RESEARCH OF IMPLICIT ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMBLING FOR GAMBLERS AND NON-GAMBLERS

Irina Plotka; Nina Blumenau; Zhanna Vinogradova

doi:10.17770/sie2016vol1.1529

Authors

Irina Plotka Baltic International Academy (LV)
Nina Blumenau Baltic International Academy (LV)
Zhanna Vinogradova Baltic International Academy (LV)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17770/sie2016vol1.1529

Keywords:

attitudes towards gambling, implicit attitudes, implicit association test, explicit measure, problem gamblers, social gamblers

Abstract

The importance of studying attitudes towards gambling has been recently recognized in the field of gambling. Research aim is to examine whether non-gamblers and gamblers exhibit both positive and negative implicit attitudes towards gambling-related stimuli. Research questions: (I) What is the valence of implicit associations with gambling among gamblers and non-gamblers? (II) Are the differences in attitudes towards gambling revealed by explicit and implicit methods among gamblers and non–gamblers? (III) Is there a consistency between results obtained by implicit measures and explicit measures of attitude towards gambling? Methods: Participants - 98, age 18-58, Mdn=34 years. Groups: Social Gamblers – 24, Problem Gamblers – 25, Non-Gamblers – 49. Implicit measures: Modified version of Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT). Explicit measures: “Gambling Attitudes and Beliefs (GABS)” and “Gamblers anonymous twenty questions (GA-20)”. Results and Conclusions. (I) Both positive and negative implicit gambling associations were found in each of the groups. (II) Explicit attitudes towards gambling are most pronounced in social gamblers and most not pronounced in non-gamblers. Differences in implicit associations with gambling among the groups were not found. (III) In case of positive implicit associations, a negative correlation between the results of explicit and implicit measurements was found. It is possible that the use of negative implicit associations will contribute to the classification of gamblers with low, moderate and high risk.

References

Ackermann, C. L., & Mathieu, J. P. (2015). Implicit attitudes and their measurement: Theoretical foundations and use in consumer behavior research. Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 30(2) 55– 77.

Ackermann, C. L. & Teichert, T. (2015). A conceptual paper on implicit gambling orientation. pp. 1-15. Retrieved from http://www.marketing-trends-congress.com/archives/2016/pages/PDF/ACKERMANN_TEICHERT.pdf

Ashrafiuon, L., & Rosenberg, H. (2012). Methods of assessing craving to gamble: A narrative review. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 26(3), 536-549.

Ben-Tovim, D., Esterman, A., Tolchard, B., & Battersby, M. (2001). The Victorian Gambling Screen. Report prepared for the Gambling Research Panel. Melbourne: Victoria.

Breen, R., & Zuckerman, M. (1999). Chasing in gambling behavior: Personality and cognitive determinants. Personality and Individual Difference, 27, 1097–1111

Brevers, D., Cleeremans, A., Hermant, C., Tibboel, H., Kornreich, C., Verbanck, P., & Noël, X. (2013). Implicit gambling attitudes in problem gamblers: Positive but not negative implicit associations. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 44(1,) 94-97.

De Houwer, J. (2006). Using the implicit association test does not rule out an impact of conscious propositional knowledge on evaluative conditioning. Learning and Motivation, 37, 176-187.

Fazio, R. H. (2007). Attitudes as object-evaluation associations of varying strength. Social Cognition, 25(5), 603-637.

Ferris, J., & Wynne, H. (2001). The Canadian problem gambling index: Final report. Submitted for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. Retrieved from https://www.problemgambling.ca/EN/Documents/ProblemGamblingSeverityIndex.pdf

South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS). Retrieved from http://www.south-oaks.org/files/South_Oaks_Gambling_Screen.pdf.

George, D., & Mallery, P. (2003). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference. 11.0 update (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4-27.

Karpinski, A., & Steinman, R.B. (2006). The single category implicit association test as a measure of implicit social cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(1), 16-32.

Lesieur, H. R., & Blume, S. B. (1987). The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS): A new instrument for the identification of pathological gamblers. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144(9), 1184-1188.

Nosek,B.A., Greenwald, A.G. and Banaji, M.R. (2007). The Implicit Association Test at age 7: a methodological and conceptual review. In J.A. Bargh (coord.), Automatic processes in social thinking and behaviour (pp.265-292). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Orford, J., Griffiths, M., Wardle, H., Sproston, K., & Erens, B. (2009). Negative public attitudes towards gambling: Findings from the 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey using a new attitude scale. International Gambling Studies, 9, 39 – 54.

Petty, R.E., Fazio, R. H. & Briñol, P. (2009). The new implicit measures: An overview. In R. E. Petty, R. H. Fazio, & P. Briñol, (Eds), Attitudes: Insights from the new implicit measures (pp. 3-18). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Plotka, I., Igonin, D., Blumenau, N., Simane, L., Lutikova. N., & Morozova, M. (2013). Investigation of attitudes toward gambling with implicit association test and self-reported measures. International Journal of Development and Educational Psychology, 1(2), 597-610.

Rickwood, D., Blaszczynski, A., Delfabbro, P., Dowling, N., & Heading, K. (2010). The Psychology of Gambling. APS Review Paper. Final. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Nina/Downloads/APS-Gambling-Paper-2010%20(1).pdf

Rudman, L.A. (2011). Implicit Measures for Social and Personality Psychology. Rutgers University, USA: SAGE Publications.

Strack, F., & Deutsch, R. (2004). Reflective and Impulsive Determinants of Social Behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(3), 220–247.

Validation of the Victorian Gambling Screen. Prepared for the Gambling Research Panel by The Centre for Gambling Research Australian National University. GRP Report No. 7. (2004). Australia: Community support fund. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/45190/3/WholeVicGamScr_03.pdf

Yi, S. & Kanetkar V. (2010) Implicit measures of attitudes toward gambling: An exploratory study. Journal of Gambling Issues, 24, 140-163.

Wiers, R. W., & Stacy, A. W. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of implicit cognition and addiction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishers.

Zack, M., & Poulos, C.X. (2004). Amphetamine primes motivation to gamble and gambling-related semantic networks in problem gamblers. Neuropsychopharmacology, 29, 195–207.

Zack, M., & Poulos, C. X. (2007). A D2 antagonist enhances the rewarding and priming effects of a gambling episode in pathological gamblers. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 1678 –1686.

Kozlov, V. V., & Karpov, А. А. (2011). Psihologija igrovoj zavisimosti [The psychology of gambling addiction]. Moskva: Psihoterapija.