The aim of this study was to assess the association between beliefs about two types of control, (a) illusion of control, and (b) internal locus of control, and gambling frequency/problem gambling among young people aged 14 to 25 years (435 males; 577 females, 5 unreported gender). A revised version of the SouthOaks Gambling Screen plus measures of gambling frequency and gambling beliefs were administered. Results indicated that irrational control beliefs were strongly associated with problem gambling. Young problem gamblers were more likely to believe that they needed money and that gambling would provide it. In addition, young problem gamblers had more faith in their ability to manipulate chance, and 'beat the system'. Regression models with illusion of control and internal control over gambling significantly predicted gambling frequency and problem gambling. 4There is more than one sense in which people believe they have control over their gambling. First there is the adaptive sense of having control over whether and when to gamble and how much to spend (Corless & Dickerson,1989). Another sense in which the word 'control' is used is the sense of 'illusion of control', that is, the invocation of superstitious behaviour as a (flawed) way of attempting to influence winning or losing at gambling (Langer, 1975;Langer & Roth, 1975).Yet a third sense in which control is used in relation to gambling is in clinical accounts of problem and pathological gamblers, who may report that one of the (irrational) reasons they gamble is as a means of getting their life or finances back under control (eg., Brown & Coventry, 1997). Each of these three types of control will be discussed in turn.The psychological construct of 'locus of control ' (eg., Rotter, 1966) gambling to a budget. The other possibility is belief in control over uncontrollable situations, that is, illusion of control, which can be described as "an expectancy of personal success inappropriately higher than the objective probability would warrant" (Langer, 1975, p 316). Among those holding such illusions, the rationality of the decision-making process required during gambling is compromised by cognitive distortions. Examples of behaviours among gamblers which suggest that these distortions may be occurring are talking to the machines, blowing on dice, keeping fingers crossed, being encouraged by 'near wins' on lotteries, and having favourite machines or tables (Coulombe, Ladouceur, Desharnais, & Jobin, 1992;Dumont & Ladouceur, 1990;Griffiths, 1990Griffiths, , 1993Reid, 1986). Frank and Smith argue that illusion of control results in persistence (in the face of inevitable failure), and superstitious behaviours such as those noted above. It is predicted that belief in control over winning (as opposed to playing) in gambling will be associated with problem gambling status.It could be argued that another form of perceived control -adopting a 'system' for winning --also fits this category of superstitious belief, given the 6 persistent unreliability of most ...

. The prediction of gambling behavior and problem gambling from attitudes and perceived norms. Social Behavior and Personality, 27,[455][456][457][458][459][460][461][462][463][464][465][466]. ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to characterise attitudes and social norms with respect to gambling among a population of adult Australians. A further aim was to evaluate whether gambling behaviour (as measured by its frequency) and problem gambling (as measured by its negative social effects on an individual) could be predicted by a model combining attitudes and social influences. With a sample of 215 late adolescents and adults, the Theory of Reasoned Action was found to significantly predict gambling frequency and problem gambling, with intentions predicting actual behaviour in both cases. Subjective norms only indirectly affected behaviour (through intention) in the case of problem gambling, but had both direct and indirect effects on gambling frequency, while attitudes to gambling predicted intentions, rather than directly predicting behaviour. Males were likely to gamble more often than females, and to judge their behaviour as a problem. Across the sample, although most had gambled at some time (89 per cent), gambling frequency and problem gambling were low, and attitudes and subjective norms with respect to gambling were a complex mixture of acceptance and rejection.

We investigated the role of global discourse organization on the comprehension of temporal order in narrative. We proposed three principles of discourse organization: (a) the immediate integration principle-a new event should be integrated immediately with old information, (b) the consistency principle-a new event should be attached to a consistent locus, and (c) the isomorphism principlediscourse structure should match event structure. Five passages varying in discourse structure were presented auditorily, and the comprehension of the underlying event order was tested. Subjects' comprehension was best in the canonical passage. The backward, flashback, and embedded passages were significantly more difficult than the canonical passages. The flashforward passage was the most difficult. The results were interpreted as showing that the immediate integration principle is a strong component of comprehension of temporal order and that the isomorphism principle contributes to text comprehension, but to a lesser degree.The purpose of the present experiment is to investigate the role of global discourse organization on the comprehension of temporal order in narrative texts using experimental narratives in which discourse order and event order were not confounded. To study global discourse structure, we believe that it is necessary to make a clear distinction between the events in the underlying event world and the linguistic representation of these events in a narrative text. The organization of the events in the underlying event world will be referred to as the event structure (E-1, E-2, E-3, etc.), and the temporal arrangements of these events in the text will be referred to as the discourse structure (e-1, e-2, e-3, etc.). For example, given an underlying event sequence such as, 1 APA reference to the published article is: Ohtsuka, K., & Brewer, W. F. (1992). Discourse organization in the comprehension of temporal order in narrative texts. Discourse Processes, 15, 317-336. 2 We would like to thank Ed Lichtenstein, Nelson Skinner, and Jim Treyens for help with some preliminary experiments on text organization, and Marlene Schommer for preparing the tape recordings for the experiment. In addition, we would like to thank Ellen Brewer, Tricia Tenpenny, and Jane Zbrodoff for their comments on an earlier draft of this article.

As more gambling venues open in Australia, youth gambling as problem behaviour has been identified. The aim of this study was to assess youth gambling in a population with easy access to gambling, and to evaluate the adequacy of a model for predicting adolescent gambling frequency and problem gambling. The model comprised a combination of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), personality variables (venturesomeness, impulsiveness), and cognitive bias variables derived from Weinstein's (1980) propositions concerning unrealistic optimism about future life events. A sample of 1017 school- and university-based adolescents indicated relatively low frequencies of gambling and low scores on the problem gambling scale, with males scoring higher than females on both measures. The TRA was supported with about 30% of the variance of each of gambling behaviour and problem gambling accounted for by intentions, attitudes, and subjective norms. Personality factors added significantly to the prediction of gambling. The cognitive bias variables, although independently not statistically significant, further contributed to prediction.

With recent introduction of poker machines in Australia, there have been claims of increases in the number of women with gambling-related problems. Research in the United States indicates, however, that men have a higher incidence of pathological gambling. The aims of this study were to ascertain among game machine users in a major city in Australia whether (a) more women than men exhibited symptoms of pathological gambling, (b) women reported higher guilt associated with their gambling, and (c) gamblers' self-assessment on several mood states was predictive of pathological gambling. A modified version of the South Oaks Gambling Screen was administered to 104 users of game machines (44 men, 60 women) sampled from patrons at gaming venues in Melbourne, Australia. Data indicated no significant sex difference in the proportion of pathological gamblers or in gambling-related guilt. Self-assessment of Happiness, Propensity for Boredom, and Loneliness, significantly predicted scores on the South Oaks Gambling Screen, with Unhappiness a significant independent predictor of pathological gambling. This may suggest that gambling acts to fill a need in the lives of unhappy people or that individuals who lack control over their gambling report higher unhappiness. Further research is needed to discover this relationship.