Lay and scientific conceptualizations of impaired control at electronic gambling machines

Abstract

How do experts in the field of gambling and lay people represent the notion of impaired control (IC) on electronic gambling machines? This study included 37 international experts on gambling, 34 non-pathological gamblers and 32 pathological gamblers. Participation took place in the form of focus groups for gamblers and on the Internet for experts. The mixed methodology of concept mapping was used for comparing the representation of IC by the different groups. It relied on multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Qualitative and quantitative analysis revealed an important similarity between experts’ and gamblers’ representation of IC. When respondents were asked about IC, they referred essentially to excessive gambling, irrational cognitions surrounding gambling and negative consequences following excessive gambling. Although considered as central in the conceptualization of problem gambling and often relied upon in clinical practice, IC is not a straightforward and unidimensional concept. Therefore, it needs to be explicitly operationalized and clearly articulated when used in research.

• Impaired control
• conceptualization
• gambling
• concept mapping

Notes

Notes

1. The word “control” has been used in the field of psychology to refer to a wide number of constructs. We refer the interested reader to Skinner (1996) who elaborated a framework for classifying these constructs of control.

2. In prevalence studies, gamblers endorsing the number of criteria required for pathological gambling are frequently described as “probable pathological gamblers”, because the gambler status has not been confirmed with a clinical evaluation (National Research Council 1999). For the sake of conciseness, we will adopt the shorter “pathological gambler” (PG) terminology in this article.

3. In the Greek mythology, Procrustes was a robber known for stretching or mutilating the unfortunate travellers who accepted his shelter and did not conform to his beds’ size (“Procrustes” 1989). According to Sibson (1978), Hurley and Cattel coined the term to a particular statistical analysis in 1962.