Addiction (Cognitive Biases) Flashcards
Heuristics
Heuristics are simple, efficient rules which people often use to form judgements and make decisions
Mental shortcuts which focus on one aspect of a complex problem and ignoring others
Rules work well under most circumstances, but they can lead to systematic deviations from logic, probability or rational choice theory
Errors are cognitive biases
Shown to affect people’s choices in situations, they govern automatic, intuitive judgements and can be used as deliberate mental strategies when working from limited information
Different types identified by Kahneman and Tversky (1973)
Availability Heuristic : Mental shortcut based on how easy it is to bring something to mind
Representativeness Heuristic : Helps us make decisions by comparing them to mental representation
Base Rate Heuristic : Helps us make decisions based on probability
Whole heuristics are undoubtedly vital for humans to function, they can lead to errors
May be able to explain why some people engage in addictive behaviour, even though logically they should not
The representativeness Heuristic
Gambler’s Fallacy
A gambler may feel that a bet is a ‘sure thing’ due to the representativeness heuristic telling them that an outcome is due
May feel that after a run of losing bets they are ‘due’ a win, and so may persist in gambling behaviour
Keren and Lewis (1994) argue that there are actually two types of gambler’s fallacy
Type One fallacy is that where the gambler believes that a certain outcome is due in order to bring about balance
Type Two fallacy is when people believe that a random system is biased
Gamblers will underestimate the number of observations needed for a reliable detection of biased numbers and believe that they have spotted patterns where there are none
AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC
Events that are more easily recalled from memory may bias our assessment of how likely an outcome is
Decisions are made based upon how easily examples are to come into memory
Lottery winners in the media
It may cause gamblers to overestimate their likelihood of winning the jackpot
Gamblers own experiences can contribute to their heuristic
Easily remember the times when they won big, and it will be harder to remember the times when they lost
As these memories of winning are more available than the ones of losing, the gambler will overestimate their chances of winning
Companies that make gambling machines are aware of availability heuristic
When there is a win, there is a lot of noise, as well as the sound of the coins being dispensed, when the gambler loses, the machine is silent
Gambler is more likely to remember the wins than the losses and so will overestimate their chances of success in the future
THE SUNK COST FALLACY
A decision making bias that reflects the tendency to invest more future resources in a situation in which a prior investment has not been made
Strough et al (2008)
If an individual has already invested heavily in something, they are more likely to carry on investing and losing money
Links with representative bias, they may feel that they are due a win shortly
Evaluation
Lends itself to practical applications, understanding of cognitive biases be used in CBT
Griffiths (1994) compared the verbalisations of 30 regular gamblers with 30 non-regular gamblers while they were playing on a fruit machine
Regular gamblers word many more irrational verbalisations than the non regular gamblers
Verbalisations showed evidence of many heuristics and biases
Joukhador et al (2003) developed a 65 item scale called the Gambling Belief Questionnaire that covers a range of cognitive biases
Compared the responses on this questionnaire between 56 problem gamblers and 52 social gamblers, the problem gamblers scored higher
Cognitive theories are good at describing the thoughts that gamblers have, it does not really explain where these thoughts came from
Descriptive theory
Griffiths (2013) the first time there was a triple rollover in the UK national lottery, the media reported that the number 13 had come up fewer times than any other
Those using the representative bias would pick 12, whereas those those using the availability bias would not pick it
Using cognitive biases as an explanation does not allow predictions about behaviour to be accurately made
Cognitive errors are not necessarily generalizable to all
Possible that age has an effect on the likelihood of an individual falling for these cognitive errors
Stough et al (2008) found that older adults were less likely to fall for the sunk cost fallacy than younger adults, cognitive biases may also differ by age
Does not take into account gender differences, may have different cognitive errors
Ibanez et al (2003) found that a higher percentage of men than women had been exposed to gambling in adolescence
Women had a later age of first bet and a faster evolution of the disorder, females were more likely to play bingo, while men preferred slot machines
Limited ability to explain any other addiction aside from gambling
Visscers et al (2009) found that the mathematics involved in gambling is often difficult to calculate, people hold odd beliefs about probability
Gamblers find it hard to understand informations about risk, the difficulty in understanding means that people may have to rely on heuristics for decision making rather than concrete logic, generally not an issue in other addictions
Reductionist
