AUTHOR=Bibby Peter A. 

TITLE=Loss-Chasing, Alexithymia, and Impulsivity in a Gambling Task: Alexithymia as a Precursor to Loss-Chasing Behavior When Gambling

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00003

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00003

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> To examine the relationship between loss-chasing, the propensity to continue gambling to recover from losses, alexithymia, a personality trait associated poor emotional processing and impulsivity, the tendency to act quickly without reflection or consideration of the consequences.</p><p><bold>Method:</bold> Two experiments are reported (E1: <italic>N</italic> = 60, Males, 11; Age, 21.6 years. E2: <italic>N</italic> = 49, Males, 22; Age, 21.1 years). In experiment 1, two groups (low alexithymia, high alexithymia) completed the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT). Loss-chasing behavior was investigated. In experiment 2, both alexithymia (low, high) and impulsivity (low, high) were examined also using the CGT. A further change was the order of bet proportion from ascending to descending.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Experiment 1 shows loss-chasing behavior in participants high in alexithymia but not those low in alexithymia (<inline-formula><mml:math id="M1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msubsup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>η</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msubsup><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0</mml:mn><mml:mo>.</mml:mo><mml:mn>09</mml:mn></mml:math></inline-formula>). Experiment 2 shows loss-chasing behavior in participants both low and high in alexithymia but it was greater for participants high in alexithymia (<inline-formula><mml:math id="M2" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msubsup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>η</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msubsup></mml:math></inline-formula> = 0.09). The effect of impulsivity was not statistically significant (<inline-formula><mml:math id="M3" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msubsup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>η</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msubsup></mml:math></inline-formula> = 0.01). Loss-chasing behavior was correlated with the emotional facets of alexithymia but not the cognitive facet.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> Alexithymia is a precursor to loss-chasing when gambling and loss-chasing reflects the cognitive and emotional aspects of gambling. Specifically, the tendency to loss-chase depends on the need to recoup previous losses and failure to process the emotional consequences of those losses.</p>