When Loss Reward: The Near-Miss Effect in Slot Machine Gamblin

An intriguing feature of near-miss outcomes in slot-machine gambling is that, while they are objectively losses, they motivate further play. The “near-miss effect” contradicts standard reinforcement theory in which failure should punish, rather than reward, responding. This critical review first examines neurophysiological research which seeks correlates and perhaps causes of this effect. The search for a neurophysiological substrate reveals that near-misses recruit similar reward-orientated brain regions to those involved in wins. However, two additional research traditions complicate this picture. The first seeks “cognitive distortions” that are held to motivate further play in the face of near-misses. The second claims that contextual factors, inherent in the programming of the machines and the physical arrangement of gambling milieux, modify responses to near-miss outcomes. A recurring theme in all research traditions is the role of a possible source of reinforcement separate from the effect of monetary wins and a potential link between this secondary reinforcement and arousal in players. The paper seeks to diversify the context of slot-machine gambling by arguing that that it is a form of consumer behavior and, as such, influenced by “informational” or symbolic reinforcement as well as by “utilitarian” or functional reinforcement. It compares the behavior of slotmachine gamblers and its consequences with those of economic consumers generally and proposes a framework within which the near-miss phenomenon can be comprehended

Intentional behaviorism revisited

ABSTRACT: The central fact in the delineation of radical behaviorism is its conceptual avoidance of propositional content. This eschewal of the intentional stance sets it apart not only from cognitivism but from other neo-behaviorisms. Indeed, the defining characteristic of radical behaviorism is not that it avoids mediating processes per se but that it sets out to account for behavior without recourse to propositional attitudes. Based, rather, on the contextual stance, it provides definitions of contingency-shaped, rule-governed verbal and private behaviors which are non-intentional. However, while the account provided by radical behaviorism fulfills the pragmatic criteria of prediction and control of its subject matter, it has problems of explanation that stem from the failure of radical behaviorist interpretation to address the personal level of analysis, to provide for the continuity of behavior, and to show how its accounts can be delimited in the face of causal equifinality. This leaves gaps in its explanation that radical behaviorists choose either to ignore or to fill with the very intentional locutions that they formally abhor but which I argue are essential. As a result, many psychologists who style themselves radical behaviorists have already moved beyond radical behaviorism as a philosophy of science. They have done so primarily as a result of adopting the language of intentional psychology in order to explain behavior; where they have not done this, they have resorted to the unscientific assumption that somewhere there is a learning history that explains their data. While it is indeed the case that a learning history precedes all operant behavior, the explanatory gap that is revealed by the search for this unobtainable information reveals the inescapability of intentionality. Hence, psychologists, including radical behaviorists, are right to employ it. The challenge is to understand why this is so and to celebrate rather than denigrate the resulting extension of behavioral science. In this response

The neurophysiological behavioural perspective model and its contribution to the intentional behaviourist research programme

Cognitive explanations raise epistemological problems not faced by accounts confined to observable variables. Many explanatory components of cognitive models are unobservable: beliefs, attitudes, and intentions, for instance, must be made empirically available to the researcher in the form of measures of observable behavior from which the latent variables are inferred. The explanatory variables are abstract and theoretical and rely, if they are to enter investigations and explanations, on reasoned agreement on how they can be captured by proxy variables derived from what people say and how they behave. Psychometrics must be founded upon a firm, intersubjective agreement among researchers and users of research on the relationship of behavioral measures to the intentional constructs to which they point and the latent variables they seek to operationalize. Only if these considerations are adequately addressed can we arrive at consistent interpretations of the data. This problem provides the substance of the intentional behaviorist research programme which seeks to provide a rationale for the cognitive explanation. Within this programme, two versions of the Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM), an extensional portrayal of socioeconomic behavior and a corresponding intentional approach, address the task of identifying where intentional explanation becomes necessary and the form it should take. This study explores a third version, based on neurophysiological substrates of consumer choice as a contributor to this task. The nature of “value” is closely related to the rationale for a neurophysiological model of consumer choice. The variables involved are operationally specified and measured with high intersubjective agreement. The intentional model (BPM-I), depicting consumer action in terms of mental processes such as perception, deliberation, and choice, extends the purview of the BPM to new situations and areas of explanation

Vaccine refusal: a preliminary interdisciplinary investigation

Many people who generally receive standard recommended inoculations refuse to partake of COVID-19 vaccines, preventatives that are effective, safe, and life-saving amidst the current pandemic. Our quest is to understand this puzzling and dangerous phenomenon, as it exists among US and UK citizens, whom in other respects would be regarded as quite regular. We will discuss Vaccine Refusal compared with two better understood phenomena: addiction, and akrasia, along with the related matters of human action, intention, agency, will, and identity. Vaccine Refusal, we will argue, appears to be rewarded by “informational reinforcement” leading to heightened arousal, along with increases in self-esteem resulting from “bucking the trend,” asserting one's “superior” understanding, and “tribal identity” in acting against social norms. These factors provide an overall reward amounting to satisfaction that outweighs the well-known consequences of COVID-19 infections. Our investigations will also lead us to a pair of epistemological hypotheses about two subtypes of the Vaccine Refusers under consideration here

The marketing firm and the consumer organization: a comparative analysis with special reference to charitable organizations

The accurate delineation of various forms of business organization requires a comparative analysis of their objectives, functions, and organizational structures. In particular, this paper highlights differences in managerial work between business firms and non-profits exemplified by the charitable organization. It adopts as its template the theory of the marketing firm, a depiction of the modern corporation as it responds to the imperatives of customer-oriented management, namely consumer discretion and consumer sophistication. It describes in §2 the essentials of the theory and its basis in consumer behavior analysis, and outlines its unique position as the organization responsible for marketing transactions, based on objective exchange, competitive markets and prices, and the deployment of the entire marketing mix. §3 deals in greater depth with the objective, strategic functions, and organization of the marketing firm in terms of the concepts of metacontingency and bilateral contingency. §4 discusses how the marketing firm differs from charities in terms of goal separation, market-based pricing and competition, the entrepreneurial (strategic) process, the pursuit of customer-oriented management, and organizational structure. Particular attention is accorded the organizational differences between marketing firms and charities, which arise as a direct consequence of the distinct patterns of contingency they entail. §5 discusses the implications of the foregoing analysis and draws appropriate conclusions

Building consumer understanding by utilizing a Bayesian hierarchical structure within the behavioral perspective model

This study further develops the theoretical and empirical literature on the Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM) in three ways through an empirical analysis of the Great Britain (GB) biscuit category. First, following a literature review and a category analysis, a more complex model is constructed using the BPM structure and then testing the hypothesis uncovered. Second, the structure of the data theoretically calls for a hierarchical structure of the model, and hence, this is introduced into the BPM framework and is compared to a non-hierarchical structure of the same model. Finally, a discussion is undertaken on the advantages of a Bayesian approach to calculating parameter inference. Two models are built by utilizing vague and informed prior distributions respectively, and the results are compared. This study shows the importance of building appropriate model structures for analysis and demonstrates the advantages and challenges of utilizing a Bayesian approach. It also further demonstrates the BPM’s suitability as a vehicle to better understand consumer behavio

Social media sites users' choice between utilitarian and informational reinforcers assessed using temporal discounting

Objective: This study provides a first approach to the use of the Multiple-Choice Procedure in social media networks use, as well as empirical evidence for the application of the Behavioral Perspective Model to digital consumption behavior in young users in conjunction with a methodology based on behavioral economics. Participants/methods: The participants were part of a large university in Bogotá, Colombia, and they received an academic credit once they completed the online questionnaire. A total of 311 participants completed the experiment. Of the participants, 49% were men with a mean age of 20.6 years (SD = 3.10, Range = 15–30); 51% were women with a mean age of 20.2 years (SD = 2.84, Range = 15–29). Results: Among the total participants, 40% reported that they used social networks between 1 and 2 h a day, 38% between 2 and 3 h, 16% for 4 h or more, and the remaining 9% used them for 1 h or less per day. The factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) allowed us to identify a statistically significant effect of the delay of the alternative reinforcer, that is, the average crossover points were higher when the monetary reinforcer was delayed 1 week, compared to the immediate delivery of the monetary reinforcer. There was no statistically significant effect of the interaction between the magnitude of the reinforcer and the delay time of the alternative reinforcer. Conclusions: This study supports the relative reinforcing value of an informational reinforcement consequence such as social media use, which is sensitive to both the magnitude of reinforcement and the delay in delivery as individual factors. The findings on reinforcer magnitude and delay effects are consistent with previous research that have applied behavioral economics to the study of non-substance-related addictions

The relationship between the firm's social media strategy and the consumers' engagement behavior in aviation

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How to grow brand post engagement on Facebook and Twitter for airlines? An empirical investigation of design and content factors

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