Compulsive gamblers are too optimistic

In this blog, we regularly report on studies relating to compulsive gambling and their results – as for example in this article.
A team of neurologists led by Jean-Claude Dreher at Claude Bernard University’s Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, in Lyon, has recently discovered that compulsive gamblers suffer from “over-optimism”.
They used a rather simple experiment.
Participants in the experiment were divided into two groups of 20 men, one formed by compulsive gamblers and the other by healthy people.
Each individual in the two groups had to choose either to receive a sum of money or to bet, with the chance of doubling the initial amount.
To those who had gone for the first option, the CNC team offered a new choice, but with a less considerable (certain) gain.
To those who had chosen the second option, they offered a new choice involving a more considerable profit.
This process was repeated seven times.
The chances to win money were always different.
The study has demonstrated that compulsive gamblers choose to gamble more frequently than healthy people, both when there is a small or a high probability of winning.
It therefore confirms the theories of bias in probability judgment, as developed in the ‘70s, which suggest that compulsive gamblers regard certain events as highly probable, when they are in fact improbable.
The strength of this experiment is that it simplifies the procedures previously used – this should help manage the disease, which is still not well known in gambling addiction centres, in a more efficient way.