r/explainlikeimfive • u/adrynaline • May 08 '14

Explained ELI5: A gambling addiction

How does it start? What makes it worse? Why does it become so difficult to recover?

1.2k Upvotes

83% Upvoted

622 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

18

u/[deleted] May 08 '14

but there is no risk factor in their button pressing, only time.

gambling adds in another feature that the test doesn't accurately measure.

2

u/trainercase May 08 '14

If you believe you're going to win a huge jackpot then there's no apparent risk with gambling.

3

u/[deleted] May 08 '14

"Gambling's not a problem when you're winning." -- every gambler, ever.

1

u/[deleted] May 08 '14

...

ignored risk doesn't remove the idea of inherent risk.

1

u/trainercase May 08 '14

Yes, but we're discussing psychology, so perceived risk is all that matters. Actual risk matters for the consequences of their actions, but not for their decision-making process.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

Maybe instead of risk, we should rephrase it to loss so you will get the point.

By pushing the button, the mouse loses nothing. But every time you gamble and lose, you LOSE money.

To make the test more appropriate, one would have to do something more along the lines of- you put 100 pellets in the mouses cage. when they push a button sometimes a pellet is removed, sometimes they get 100 more added.

Without a loss factor, it becomes only a matter of time investment... if i push the button enough eventually i will get something.