Cognitive approach to gambling addiction Flashcards
What is initiation of the cognitive approach to gambling addiction?
Cost benefit analysis - a persons decision to gamble depends of future costs and benefits of the behaviour. The potential cost is financial loss and anxiety and the benefit could be enjoyment and financial gain
What is maintenance of the cognitive approach to gambling addiction?
Irrational thoughts - addicted gamblers have irrational thoughts about how luck and probability work. E.g. they think if something happens a lot in a given period of time it’ll happen less in the future and buck versa
Illusion of control - abducted gamblers think they can change the outcome by being good at the game or being superstitious
What is relapse of the cognitive approach to gambling addiction?
Recall bias and overestimation of success - they remember the wins and benefits of gambling but not the loses.
What does expectancy theory look at ?
The ‘thinking’ is the expectations people have about what will happen when they gamble
What was the aim of Griffiths study 1994?
He wanted to compare the thought process of gamblers and non gamblers.
Why was the procedure of Griffiths study 1994?
He made the people speak their thought aloud while playing in a fruit machine and measured whether their thoughts were rational or irrational. He also took into account their perception of how good they were at the game.
What were the findings of Griffiths study 1994?
Regular gamblers had 6x more irrational thoughts than non regular gamblers and perceived the self as good at the game. They had illusion of control that they can bluff the machine and the machine likes them.
What was the conclusion of Griffiths study 1994?
Cognitive factors play a significant role in the maintenance of gambling
What were the strengths of the study?
There is a high level of ecological validity as the test was done in a real life scenario rather than a lab. This was also supported when George Anderson saw that heart rates did not increase in the lab but did in the casino showing that the results are more accurate because they’re done in real life situations
What were the weaknesses of the study?
Expectancy theory cannot full explain the link between cognitions and gambling because there are many people who have irrational through s but do not gamble. If this was true there would be way more gamblers.This suggests that if cognitive factors are not enough to explain why people begin to gamble.
