Psychology Commons^™

Impact Of Jackpot And Near-Miss Magnitude On Rate And Subjective Probability Of Slot Machine Gamblers, Jeffrey Dillen, Mark R. Dixon

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

The present study examined the degree to which varying amounts of jackpot size would impact the rate and subjective probability of slot machine play in recrea-tional gamblers. Twenty college undergraduates who reported occasional slot machine playing served as participants. Two groups of 10 participants were utilized with each group exposed to one of two monetary contingencies ($0.50 USD versus $2.00 USD). Various behavioral measures (e.g., inter-response times, subjective probabilities) were measured on each individual trial, and re-sistance to extinction was also examined. A significant difference of trial out-come (following losses and following wins) was found in respect to inter-response time …