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Effects of Impulsivity, Reinforcement Sensitivity, and Cognitive Style on Pathological Gambling Symptoms Among Frequent Slot Machine Players ⇑ Vance V

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Effects of Impulsivity, Reinforcement Sensitivity, and Cognitive Style on Pathological Gambling Symptoms Among Frequent Slot Machine Players ⇑ Vance V Personality and Individual Differences 52 (2012) 390–394 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid Effects of impulsivity, reinforcement sensitivity, and cognitive style on Pathological Gambling symptoms among frequent slot machine players ⇑ Vance V. MacLaren , Jonathan A. Fugelsang, Kevin A. Harrigan, Michael J. Dixon Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Problem Gambling Lab, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1 article info abstract Article history: Pathological Gambling (PG) is the inability to resist recurrent urges to gamble excessively despite harmful Received 30 April 2011 consequences to the gambler or others. A cognitive-behavioral Pathways Model of PG (Blaszczynski & Received in revised form 10 October 2011 Nower, 2002) suggests individual differences in rash impulsivity and reward sensitivity, together with a Accepted 26 October 2011 cognitive style that promotes poor decision making, as risk factors. These individual differences were exam- Available online 17 November 2011 ined in a community sample of experienced slot machine players (N = 100), who were classified into Low, Moderate, and Problem gambling groups according to the Problem Gambling Severity Index (Ferris & Wyn- Keywords: ne, 2001). There were significant group differences on rash impulsivity as measured by the Eysenck Impul- Gamblers sivity scale, and on reward sensitivity as measured by the BIS/BAS Drive scale. For cognitive style, there were Pathological Gambling Pathways Model differences on Actively Openminded Thinking (AOT), but not the Rational Experiential Inventory. Hierarchi- Cognitive style cal regression analyses found that impulsivity and AOT predicted severity of PG, but that AOT mediated the Impulsivity effect of BAS Drive. A thinking style that promotes erroneous cognition may correlate with PG, but individ- Reinforcement sensitivity ual differences in rash impulsivity and reward-seeking play a more critical role in the etiology of PG. The individual characteristics of Pathological Gamblers are similar to those of people with Substance Use Disorders. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction losses. This is due to faulty decision making that leads to desperate ‘‘chasing’’ of lost money: Pathological Gambling (PG) is the inability to resist recurrent urges to gamble excessively despite harmful consequences to the As the frequency of gambling increases, strong biased and dis- gambler or others. The most influential account of the phenome- torted cognitive schemas appear. These schemas shape beliefs non is the Pathways Model of Problem and Pathological Gambling surrounding attribution, personal skill and control over out- (Blaszczynski & Nower, 2002). According to this theory, ‘‘Operant come, biased evaluations, erroneous perceptions, superstitious conditioning occurs when intermittent wins delivered on a vari- thinking and probability theory. The potency and pervasiveness able ratio produce states of arousal often described as equivalent of distorted and irrational cognitive belief structures strengthen to a drug induced high.’’, and once the habit of gambling is ac- with increasing levels of involvement in gambling (p. 491). quired, ‘‘Attempts to resist completing the habit provoke a state of aversive arousal experienced as a drive, compulsion or urge to Thus, the Pathways Model proposes two distinct phases of PG: an carry out the behavior.’’ (p. 491). This learning mechanism implies acquisition phase marked by habit formation through conditioning, that clinical PG symptoms should be increased among people who and a maintenance phase characterized by irrational decision-mak- gamble frequently, who are motivated strongly by the excitement ing. The focus of the present paper is on individual differences in per- of winning, and who have weak control over their compulsion to sonality and cognitive style that may elevate vulnerability to clinical gamble excessively. Disinhibition of the gambling habit involves PG symptoms among people who gamble frequently. It was pre- both reward seeking and rash impulsivity, and in this regard the dicted that PG symptoms would be positively correlated with re- Pathways Model is consistent with the 2-Component Approach ward sensitivity and impulsivity because those traits should to Reinforcing Substances model of addiction (Gullo, Ward, Dawe, facilitate acquisition, and be negatively correlated with a rational Powell, & Jackson, 2011). cognitive style necessary for effective decision-making. The Pathways Model also proposes a complex set of cognitive mechanisms that promote persistent gambling despite recurring 1.1. The personality of Pathological Gamblers ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 (519) 888 4567x37181. The personality of Pathological Gamblers is characterized by E-mail address: [email protected] (V.V. MacLaren). Negative Affective and Disinhibitory traits, including facets of 0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.10.044 V.V. MacLaren et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 52 (2012) 390–394 391 impulsivity (MacLaren, Fugelsang, Harrigan, & Dixon, 2011). This than nonproblem gamblers on a subset of 8 items from the REI Ra- combination may form an externalizing dimension of psychopa- tional scale. The Pathological Gamblers also scored higher on the thology (Markon, Krueger, & Watson, 2005; Widiger, 2011) that Eysenck Impulsivity scale (I7; Eysenck, Pearson, Easting, & Allsopp, may be expressed as PG, as Substance Use Disorders (Kotov, Ga- 1985), and lower on the Consideration of Future Consequences mez, Schmidt, & Wilson, 2010), and in other behaviors that reflect scale (CFC; Strathman, Gleicher, Boninger, & Edwards, 1994), Antisocial or Borderline features (Samuel & Widiger, 2008). These which measures delay nondiscounting. meta-analytic findings are consistent with the Pathways Model in its assertion of a specific subtype of ‘‘Antisocial Impulsivist’’ 1.3. The present study Pathological Gambler with elevated risk compared to those who are merely ‘‘Behaviorally Conditioned’’ but without personality Rash impulsivity and reward sensitivity are separate traits pathology (Milosevic & Ledgerwood, 2010). (Cross, Copping, & Campbell, 2011) that have independent effects Impulsive antisociality is a dimension of psychopathy (Ross, on PG (Loxton et al., 2008). Although Toplak et al. (2007) found ef- Benning, Patrick, Thompson, & Thirston, 2009), which reflects the fects of cognitive style and rash impulsivity, the placement of re- maladjustment of brain systems that control learning to seek re- ward sensitivity within the constellation of cognitive style and wards and to fear punishments (Corr, 2010; Fowles, 1988; Lykken, impulsive traits has not been characterized among frequent gam- 1995). According to the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of per- blers. We examined rash impulsivity and reward sensitivity along sonality (RST; Gray & McNaughton, 2000), the neuropsychological with cognitive style as predictors of PG symptoms in a community substrate of excessive reward seeking is the Behavioral Approach sample of people who were at risk for PG because they play slot System (BAS), which consists of the mesolimbic and mesocortical machines frequently. dopaminergic systems (Gray & McNaughton, 2000). The Fight- Flight-Freeze and Behavioral Inhibition Systems (BIS) mediate affective and behavioral responses to threat and response conflict, 2. Method and include the amygdala and septo-hippocampal structures. Exposure to unusually powerful sources of reward (e.g. winning 2.1. Participants large prizes) may sensitize the BAS and feedback positively into a compulsive pattern of addictive behavior (Koob & Le Moal, 2008; Participants were 50 men and 50 women aged 19–82 years Robinson & Berridge, 2000). (M = 38.7, SD = 15.96). They were recruited using advertisements Reward sensitivity is a critical component of disinhibition in PG. on a local classified advertisements website that requested ‘‘expe- In student samples, BAS Drive (Carver & White, 1994) correlates rienced slots players who gamble at least twice a month’’. To insure positively with time and money spent gambling (O’Connor, Stew- equivalent numbers of men and women with Low, Moderate, and art, & Watt, 2009), and Sensitivity to Reward (Torrubia, Avila, Mol- Problem gambling symptoms, 29 community respondents who to, & Caseras, 2001) correlates positively with PG symptoms had recently participated in a separate experiment in our lab were (Mercer & Eastwood, 2010). Clinical studies of Pathological Gam- invited to also be in the present study. According to scores on the blers have found higher BAS (Goudriaan, Oosterlaan, deBeurs, & PGSI, the sample included 33 Low gamblers, 33 Moderate gam- van den Brink, 2006), and Sensitivity to Reward (Loxton, Nguyen, blers, and 34 Problem gamblers. Casey, & Dawe, 2008) compared to nonpathological gamblers. In experimental studies, high BAS predicts risky decision-making 2.2. Procedure (Franken & Muris, 2005; Suhr & Tsanadis, 2007) in the Iowa Gam- bling Task (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Lee, 1999) and on a com- All procedures were approved by the University of Waterloo Of- puterized dice game (Kim & Lee, 2011), as well as higher wagers on fice of Research Ethics. After reading a detailed explanation of the simulated slot machines (Brunborg, Johnsen, Mentzoni, Molde, & study and signing a declaration of informed
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