Date of Award
12-1-2015
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Behavior Analysis and Therapy
First Advisor
Dixon, Mark
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate response allocation amongst two concurrently available computerized slot machines, one dispensing Losses Disguised as Wins (LDWs) while the other did not. Both payouts were equal in the beginning and became consistently worst for the LDW machine by lowering the payout each phase. LDWs are slot machine outcomes, participants bet on a slot machine and win back less than their wager. This may be a problem because participants may react to LDWs as a win, misleading the participant to think they are winning more than they actually are. In the present study the LDW outcome payout started at 80 percent payback and decrease by 20 percent each phase and non LDW, maintained at 400 percent payback over 12 percent of the trials. Twenty individuals were recruited by the researcher. Results indicated that a higher percentages of spins were allocated to the machine dispensing LDW. These results suggest that gamblers have a preference for LDW machines because of the reinforcement of the misleading factors that may indicated a win. Keywords: Gambling, LDW, slot machine, visual basic
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