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Problem gamblers tend to be more superstitious and less rational than most people, according to researchers from Cambridge University.
In a study that asked participants to choose between having a small amount of money now or a larger amount later, those with a gambling problem “were significantly more likely to choose the immediate reward despite the fact that it was less money”.
This, the researchers said, pointed to high levels of “impulsivity”, or the preference for an immediate reward.
And that high impulsivity was also accompanied by illogical behaviours “such as superstitious rituals, for example carrying a lucky charm, and explaining away recent losses, for example on bad luck of ‘cold’ machines”.
“The link between impulsivity and gambling beliefs suggests to us that high impulsivity can predispose a range of more complex distortions – such as superstitions – that gamblers often experience. Our research helps fuse these two likely underlying causes of problem gambling, shedding light on why some people are prone to becoming pathological gamblers,” said Luke Clark of the university’s department of experimental psychiatry.
Clark’s team also found that the gamblers’ impulsivity increased during high or low moods.
The researchers, funded by the Medical Research Council, compared the attitudes of 30 people seeking treatment at the National Problem Gambling Clinic with 30 non-gamblers. Their findings are published in the journal Psychological Medicine.
