took place in an arcade and so the setting was similar to what it would be like in real life
-this means that it can be generalised to others who gamble in arcades
What examples of cognitive biases did Griffiths find in his research?
-illusion of control - regular gamblers often said that skill was involved in gambling
-near miss bias - regular gamblers often explained losses as near wins
How can the findings of Griffiths’ study be used to rehabilitate problem gamblers?
CBT can be used for gamblers to help to challenge their irrational thoughts and beliefs to help them realise that gambling is actually down to chance and that there is very little skill involved
Why could social desirability be an issue in Griffiths’ study?
-Self-report technique
-p’s may leave out thoughts which may have caused embarrassment or make them feel judged
-may only said things that would make them be seen in a better light
-lowers validity of study
Strength of cognitive theories - supporting evidence (Griffiths)
-increases our confidence in the role of cognitive biases maintaining gambling addiction
HOWEVER
-unclear where the urge to gamble comes from in the first place
-need to look at an alternative explanation such as social learning theory and vicarious reinforcement
Weakness of cognitive theories - issue with cause and effect
-do cognitive biases cause gambling or does someone start gambling and then over time experience a change in cognitions
-if cognitive biases are an effect of gambling then the true cause needs to be found making it an incomplete explanation
Strength of cognitive theories - real life application
- CBT - asked to think aloud when gambling
-record these and show the cognitive biases to the addicts and make them challenge and dispute them
-changing their cognitions and identifying these biases could lead to change in behaviour and reduction of suffering
What does operant conditioning suggest about behaviour?
any behaviour that produces a consequence that the individual finds rewarding then becomes more frequent
Based on the ideas of learning models what are the 4 ways that Griffiths says that gamblers playing slot machines may become addicted
1)physiological rewards
2)psychological rewards
3)social rewards
4)financial rewards
Describe physiological rewards
dopamine buzz from winning
Describe psychological rewards
near miss or losses that are close to winning, creates a feeling of excitement and thrill that encourage further gambling
Describe social rewards
peer praise
Describe financial rewards
money
Gambling is reinforced on what kind of reinforcement schedule?
partial reinforcement schedule
What is a partial reinforcement schedule?
not rewarded every time, which makes it resistant to extinction
Gambling machines pay out on what kind of reinforcement schedule?
variable reinforcement schedule
What is a variable reinforcement schedule?
-type of partial reinforcement schedule
-only a proportion of responses are reinforced
-no fixed pattern
-this lack of predictability keeps people gambling
What is cue reactivity?
-when gambling the individual will encounter numerous secondary reinforces
-these will become associated with the excitement and arousal caused by gambling
-so secondary reinforcers can cue same arousal that gambler may crave and offer continuous low-level reminders of pleasures of gambling
What are some examples of cues which may cause arousal for gamblers?
-atmosphere and excitement of a betting shop
-colourful lottery scratch cards
-horse-facing or gambling adverts on TV/radio
Strength of learning models - supporting evidence (Dickerson)
-found gamblers who placed the most bets on horse races were more likely to place their bets in the last 2 minutes before the start of the race
-so may have delayed betting to prolong the rewarding excitement they felt
-provides evidence for the role of positive reinforcement in gambling
weakness of learning models - fails to explain why only some people become addicted
-people gamble and experience the win of money or dopamine buzz but relatively few become addicted
-suggests there are other factors involved e.g. cognitive biases or genetic vulnerability
-to focus on the role of conditioning is reductionist
weakness of learning models - can’t explain all forms of gabling
-some forms have a short time period between the behaviour and the consequences
-but other forms have a much longer period between bet and outcome so conditioning cannot apply here
-limits the application of the theory
weakness of learning models - interactionist approach needed to explain gambling addiction
-Sharpe proposed a biopsychosocial model
-incorporates biological risk of gambling, family attitudes that support gambling, personality, social factors etc
-learning models on their own cannot offer a full explanation
