Cognitive theory

• What is the expectancy theory?

  If gamblers expect benefits to outweight costs, addiction becomes more likely
• Describe the cognitive theory for gambling addiction?

  • Assumption that irrational beliefs and distorted thinking patterns contribute to development and maintenance of problem gambling
  • These are cognitive biases
• What are cognitive biases?

  Irrational beliefs that are unhelpful, unrealistic and inconsistent with social reality
• Describe the 5 cognitive biases?

  1. Gamblers fallacy - faulty belief random events must even themselves out overtime
  2. Illusions of control- exaggerated self confidence in ability to 'beat the system' and influence chance
  3. Near miss bias - unsuccessful outcome is close to a win. 'Not constantly losing but constantly nearly win’
  4. Recall bias - remember and overestimate wins while forgetting about losses
  5. Ritual bias - believe they are lucky or engage in superstitious behaviours
• Define the cognitive theory of gambling addiction?

  addicts have irrational beliefs about their ability to influence the outcome of random gambling events
• What is likely to cause relapse and explain why?

  • Lack of self-efficacy
  • Addicts resume gamblinh as they do not believe they are capable of giving up
  • Relapse reinforces their lack of self-efficacy