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Clinical Psychology

2010

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Gambling

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Behavioral Gerontology And Gambling: The Jackalope Of Behavior Analysis, Jonathan C. Baker Jan 2010

Behavioral Gerontology And Gambling: The Jackalope Of Behavior Analysis, Jonathan C. Baker

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Older adults constitute over one third of all gamblers in the United States. As the baby-boom generation continues to reach older adulthood, this proportion is likely to grow. To date, behavior-analytic research on gambling has focused on younger populations. Although such research is necessary and important, the present account will suggest that additional research should focus on studying older gamblers. The purpose of the present account is to review the literature that exists on typical behavior changes observed in older-adult populations and the implications for those changes related to current behavior-analytic research in gambling.


The Effect Of Relational Training On The Near-Miss Effect In Slot Machine Platers, Becky L. Nastally, Mark R. Dixon Jan 2010

The Effect Of Relational Training On The Near-Miss Effect In Slot Machine Platers, Becky L. Nastally, Mark R. Dixon

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

In the current study, six slot machine players were exposed to two concurrently available computer simulated slot machines (one yellow and one blue). The blue slot machine produced a high frequency of near-miss outcomes and the yellow slot produced no such outcomes. Both machines produced reinforcement on a random-ratio 10 schedule and response options were presented in a free operant paradigm. After a 50-trial exposure, participants completed multiple exemplar training and testing as well as a stimulus-sort task to form a relation between the color blue and ‘worse-than’ and then were re-exposed to the slot machine task for another 50 …


Investigating The Relationship Between Escape And Gambling Behavior, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, Kevin S. Montes, Danielle M. Christopher Jan 2010

Investigating The Relationship Between Escape And Gambling Behavior, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, Kevin S. Montes, Danielle M. Christopher

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Recent research suggests that there is a potentially strong relationship between gambling as a means of escape and the presence of pathological gambling. The goal of the present study was to establish whether there was a correlation between endorsing gambling as a means of escape and how participants played video poker in a laboratory setting. Forty eight participants completed several questionnaires and then played video poker. Results demonstrated that endorsement of gambling as a means of escape, as measured by the Gambling Functional Assessment (Dixon & Johnson, 2007), was significantly positively correlated with number of credits risked during video-poker play. …


A Review Of Petry & Madden’S Chapter Discounting And Pathologicalgambling In Impulsivity: The Behavioral And Neurologicalscience Of Discounting, Becky L. Nastally Jan 2010

A Review Of Petry & Madden’S Chapter Discounting And Pathologicalgambling In Impulsivity: The Behavioral And Neurologicalscience Of Discounting, Becky L. Nastally

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Petry and Madden contribute a revealing chapter on the relationship between discounting and pathological gambling to Madden and Bickel’s (2010) Impulsivity: The Behavioral and Neurological Science of Discounting. Within the chapter, the authors note the increased interest in the topic of delay discounting and gambling while presenting some obscurities in the existing body of literature further research will need to address, including the co-occurring role of substance abuse in pathological gamblers. Additionally, the chapter outlines theoretical interpretations of discounting as they relate to gambling behavior as well as highlights the need for further research in the area of probability discounting …


Temporal Discounting And Gambling: A Meaningful Relationship?, Jeffrey N. Weatherly Jan 2010

Temporal Discounting And Gambling: A Meaningful Relationship?, Jeffrey N. Weatherly

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Pathological gambling is an important and large societal problem. Theorists and researchers have linked pathological gambling to rates of temporal discounting, although not all attempts to do so have been successful. Unfortunately, popular measures of temporal discounting each have weaknesses, and studies of discounting have tended to focus on one particular commodity – hypothetical monetary rewards. Evidence exists to suggest that problem and pathological gambling is also linked to escape contingencies. If so, these findings could potentially explain the link that has been found between temporal discounting and gambling. Implications and predictions of this possibility are discussed.