Hierarchy of Gambling Choices: A Framework for Examining EGM Gambling Environment Preferences

This paper presents the Hierarchy of Gambling Choices (HGC), which is a consumer-oriented framework for understanding the key environmental and contextual features that influence peoples’ selections of online and venue-based electronic gaming machines (EGMs). The HGC framework proposes that EGM gamblers make choices in selection of EGM gambling experiences utilising Tversky’s (Psychol Rev 79(4):281–299, 1972). Elimination-by-Aspects model, and organise their choice in a hierarchical manner by virtue of EGMs being an “experience good” (Nelson in J Polit Econ 78(2):311–329, 1970). EGM features are divided into three levels: the platform—including, online, mobile or land-based; the provider or specific venue in which the gambling occurs; and the game or machine characteristics, such as graphical themes and bonus features. This framework will contribute to the gambling field by providing a manner in which to systematically explore the environment surrounding EGM gambling and how it affects behaviour.     

Effects of Exogenous and Endogenous Distracters on Immediate and Long‐Term Recall in Toddlers

We explored the role that exogenous and endogenous competitors for attention play in infants’ abilities to encode and retain information over a 6‐month period. Sixty‐six children visited the laboratory at 15 months, and 32 returned for a second visit at 21 months. Children observed models of conventional‐ relation and enabling‐relation action sequences. Half the children were distracted by a “Mister Monkey” mechanical toy during the conventional‐relation sequence, while the other half was distracted during the enabling‐relation sequence. The Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire indexed endogenous factors at both ages. Immediate postmodel production of target actions indexed encoding efficiency, and 6‐month production of target actions indexed long‐term recall. The exogenous distracter impacted encoding efficiency (i.e., immediate recall), but not long‐term recall. Endogenous factors (i.e., temperament) were primarily associated with long‐term recall. Of special interest was our finding that endogenous factors, especially surgency, moderated the effect of the exogenous distracter. It appears that when learning conventional‐relation sequences in the presence of exogenous distracters, surgency mobilizes attentional resources toward the learning objective; however, when learning enabling‐relation sequences under the same conditions, surgency either boosts the saliency of the distracters or boosts children’s susceptibility to them.     

Poverty,exclusion and child protection practice: the contribution of ‘the politics of recognition&respect’

The affective dimensions of poverty, including the impact of wider policy discourses and services that ‘other’ and shame people in poverty, are increasingly recognized. In response, Lister [(2013). Power, not Pity: Poverty and Human Rights. Ethics and Social Welfare, 7(2), 109–123] advocates for ‘a politics of recognition&respect’ that centralizes the voices, participation and lived experiences of those who live in poverty. This paper considers how applying Lister’s theory could improve child protection (CP) social work in England, from a human rights and social justice perspective. The paper draws on findings from an ATD Fourth World participatory research project aimed at updating the course content for a pre-existing social worker training module on poverty awareness. The project brings together families with experience of poverty and CP interventions, social work practitioners and academics.     

Family group conferences: evidence,outcomes and future research

This is the second article of a two‐part review of the literature relating to family group conferences (FGCs); it explores outcomes and challenges in implementing FGCs. The complex data relating to outcomes, drawing on a range of national contexts, is presented. The challenges of researching outcomes and the role of longitudinal and randomized, controlled trials are considered. The article concludes with a discussion of the implementation of FGC policy and practice in the contemporary context.     

Responding to the Psychological Context of Extreme Poverty: Using Cash Transfers to Stimulate Productive Investment Decisions in Bangladesh

The extreme poor in Bangladesh suffer from a particularly severe form of multidimensional poverty. Despite opportunities for investment made available by approaches such as microfinance, which could ensure future subsistence and graduation from poverty, the extreme poor continue to under-invest in long-term income-generating activities. This continued prioritisation of immediate needs perpetuates poverty, and often leads to its intergenerational transfer. While the evolving debate on multidimensional poverty has helped to unpack the structural causes behind this investment behaviour, very little literature has sought to understand the decision process itself. In this paper, we argue that investment decisions by the extreme poor are shaped by the psychological context of life in extreme poverty. We propose a psychological model of how extreme poverty—which is multidimensional as well as commonly chronic—affects the decision-making context of the individual, causing the future to be heavily discounted and inhibiting investment. The psychological impact of extreme poverty could be seen as an overarching and under-emphasised dimension of poverty itself due to its role in undermining the capability to invest, and impeding the long-term security of a household. We argue for a holistic approach to extreme poverty and wellbeing, involving a greater understanding that people’s own perceptions of agency and needs impact upon decision making for the present and the future, in this case specifically towards livelihood choices likely to stimulate productive gains. Using a case study of one demand-driven conditional cash transfer project in Bangladesh, we propose that the psychological context of extreme poverty must be addressed in order to stimulate investment. An analysis of the project’s success suggests that it was able to effectively promote investment by altering the context within which investment decisions were made. The paper concludes that effective poverty reduction programming must more directly address the psychological context of poverty and decision-making, and recommends that innovative choice architecture could provide one method of doing so.