Explanations for Gambling Addiction (AQA A Level Psychology): Flashcards
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How does social learning theory explain why people start gambling?
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How does social learning theory explain why people start gambling?
Individuals observe role models gambling and see the rewarding consequences, and this vicarious reinforcement leads them to imitate the behaviour.
True or False?
Social learning of gambling requires direct observation of other people gambling.
False.
Media reports of big lottery winners or the glamour of horse-racing may be enough to trigger a desire for the same reinforcement.
How does operant conditioning explain why gambling continues?
Behaviour that is positively reinforced is likely to be repeated; winning money and the exciting 'buzz' of a gamble are both positive reinforcers.
How is gambling negatively reinforced?
Gambling can be a temporary escape, offering a distraction from aversive stimuli such as the anxieties of everyday life.
Define continuous reinforcement schedule.
A continuous reinforcement schedule rewards every desired response; it does not produce persistent behaviour, as once rewards stop the behaviour quickly disappears (extinction).
Define partial reinforcement.
Partial reinforcement rewards a behaviour unpredictably rather than every time, creating the persistent behaviour seen in gambling even when rewards are hard to come by.
Name the four schedules of partial reinforcement.
Fixed-interval, variable-interval, fixed-ratio and variable-ratio.
A fixed-ratio schedule delivers reinforcement after a of attempts.
A fixed-ratio schedule delivers reinforcement after a set number of attempts.
A variable-interval schedule delivers reinforcement after varying and unpredictable of time.
A variable-interval schedule delivers reinforcement after varying and unpredictable intervals of time.
What did Skinner's rats and pigeons show about reinforcement schedules?
Of all the ways behaviour can be reinforced intermittently, the variable schedule produces the most persistent behaviour.
Define variable reinforcement.
Variable reinforcement is provided after an always-changing proportion of wagers, e.g., a slot machine paying out after an average of 25 spins but not on every 25th spin.
Which reinforcement schedule does gambling follow?
A variable-ratio schedule, because the individual has no way to predict when they will win or lose.
True or False?
Slot machines are manufactured to follow a variable-ratio schedule.
True.
This highly unpredictable pattern of reinforcement ensures gamblers continue to play.
Why is behaviour learned on a variable-ratio schedule so hard to stop?
It takes longer to establish but is much more resistant to extinction, so gamblers keep wagering long after the behaviour stops being reinforced.
What did Parke & Griffiths (2004) find?
The sensation of a 'near miss', which is really a loss, reinforced gambling as much as winning did, making gambling highly addictive.
What did Wardle et al. (2007) find in the British Gambling Prevalence Survey?
Gambling addiction was 6.57 times higher in people whose parents were addicted to gambling, supporting social learning theory.
How does learning theory explain gamblers failing to stop despite wanting to?
Gambling is maintained by conditioning processes requiring no active effort, so the conscious desire to quit conflicts with motivational forces the gambler is unaware of.
What practical applications come from the learning theory of gambling?
Treatments such as aversion therapy and covert sensitisation work by breaking reinforcement associations rather than relying on willpower alone.
What did Griffiths & Delfabbro (2001) argue?
Conditioning does not work the same way in everyone: responses to identical cues differ and motivations differ, and such individual differences need cognitive features to explain.
True or False?
Learning theory explains all types of gambling equally well.
False.
Games vary in skill versus chance, and conditioning needs the bet and outcome to occur close together, so games with a delay are harder to explain.
Why is the learning theory of gambling seen as deterministic?
It suggests gambling is entirely determined by environmental cues and reinforcement, making gamblers passive responders and undermining free will.
Why is the learning theory of gambling environmentally reductionist?
It focuses only on stimulus-response mechanisms, ignoring cognitive factors such as irrational beliefs and biological predispositions, so it oversimplifies addiction.
How does the cognitive approach explain gambling addiction?
As the result of maladaptive thought processes such as cognitive biases.
What role do expectancies play in gambling addiction?
Gamblers have expectations about the future benefits and costs of gambling; when they expect benefits to outweigh costs, addiction becomes more likely.
True or False?
Gamblers' expectancies reflect a conscious, rational decision-making process.
False.
Memory and attention processes do not operate in a rational and logical manner.
Define cognitive bias.
A cognitive bias is a pattern of thinking and processing information about the world that produces distorted thoughts and beliefs.
Name the four categories of cognitive bias identified by Rickwood et al. (2010).
Skill and judgement, personal traits and ritual behaviours, selective recall and faulty perceptions.
What is the 'skill and judgement' bias in gambling?
An illusion of control, where gamblers overestimate their ability to influence a random event, e.g., being especially skilled at choosing lottery numbers.
What is the 'personal traits and ritual behaviours' bias?
Gamblers believe they are especially lucky or engage in superstitious behaviour, e.g., touching an item of clothing before placing a bet.
Selective recall means gamblers remember their wins but forget, ignore or discount their .
Selective recall means gamblers remember their wins but forget, ignore or discount their losses.
Define the gambler's fallacy.
The gambler's fallacy is the belief that a losing streak cannot last and is always about to be ended by a win, an example of faulty perceptions about chance.
What did Griffiths (1994) find using the 'thinking aloud' method?
Regular slot machine gamblers made almost six times as many irrational verbalisations (14% vs 2.5%) as occasional gamblers, though they did not win more money.
What did Joukhador et al. (2003) find?
Addicted gamblers showed more cognitive biases and irrational thinking than non-regular gamblers.
How can the cognitive explanation be applied to treatment?
Cognitive behavioural therapy can target the biases and irrational beliefs to reduce gambling addiction.
What did McCusker & Gettings (1997) find using a modified Stroop procedure?
Gamblers took longer to name the ink colour of gambling-related words, suggesting an automatic bias that operates without awareness.
True or False?
Research shows that cognitive biases cause gambling addiction.
False.
The research is correlational, so cognitive biases could be a side-effect of being an addict rather than a cause.
What did Burger & Smith (1985) find?
People with a high need for control are more likely to believe they can influence chance situations, so individual differences affect how gamblers interpret gambles.
Why does the cognitive explanation reflect soft determinism?
Behaviour is shaped by internal processes, but individuals can recognise and challenge irrational thoughts, so they are influenced but not entirely controlled.
How does the cognitive explanation combine nomothetic and idiographic approaches?
It identifies general patterns of biased thinking (nomothetic) but is applied to an individual's unique irrational beliefs in CBT (idiographic).
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