Centre for Gambling Research.
Centre for Applied Research & Innovation.
Psychol Addict Behav. 2018 Dec;32(8):961-971. doi: 10.1037/adb0000425. Epub 2018 Nov 26.
The "winner-loser effect" refers to a phenomenon in testosterone research where the outcome of a social competition induces increases (wins) and/or decreases (losses) in testosterone levels. Here, we sought to test to what extent changes in testosterone occur in response to gambling behavior. More specifically, we hypothesized that the winner-loser effect would extend to slot machine gambling as a solitary (noncompetitive) gambling activity in players who "anthropomorphized" the slot machine, thus treating the machine as a human opponent. Male participants ( = 113) were recruited into a quasi-experimental design involving 15 min of authentic slot machine gambling, incentivized by a $10 cash bonus for participants who finished in profit. In addition to salivary measures of testosterone, salivary cortisol and self-reported anthropomorphization of the slot machine were tested as potential moderators. Contrary to predictions, winning and losing slot machine sessions did not exert significant differential effects on testosterone, and this pattern was not moderated by cortisol levels or slot machine anthropomorphization. Exploratory analyses tested relationships between subjective gambling experiences in the sessions and testosterone change. Higher positive affect and flow predicted greater testosterone declines from pre- to postgambling. The testosterone results add to a growing literature on the boundary conditions of the winner-loser effect and inform future studies on testosterone reactivity in relation to gambling and disordered gambling. The tendency to anthropomorphize slot machines is a neglected cognitive distortion in gambling that merits further study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
“胜负效应”是指在睾丸激素研究中出现的一种现象，即社会竞争的结果会导致睾丸激素水平升高（胜利）和/或降低（失败）。在这里，我们试图测试睾丸激素的变化在多大程度上会因赌博行为而发生。更具体地说，我们假设胜负效应将扩展到老虎机赌博，因为对于将老虎机拟人化的玩家来说，老虎机是一种单独（非竞争）的赌博活动，他们将机器视为人类对手。招募了 113 名男性参与者参加一项准实验设计，包括 15 分钟的真实老虎机赌博，参与者在盈利的情况下可获得 10 美元的现金奖励。除了唾液睾丸激素测量外，还测试了唾液皮质醇和对老虎机的拟人化自我报告，作为潜在的调节因素。与预测相反，赢钱和输钱的老虎机游戏并没有对睾丸激素产生显著的差异影响，这种模式也不受皮质醇水平或老虎机拟人化的调节。探索性分析测试了这些游戏中主观赌博体验与睾丸激素变化之间的关系。较高的积极情绪和流畅感预示着从赌博前到赌博后的睾丸激素下降幅度更大。睾丸激素的结果增加了关于胜负效应的边界条件的不断增长的文献，并为未来与赌博和赌博障碍有关的睾丸激素反应性研究提供了信息。将老虎机拟人化的倾向是赌博中一种被忽视的认知扭曲，值得进一步研究。
