Cognitive Theory Flashcards
Cognitive theory
Cognitive approach argues addictive behaviour cognitive bias
Cognitive bias where persons thinking , memmory and attentional processes are faulty
Leading to induvidual to
Make irrational judgment and poor decisions
E.g continuing to gamble despite huge losses
What are the 4 categories Rickwood et al classifies cognitive biases
Skill bias - illusion of control
Ritual bias
Selective recall bias
Gamblers fallacy
Skill bias
Gambling addicts overestimate ability to influence random events
Believing they have special skills/ knowledge which make them more likely to win
Ritual bias
Believe they have more chance of winning if they have engaged in ‘lucky’ rituals
Selective recall bias
Remember wins but forget or minimise losses leading to gambling more e.g loss might be described as a ‘near win’
Gamblers fallacy
Have distorted views about chance - believe a run of losses must be followed by a win
Self - efficacy- low self - efficacy = greater chance of relapse
Self efficacy - persons beliefs about control or lack of control over behaviour
Addicts with low self - efficacy believe cannot give up gambling and will always be ‘part of them’ thus leading to relapse
Leads to self - fulfilling prophecy in which individual continues to gamble because their belief is they cannot stop themselves
RTS cognitive explanation of gambling by Griffins
Carried out natural experiment on 30 regular gamblers
Compared to control group of 30 occasional gamblers
Played on fruit machine and were asked to ‘think aloud’ and verbalise their thought processes while playing
They were interviewed afterwards
Found regular gambler saw themselves as ‘skilful’ at fruit machine and made irrational statments ‘I’m going to bluff this machine’
Compared to occasional gambler
Supports role of cognitive biases such as illusion of control in gambling addiction
Increasing validity of cognitive theory of gambling
Cognitive theory Ao3 limitation
Alternate explanation for gambling addiction is learning theory
Suggests gambling addiction is due to positive reinforcement of the reward of a ‘buzz’ (euphoria)
When gambling that makes individuals repeat gambling behaviour to experience same reward , rather than cognitive biases such as believing they have control over random event being reason for gambling
Thus cognitive explanation is not only explanation of gambling addiction that should be considered
Cognitive theory Ao3 gambling addiction practical applications
Principles of the theory addiction is caused by cognitive biases and faulty thought processes lead to development of CBT
Effective in treating behaviour by identifying and challenging irrational and faulty thought processes that have that have lead to individual to gamble
And change them into rational and logical though processes via disputing
Important part of applied psychology increasing credibility of cognitive explanation of gambling
