Arousal and Sensation-Seeking Components in the General Explanation of Gambling and Gambling Addictions

Abstract

Following upon the first clear experimental evidence that states of high arousal accompany gambling in real-life situations, an attempt is made to clarify the implications of this new finding for the development of two possible forms of a neo-Pavlovian or classical conditioning addition to the traditional emphasis on operant conditioning in behavioral explanations of gambling. The explanatory scope and power of one (biological hedonist) version of the model is then demonstrated as applied to both normal regular and pathological gambling. The role of arousal and sensation-seeking factors is considered alongside the roles of other likely components in any possible general explanation of both regular and pathological gambling.