One hypothesis for the reason a person might become a pathological gambler is that the individual initially experiences a big win, which creates a fallacious expectation of winning, which may then lead to persistent gambling despite suffering large losses. Although this hypothesis has been around for several decades, only one controlled empirical study has addressed it, and that study reported null results. In the present experiment, the authors tested the "big win" hypothesis by having 4 groups of participants with little to no experience gambling play a computer-simulated slot machine for credits that were exchangeable for cash. One group experienced a large win on the very 1st play. Another experienced a large win on the 5th play. A 3rd group experienced 2 small wins on the 2nd and 5th plays. No other winning outcomes were programmed. The 4th group never experienced a win. The authors observed a significant effect of group. Participants who experienced a large win on the 1st play quit playing the simulation earlier than participants who experienced a large win on the 5th play. These results appear to question the "big win" as an explanation for pathological gambling. They are more consistent with a behavioral theory of gambling behavior. The present study should also promote the use of laboratory-based research to test long-standing hypotheses in the gambling literature.
The authors investigated the effects of an induced emotional mood state on lexical decision task (LDT) performance in 50 young adults and 25 older adults. Participants were randomly assigned to either happy or sad mood induction conditions. An emotional mood state was induced by having the participants listen to 8 min of classical music previously rated to induce happy or sad moods. Results replicated previous studies with young adults (i.e., sad-induced individuals responded faster to sad words and happy-induced individuals responded faster to happy words) and extended this pattern to older adults. Results are discussed with regard to information processing, aging, and emotion.
Research has shown that animal subjects that are given a chance to consume a low-valued substance will consume less of it if a high-valued substance will soon be available than they would if the low-valued substance were to remain available (negative consummatory contrast). Research has also shown that subjects that lever press for a low-valued reinforcer will press the lever more often for that reinforcer if they will soon be able to lever press for a high-valued reinforcer than they would if they continue to press for the low-valued reinforcer (positive induction). The present study investigated these different changes in behavior across 3 experiments. The results suggest that the occurrence of contrast or induction does not depend on the type of substances that are used. We argue that further investigation of the contrast vs. induction issue is warranted because it has empirical, theoretical, and applied implications.
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