Session Title

Poster Session

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Location

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

Start Date

24-5-2023 10:30 AM

End Date

24-5-2023 11:15 AM

Disciplines

Personality and Social Contexts

Abstract

Abstract

Dispositional Greed refers to a person's innate traits and capacity for greed. Researchers can separate the influence of personality from that of the environment on greedy behavior using the Dispositional Greed Scale. Prior research has not yet explored dispositional greed in relation to problem gambling, and whether it is predictive of problem gambling above and beyond the dark traits (i.e., psychopathy [callousness and cynicism], Machiavellianism [strategic exploitation and deception], and narcissism [inflated sense of one’s own importance]). Thus, the present study aims at investigating dispositional greed with the scope of the dark traits to yield an application that sufficiently forecasts expectancy and risk of problem gambling.

An online survey was given to gamblers (N = 709; 59.2% male; M = 40.4 years; SD = 12.8) recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Using the multiple regression analysis, the results showed that greed and two sinister characteristics—psychopathy and Machiavellianism—significantly influenced the degree of problem gambling. Indicating that a person's problem gambling severity increases when they have a stronger dispositional trait for psychopathy or greed, however the opposite is true for the Machiavellianism trait, in that the problem gambling scores declined as Machiavellianism grew.

The present study is one of the few exploratory research projects that probe into the inclusion of dispositional greed in the dark triads' list of factors that increase the probability of problem gambling. Findings add to our understanding of risky gambling behaviors and suggest that further study on the part of dispositional greed is necessary. Additionally, it identifies a potential point of intervention and prevention for harmful gambling behavior.

Keywords

Gambling, Greed, Dark Traits, Problem gambling

Author Bios

Egbe Peter is a master's candidate and aspiring doctoral candidate in Texas Tech University's Addictive Disorders and Recovery Studies program. At the Federal University of Technology in Owerri, Imo state, Nigeria, he earned his undergraduate degree in public health. He is assisting Dr. Devin Mills in his research as his assistant. His current research efforts involve examining the motivational mechanisms behind substance use and gambling. His research interests are behavioral addictions and substance use.

Uibin Lee is a doctoral student in Addictive Disorders and Recovery Studies at Texas Tech University. He received his master's degree in Psychology at Handong University, South Korea. He worked as a counselor at Korea Problem gambling agency. He is working as a research assistant with Dr. Devin Mills. His research interest are substance use and behavioral addictions, with the Self-determination framework. His current research projects include exploring motivational processes underlying alcohol use and gambling.

Dr. Devin J. Mills is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community, Family, and Addiction Sciences at Texas Tech University. His research explores the development of substance use disorders and behavioral addictions, specifically video gaming and gambling disorder, from social and personality psychological frameworks. In addition to studying the development of addictions, Dr. Mills also researches the factors that promote and sustain individuals' recovery from addiction.

Funding Sources

None

Competing Interests

None

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May 24th, 10:30 AM May 24th, 11:15 AM

Dispositional Greed, Dark Trait, and Problem Gambling

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

Abstract

Dispositional Greed refers to a person's innate traits and capacity for greed. Researchers can separate the influence of personality from that of the environment on greedy behavior using the Dispositional Greed Scale. Prior research has not yet explored dispositional greed in relation to problem gambling, and whether it is predictive of problem gambling above and beyond the dark traits (i.e., psychopathy [callousness and cynicism], Machiavellianism [strategic exploitation and deception], and narcissism [inflated sense of one’s own importance]). Thus, the present study aims at investigating dispositional greed with the scope of the dark traits to yield an application that sufficiently forecasts expectancy and risk of problem gambling.

An online survey was given to gamblers (N = 709; 59.2% male; M = 40.4 years; SD = 12.8) recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Using the multiple regression analysis, the results showed that greed and two sinister characteristics—psychopathy and Machiavellianism—significantly influenced the degree of problem gambling. Indicating that a person's problem gambling severity increases when they have a stronger dispositional trait for psychopathy or greed, however the opposite is true for the Machiavellianism trait, in that the problem gambling scores declined as Machiavellianism grew.

The present study is one of the few exploratory research projects that probe into the inclusion of dispositional greed in the dark triads' list of factors that increase the probability of problem gambling. Findings add to our understanding of risky gambling behaviors and suggest that further study on the part of dispositional greed is necessary. Additionally, it identifies a potential point of intervention and prevention for harmful gambling behavior.