Fallacious beliefs: gambling specific and belief in the paranormal

This thesis presents a series of studies investigating two types of fallacious belief: gambling fallacies (GF) and paranormal beliefs (PB). The first study identifies the errors that constitute GF and critically evaluates instruments designed to measure them. The second study re-evaluates the etiological role of GF in problem gambling using an improved instrument in a longitudinal dataset with results indicating that GF do contribute to problematic gambling, but to a lesser extent than previously supposed and in a bidirectional manner. The third study examines factors associated with susceptibility to GF and compares them to those associated with PB. A very similar set were predictive of both, with most being inherently malleable. The final study, a systematic review, evaluates the efficacy of interventions designed to reduce PB with results indicating that direct examination of the evidentiary basis of PB appears to be effective, although the generalizability of this effect remains uncertain.

Author

• Leonard, Carrie A.

• Compulsive gambling
• Compulsive gamblers
• Gambling systems
• Games of chance (Mathematics)
• Belief change
• Critical thinking
• Fallacies (Logic)
• Parapsychology -- Social aspects
• Parapsychology and science
• Chance -- Psychological aspects
• erroneous beliefs
• gambling fallacies
• individual differences
• paranormal belief
• problem gambling

Identifier

hdl:10133/5107

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/5107