Toward an Integrative Behavioral Model of Gambling

Abstract

Although the activity of and the research on continues to grow every year, analysts have contributed minimally to the published literature. Theories of abound from social to neurological frameworks, yet empirical data supporting such tenets is less than overwhelming. The science of often seeks data first and theory later. As a result, in the absence of a large body of data, has yet to put forward a comprehensive theoretical account of behavior. Albeit limited, the behavioral data continue to emerge and collectively they begin to represent the foundation upon which a theory of may rest. The present paper proposes an integrated behavioral model of pathological gambling, based on data, and consistent within a naturalistic account of scientific inquiry. Keywords: Gambling, Delay Discounting, Verbal Behavior, Establishing Operation, Setting Event ********** The activity of has been a part of human cultures for thousands of years. It has been reported that the early Greeks gambled for food, soldiers cast dice for Jesus' belongings, and the founding fathers in the United States gambled regularly as a leisure-time activity. While is certainly not new in our culture, it appears quite clear that in modern times its prevalence is growing, especially in the United States (see Petry, 2005, for a recent review). In a recent report, Petry (2005) concluded the rate of pathological was likely between 1-2% worldwide. Although this percentage in relative terms may be small, in absolute terms it represents millions of people. This estimate also does not include problem gamblers, who display some symptoms of pathological but not enough to meet current criteria for pathology. In short, gambling, and the problems associated with it, affects many people. Researchers in the behavioral sciences have not ignored the study of gambling. For instance, a literature search conducted using PsychINFO on March 21, 2007, using the word gambling in a general keyword search identified 3,038 articles. However, upon cross-referencing gambling with experiment, the resulting number of articles was reduced to 154. A cross-referenced search of gambling and behavior analysis identified only 13 articles. While these analyses are cursory, they help highlight two glaring holes in the literature on gambling. Namely, very little of the research being conducted on is using experimental methodology and less yet is coming from the behavior-analytic perspective. There are numerous reasons for both these occurrences. For one, there are only a handful of researchers in the field of who identify as their primary research focus. Another issue is that in most locations, including nearly every state in the United States, laws governing make it nearly impossible to conduct reasonably valid experiments on (see Weatherly & Phelps, 2006, for a review of this issue). Additional reasons include the fact that, although the behavior-analytic perspective dominated the field of psychology in the middle of the last century, numerous competing theoretical perspectives exist today. Likewise, funding agencies charged with supporting research and theory on issues such as pathological gambling, although not necessarily anti-behavioral, are populated by individuals from these other perspectives. Obviously, if the of is to be a successful approach, then these reasons need to be faced and rectified. The purpose of the present paper is several-fold. First, it is designed to give an overview of the behavioral perspective on to date. This overview is not comprehensive, partially because such reviews exist elsewhere (e.g., see Ghezzi, Lyons, Dixon, & Wilson, 2006). However, it should serve to orient the reader to the behavioral perspective. …