Investigating the relationship between implicit memory associations and gambling
Date
2017
Authors
Russell, Gillian
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : Universtiy of Lethbridge, Department of Psychology
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis was to a) develop measures to capture and quantify
implicit memory associations in gambling, and b) identify the presence and magnitude of
these implicit associations as it relates to a person’s level of gambling involvement and
problem gambling. Study 1 involved the development and evaluation of two measures
assessing different aspects of implicit memory in a sample of 494 University of
Lethbridge undergraduate students. The first measure was a ‘word associates’ task
involving people’s immediate word associations for specific words, and the second
measure was a ‘behaviour associates’ task in which people indicate the automatic
behaviours or actions that come to mind with a certain word or phrase. In both situations
many of the words and phrases presented had potential gambling connotations. An
analysis of the performance of individual items in Study 1 helped guide the creation of
two shorter measures for Study 2. In Study 2 these shortened measures were
administered to a more nationally representative online panel sample of 3,078 Canadians
(oversampled for gambling involvement) and the results re-analyzed. The findings of
these two studies confirm that the presence and frequency of implicit gambling-related
associations increases to a significant degree as a person’s level of gambling involvement
and problem gambling increases. Future research is needed to better understand a)
whether these implicit associations precede gambling involvement or whether they are a
result of gambling involvement; b) their utility in helping identify problem gamblers in
denial; and c) their utility in both preventing problem gambling and predicting relapse.
Description
Keywords
gambling , implicit assessment methods , implicit memory associations , outcome-behaviour associations , problem gambling