Séminaire CNC.

Yin Wu, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge

Gambling is a common form of entertainment where a monetary wager is placed upon the uncertain prospect of a larger monetary win. Its allure can provide insights into the psychological mechanisms (and weaknesses) of human decision-making. Previous studies have shown that certain features of the gambling scenario cause gamblers to over-estimate their chances of winning. For instance, the availability of near-wins (i.e. narrowly missing out on a jackpot) is experienced as aversive but increases motivation to play (Clark et al., 2009). Since potential losses tend to have a greater impact than equivalent gains (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979), the response to near events may differ if one narrowly misses the jackpot (i.e. near-wins) compared to narrowly missing a major penalty (i.e. near-losses). In this talk, I will first show differential effects of near-wins and near-losses on psychophysiological reactivity (Wu, van Dijk, Clark, 2015), and then propose a counterfactual mechanism to account for the near-miss effect (Wu & Clark, 2015). The final aim is to generalize the near-miss effect from gambling into social competition, and its neuroendocrinological process.