Explanantions for Gambling Addiction Flashcards
How can you form gambling A in terms of SLT?
- experience of observing a role model being rewarded for their gambling bh (viscarious reinforcement)
- reward = enjoyment/occasional wins 🏆/financial return’s they gain
- obsv doesn’t need to be direct cud be thru 📰, magazine, media
- eg hearing someone win big on lottery make person more likely to gamble for same reward
How do we maintain gambling A thru operant conditioning
- both +- can explain A to gambling
- gambling can provide two types of + reinforcement
- reward of winning 💸 and buzz excitement for gambling
- gambling bh repeated to gain same reward
What can gambling aslo be seen as ?
- distraction for some anxieties of everyday life
- acts as negative reinforcement to distract individual from unpleasant feelings and anxiety 😥
- continue to engage in bh to avoid negative consequence of anxiety
Define partial reinforcement
- bh reinforced only some of the time
- if person rewarded every time they become bored 😑
- enables them to A due to reinforcements being limited to only some of the time ❌ consistently
- makes it more exciting 😁 I unsure when next win so bh doesn’t extinguish even if wins stop
Define Fixed Rate
- type of partial reinforcement where bh reinforced a predicable amount of times
eg slot machine 🎰 paying out every 10th time
does not form an A
Define Variable reinforcement
- type of Partial reinforcement where behaviour is reinforced an unpredictable amounts of times (variable intervals)
- win black jack at 15th time then 2nd
- highly more rewarding as it is highly unpredictable and exciting 😁 leads to stronger more persistent gambling bh
Give RTS for LT gambling A
P - Parke and Griffith
E - R supports idea that gambling is reinforced due to the money thrill + excitement 😁💸
E - they said the fact sensation of a ‘near miss’ as well makes it reinforced even if there is a loss
L - supports idea of partial + variable reinforcement making gambling highly addictive due to unpredictability of winning and associated excitement
What is a strength for gambling A
P - PRAC APPS
E - principles of theory that addiction caused by pleasant associations bw gambling and excitement led to behavioural interventions aversion therapy
E - gambling re-associated w negative stimuli eg ⚡️rather than feelings of pleasure
L - important in applied psych helps treat gambling A ir world 🌎
What can LT for gambling explanation be criticised?
P - env determinism
E - individual controlled by reinforcements that cause bh
E - eg person rewarded for gambling by feeling of euphoria/occasional win
gamble again to get same reward
L - neglects the role of free will + choice person chooses not to continue gambling despite ‘buzz’ due to being aware of financial losses
L - LT can not account of this and therefore may not be full explanation of gambling bh
What is intro to Cognitive theory
- sees A bh as a result of cognitive distortions+\ faulty thought process 🧐🧠
Define cognitive bias
- a person’s thinking, memory and attentional processes are faulty leading an individual to make irrational judgements and poor decisions. 👎🏼
> biases influence how gamblers think about their behaviour, what they pay attention to, and what they remember and what they forget.
Who divided cognitive bias into 4 categories?
Rickwood et al (2010)
Explain faulty beliefs of skills and judgements give an example
Gambling addicts have an illusion of
control which means they overestimate their ability
to influence a random event 😵💫
eg skilled choosing lottery number making more likely to gamble
Explain and give an example of Engaging in Personal traits/ Ritual behaviours
Addicted gamblers believe they have
greater probability of winning 🏆 over other ppl as they are lucky 🍀 or engaged in superstitious bh
eg touching certain piece of clothing before placing bet = more likely to 🏆
Explain and give an example of Selective Recall
(Expectancy Theory)
Addicted gamblers remember certain types of information/memories/events better than others
eg more likely to recall 🏆 than losses ❌ desc as unexplainable mysteries = more likely to gamble
Explain and give an example of Faulty perceptions
- Addicted gamblers have distorted views abt operation of chance (gamblers fallacy)
eg - believe losing streak can’t last will always be ended w a 🏆 = more likely to gamble
Define Self Efficacy
- refers to an individual’s perceived ability to control their own behaviour, which can explain why some people relapse into gambling again after abstaining.
What do Addicts with low self efficacy believe?
they cannot give up gambling and it will always be apart of them. leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which the individual continues to gamble because their belief is they cannot stop themselves.
This causes their gambling A to be reinforced due to the gamblers belief that they lack control over this aspect of their life.
Give RTS for Cognitive theory
P - Griffiths
E - natural exp on 30 regular gamblers and control group 30 occasional gamblers
E - played on 🍎🎰⚙️ asked to ‘think aloud’ verbalise own thoughts and were interviewed afterwards
> found that reg gamblers saw losses as near wins and saw themselves as ‘skilful’ at machine made more irrational statements
L - ✅ demonstrates faulty processes control that gamblers believe they have over random event
What ia CA to griffths study?
P - self report method
E - some psychs say what they say is not what they think ‘Off the cuff remarks’ made whilst gambling may not reflect an addicts deeply-held beliefs about chance and skills
L - Therefore R may get misleading impression that gamblers’ thought processes are irrational when infact they are not. Limiting the validity of R
Give an alternative explanation to cognitive theory
P - LT
E - gambling A due to positive reinforcement of reward of ‘buzz’ (euphoria)
E - gambling makes I repeat gambling bh to experience same reward rather than cognitive biases such as believing they have skill to influence random events being reason for gambling
L - cognitive expl not only expl for gambling A
Give a strength into Cognitive Theory
P - PRAC APPS
E - principles of theory that A is caused by cognitive biases and faulty though processes has led to the development of CBT .
E - This is effective in treating behaviour by identifying and challenging the irrational and faulty thought processes that have lead an individual to gamble (think further: could you include an example here?) and changing them into rational and logical thought processes via disputing.
L - important part of applied psych as it helps people overcome their gambling addiction in real 🌎
