Cue-Reactive Rationality,Visual Imagery and Volitional Control Predict Cue-Reactive Urge to Gamble in Poker-Machine Gamblers

Poker-machine gamblers have been demonstrated to report increases in the urge to gamble following exposure to salient gambling cues. However, the processes which contribute to this urge to gamble remain to be understood. The present study aimed to investigate whether changes in the conscious experience of visual imagery, rationality and volitional control (over one’s thoughts, images and attention) predicted changes in the urge to gamble following exposure to a gambling cue. Thirty-one regular poker-machine gamblers who reported at least low levels of problem gambling on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), were recruited to complete an online cue-reactivity experiment. Participants completed the PGSI, the visual imagery, rationality and volitional control subscales of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), and a visual analogue scale (VAS) assessing urge to gamble. Participants completed the PCI subscales and VAS at baseline, following a neutral video cue and following a gambling video cue. Urge to gamble was found to significantly increase from neutral cue to gambling cue (while controlling for baseline urge) and this increase was predicted by PGSI score. After accounting for the effects of problem-gambling severity, cue-reactive visual imagery, rationality and volitional control significantly improved the prediction of cue-reactive urge to gamble. The small sample size and limited participant characteristic data restricts the generalizability of the findings. Nevertheless, this is the first study to demonstrate that changes in the subjective experience of visual imagery, volitional control and rationality predict changes in the urge to gamble from neutral to gambling cue. The results suggest that visual imagery, rationality and volitional control may play an important role in the experience of the urge to gamble in poker-machine gamblers.     

Forthcoming in Sociological Forum

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Forthcoming in Sociological Forum     

Salesmen,Saleswomen, or Sales Workers? Determinants of the Sex Composition of Sales Occupations

This study examines determinants of occupational sex composition in an expanding area of the economy—sales occupations. We used census data to determine which worker and occupational characteristics predicted the percentage of women in sales occupations in 1980 and in 1990, and which variables contributed to changes in the percentage of women in sales occupations over time. Although sales occupations experienced a disproportionate decline in occupational sex segregation during the 1980s, we found that the same variables predicted the percentage of women in sales occupations in both 1980 and 1990. Average years of schooling, average hourly pay, the percentage of unemployed workers, and the percentage of self-employed workers influenced the percentage of female workers in sales occupations in 1980 and in 1990, both for cross-sectional and dynamic models. In addition, a worker characteristic index that combines percentage White, percentage married, and average age of workers shows surprising effects on the percentage of women in sales occupations. We discuss the implications of these findings for occupational sex segregation, and suggest that a multidimensional queuing perspective offers the most useful interpretation of our results.