Cognitive processes underlying lottery and sports gambling decisions: The role of stated probabilities and background knowledge

Two studies compared choice and underlying cognitive processes in equivalent decision tasks involving risk and uncertainty (lotteries versus sports gambles including displayed expert probability judgements). In sports gambles, background knowledge was triggered via information on team location, home or away. Otherwise, displayed risk information (stake, winnings, odds, and outcome probabilities) was controlled across gamble type. In a choice study, home win bets were chosen significantly more frequently than draws or away wins, compared to lottery equivalents. In a parallel study eliciting concurrent verbal protocols, participants made fewer evaluations of odds and probabilities, and more statements involving background knowledge in sports gambles. Furthermore, some sports gamble protocols indicated modifications of stated probabilities and decision strategies contingent on domain knowledge. It was concluded that stated probability revision and knowledge-based reasoning are key cognitive processes in sports gambling not normally applied in the lottery paradigms often employed in decision research.     

Resemblance and general terms

Philosophical Studies -     

Interactions between conditioned stimuli for food and water in the rat

In two experiments rats were initially trained with one conditioned stimulus (CS) signalling food and another CS signalling water. The main purpose of the experiments was to examine the effects of presenting these stimuli in compound. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the level of conditioned responding to this compound was equal to that of a group for which the compound was composed of elements that had separately signalled the same reinforcer. Moreover, the level of this responding was greater than for a group that had received only compound conditioning. In the second experiment it was found that after the initial training, repeatedly pairing the compound with a single reinforcer resulted in an equivalent loss of conditioned responding to both elements. These findings suggest that the interaction between conditioned stimuli for food and water is facilitatory rather than inhibitory.     

Definition and Measurement of Sexual Orientation

Measurement and definition of sexual orientations have increasingly become a central focus in both research design and public policy debates. This paper reviews major methods, and their theoretical underpinnings, for the definition and measurement of sexual orientations, highlighting their limitations and pitfalls, both practical and conceptual. The increasing politicization of this area is discussed and cautioned against. Recommendations, both general and geared toward measurement concerns with adolescent populations, are made. A specific measurement strategy, which can be utilized at a number of different levels, is detailed.