The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The WAGER, Vol. 3(13) - Alcohol's effect on risk-taking and mood (Experiment 2)

Last week’s WAGER (Volume 3, Issue 12) featured an experiment which found that intoxicated individuals perceive negative consequences from risky behaviors as less likely and future participation in these behaviors as more likely than do people who are sober. This week’s WAGER presents a second experiment in this study, which tested the same hypothesis but provided the study participants with more realistic methods for eliciting outcome expectancies about risk taking. The sample of 88 participants averaged 23.5 years of age and drank an average of 11.8 drinks per week. Participants were randomly assigned to drinking either water, alcohol (to BAC... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol. 3(12) - Alcohol's effect on risk-taking (Experiment 1)

Alcohol intoxication can lead to a number of changes in perception and behavior. For example, intoxicated individuals are more likely to use illicit drugs, engage in unprotected sex, or drive at dangerous speeds than sober people. Recently, researchers conducted controlled experiments to determine whether alcohol intoxication influences outcome expectancies. Outcome expectancies are beliefs about the potential positive and negative consequences of specific behavior. For example, if someone believes that heavy drinking leads to negative consequences (e.g., getting sick), that outcome expectancy may influence that person’s level of drinking. Or, when someone is intoxicated, that person might believe the negative consequences... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol. 3(11) - Why people gamble

Surveys conducted since 1974 consistently reveal that the majority of Americans have gambled in their lifetimes. Increased opportunities to gamble is certainly one of the reasons for the increased lifetime prevalence of gambling. A 1993 random telephone survey of 1522 adults across the U.S. questioned respondents about their motivation to gamble1. Respondents were given a list of reasons to choose from, and were permitted to choose as many reasons as they found applicable. Of the 937 (61.6%) adults who had gambled in the past 12 months, the most frequently reported reason for gambling was “to win money.” The next most... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol. 3(10) - Relationship between lottery sales and casino

When states that have non-casino forms of gambling opportunities decide to develop a casino, this decision rests on both economic and political grounds. One economist’s1 evaluation of a state’s gambling strategy examined the consequences of introducing casino gambling on lottery sales. McGowan suggests that states risk the possibility of “cannibalization” by introducing a new product in a market segment where they already have an existing product. “Cannibalization is the deterioration of one product’s sales as a result of the introduction of another product or, conversely, the increase in sales of one product (game) at the expense of another.”2 McGowan analyzed... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol. 3(9) - Self esteem among gamblers

Competing hypotheses exist regarding the self-esteem of gamblers. Some observers believe that problem gambling is an addictive behavior preceded by a state of low self-esteem. Others believe some gamblers' self-esteem is high due to their perceived expertise in gambling activities or inflated sense of skill, influence, and ego. It is also possible that gamblers maintain a high self-esteem until they begin gambling problematically, at which time the adverse consequences of that behavior lowers their self-esteem. A recent prevalence study which randomly sampled 1,551 adults in Georgia empirically examined the issue of gamblers' self-esteem1. Researchers measured self-esteem in this study with... Read more →