Gambling Addiction- Cognitive Explanation Flashcards
What are 4 cognitive biases of gambling addiction?
- Cognitive myopia
- The Gambler’s Fallacy
- Concrete information bias
- Illusion of control
What is cognitive myopia?
Gamblers focus on the immediate gratifying state more than the long term consequences of heavy gambling
What is the gambler’s fallacy?
- The mistaken notion that the odds for something with a fixed probability increase or decrease depending upon recent occurrence
- E.g. thinking you’re good at fruit machines which is impossible because it is based on chance
What is concrete information bias?
When an individual focuses on big wins and down plays their losses
What is the illusion of control?
- The belief you can affect the chances of winning when the chances are actually random
- E.g. choosing ‘lucky’ numbers on a lottery ticket
- Encourages gamblers to believe they can influence chance
If the point is:
A strength of the cognitive explanation of gambling addiction is that there is research to support it.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- In a field study in an amusement arcade, Grifitth’s compared 30 regular gamblers with 30 non regular gamblers. Each participant was given £3 to spend on a slot machine. Researchers then recorded the gamblers verbalisations as they played on the machine to give an insight into their thought processes. Clear and significant differences emerged between the 2 groups, for example, regular gamblers: thought they were more skilful than they were, made irrational statements, claimed it was all skill and not chance, explained losses as near wins.
Link- This suggests that irrational cognition is clearly involved in gambling addiction, providing credibility for the theory.
If the point is:
A strength of the cognitive explanation of gambling addiction is that it has led to some useful practical applications.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- CBT aims to correct the faulty cognitions and cognitive biases that gamblers suffer from and replace them with more rational beliefs. This collaborative process often involves homework assignments, such as refraining from betting for 24 hours. In addition, Ladoucer et al found CBT to be 86% effective when treating 66 pathological gamblers.
Link- This implies that challenging the faulty cognitions of gambling addicts has the potential to help the half a million gambling addicts in the UK to ditch the habit.
If the point is:
A weakness of the cognitive explanation of gambling addiction is that there is evidence that perhaps gambling has its roots in our genes, and that this may contribute to faulty cognitions.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Blum and Cummings identified that gamblers are far more likely to possess the ARD1D2 genetic variant, predisposing them to gambling.
Explanation- However, this explanation does fail to explain how individuals actually do become addicted, meaning a multi theory approach may be needed instead.
Link- This could imply that gambling addiction also needs to take into account how peoples genetics may increase their vulnerability to developing an addiction.
If the point is:
A weakness of the cognitive explanation of gambling addiction is that it may suffer from causality problems.
What is the explanation and link?
Explanation- As most of the research into gambling addictions and cognition is correlational, it’s unclear whether these faulty cognitions are the cause or effect of gambling. Perhaps other factors instigate both, such as faulty genes as proposed by Blum and Cummings, or environmental factors such as vicarious learning, traumatic events or socialisation.
Link- This suggests that the explanation could be more comprehensive if it takes into account nurturing influences on gambling addiction.
What are the evaluation points for the cognitive explanation of gambling addiction?
+ There is some support that illustrates the involvement of cognition with problem gambling
+ Led to some useful practical applications
– There is evidence that perhaps gambling has its roots in our genes, and that this may contribute to faulty cognitions
– Suffers from causality problems
