Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126, Milan, Italy.
J Gambl Stud. 2019 Jun;35(2):689-707. doi: 10.1007/s10899-018-9784-9.
Two studies tested whether social exclusion can increase gambling behavior. In Study 1, participants were asked to relive a socially painful instance, a physically painful instance or a control condition and were then presented with a real online gambling device (i.e., a slot machine). The results revealed that participants who relived a socially painful instance played longer on the gambling device. In Study 2, we induced actual feelings of social disconnection and manipulated slot machine anthropomorphization. The results revealed a significant interaction between inclusionary status and anthropomorphism in predicting gambling. More specifically, excluded participants gambled longer when presented with an anthropomorphized slot machine. However, the gambling behavior of excluded and included participants was no different when participants were reminded that slot machines are inanimate objects. Finally, positive and negative game experience mediated the influence of both inclusionary status and anthropomorphism on gambling. Overall, this research identifies another potential vulnerability produced by experiences of social exclusion, namely, gambling behavior. Implications for pathological gambling and future research directions are outlined.
两项研究测试了社会排斥是否会增加赌博行为。在研究 1 中，参与者被要求重温一个社交痛苦的情境、一个身体痛苦的情境或一个控制情境，然后给他们一个真实的在线赌博设备（即老虎机）。结果显示，重温社交痛苦情境的参与者在赌博设备上玩的时间更长。在研究 2 中，我们诱发了实际的社交脱节感，并操纵了老虎机的拟人化。结果显示，在预测赌博方面，包容状态和拟人化之间存在显著的交互作用。具体来说，当呈现拟人化的老虎机时，被排斥的参与者赌博时间更长。然而，当参与者被提醒老虎机是无生命的物体时，被排斥和包容的参与者的赌博行为没有区别。最后，积极和消极的游戏体验在包容状态和拟人化对赌博的影响中起中介作用。总的来说，这项研究发现了另一个可能由社会排斥经历引起的脆弱性，即赌博行为。对病态赌博和未来研究方向的影响进行了概述。
