The Effects of Intuition and Attitudes Toward Gambling
on
ESP Performance During a Gambling Task
By Lance Storm
Department of Psychology University of Adelaide
(Investigator 85, 2002 July)
A psi experiment
was conducted in the Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide,
to test the tempering effects of attitudes towards various types of
gambling and the personality disposition 'Intuition' on ESP performance
in a card-identifying test set up as a gambling task. Individuals who
are supportive of gambling (specifically referring to successful
gamblers here) may be so oriented because they have certain
dispositions (i.e., positive attitudes towards gambling) which bring
about successful outcomes when they participate in gambling tasks (see
L. E. Rhine, 1967, for examples).
Gamblers who are
professional (assuming that they are generally successful) may also be
so because they are strongly influenced by their intuition. Of course,
there are those who lose habitually—the so-called 'problem gamblers',
and others have merely a social interest in gambling as a form of
harmless entertainment. These types may not be so strongly intuitive
(if at all).
Some research
into gambling using gambling scales has been carried out, and the
sociological and psychological issues associated with gambling are well
recognized, but no use whatsoever has been made of gambling scales as
predictors of paranormal ability. Only three studies were found that
featured psi tasks using gambling techniques (Brier & Tyminski,
1970; Don, McDonough, & Warren, 1998; Kugel, 1990-1991). None of
these studies used gambling scales.
Insofar as a
limited number of researchers have used participants in gambling
situations to test paranormal ability, it remains to be seen whether
gamblers per se (i.e.,
gamblers characterized as such on the basis of scores on gambling
scales) are predisposed towards gambling success (or failure), since,
as stated, no study yet has sought a relationship between attitude
towards gambling and paranormal ability.
The Pseudo-Gambling Experiment
Participants were first required to complete 2 scales:
1.
The Gambling Attitude Scales (GAS; Kassinove, 1998), which comprises
four subscales measuring attitude towards gambling in 'general',
'casino’, ‘horse-racing', and 'lotteries'.
2.
The Singer-Loomis (1996) Type Deployment Inventory (SL-TDI), which is a
personality test that measures Extraverted Intuition and Introverted
Intuition amongst other factors.
Participants
then participated in a 'pseudo-gambling' card-identifying test,
so-called because they were not required to make bets using their own
money, although the decisions they made in the task were made as if
they were gambling.
Each participant
was presented with a 5 x 5 array of playing cards facedown, which was
entirely covered over by a clear sheet of plastic (total number of
cards = 25). In a total of five trials (each row represents a trial),
participants were required to locate in each trial the Ace of Spades in
a 'hand' of five cards, all cards of which were face down so that their
faces could not be seen with the naked eye. For each trial, the
probability of getting a hit by chance is P = 0.20 (i.e., one in five).
In five trials, P = 1.00 (i.e., 5 x 0.20 = 1.00).
Participants
were instructed to use hunches, guesswork, their 'sixth sense', and any
other 'faculty’ or mode of behaviour or apprehension they considered
helpful in making a correct card selection. They were also informed
that they would win or lose according to those decisions. Participants
were free to stop the task at any time and take the winnings accrued as
of the time of cessation of the task. Structured this way, the
'pseudo-gambling' test took on the dynamism of a real gambling task
because the participant felt that s/he was 'winning' or 'losing'
without actually making a personal investment in the task. (Note that
placement of the aces of spades by the experimenter's assistants was a
random process involving the use of random number tables.)
Hypotheses
The following parapsychological hypotheses were proposed:
1. The number of correctly identified aces of spades (spade-hitting) is above chance (P = 1.00).
2.
There is a positive relationship between spade-hitting and each of the
four attitudes (as measured on the GAS): (i) attitude towards general
gambling; (ii) attitude towards horse racing; (iii) attitude towards
casino gambling; and (iv) attitude towards lotteries.
3. There is a positive relationship between (i) spade-hitting and Extraverted Intuition (EN), and (ii) spade-hitting and Introverted Intuition (IN).
Results
A total of 100
participants volunteered for the experiment. The majority of the sample
was comprised of University of Adelaide students, although 10
participants were members of PRISM International group (Paranormal
Research Investigation and Monitoring Services). All 100 participants
in the gambling experiment completed the GAS and SL-TDI scales, and
five trials each in the forced-choice component of the experiment.
Hypothesis 1:
The number of correctly identified aces of spades (spadehitting) is above chance (P = 1.00). The number of aces of spades was above chance (M = 1.02, SD 0.82), but it was not significant,
t(99) = .245, p = .807. The hypothesis was not supported.
Hypothesis 2:
There
is a positive relationship between spade-hitting and each of the four
attitudes (as measured on the GAS): (i) attitude towards general
gambling; (ii) attitude towards horse racing; (iii) attitude towards
casino gambling; and (iv) attitude towards lotteries:
(i) The relationship between spade-hitting and general gambling was not positive.
(ii) The relationship between spade-hitting and horse racing was positive, but it was extremely weak and not significant, r(98) = .04, p = .342, one-tailed (where p < .05 is considered significant).
(iii) The relationship between spade-hitting and casino gambling was not positive.
(iv) The relationship between spade-hitting and lotteries and was not positive.
Hypothesis 3:
There is a positive relationship between (i) spade-hitting and EN, and (ii) spade-hitting and IN. The relationship between spade-hitting and EN was positive, but not significant, r(98) = .09, p = .342, one-tailed. The relationship between spade-hitting and IN was positive, but not significant, r(98) = .13, p = .104, one-tailed.
A Reconsideration of the GAS (A Post Hoc Analysis)
The present
study sought to find relationships between scores on the subscales of
the GAS and psi performance. These relationships were thought to be
linear. However, from the non-significant results relevant to the GAS
subscales presented above (Hypothesis 2), there seemed to be good
reason to reconsider the GAS, with particular emphasis on the
underlying influence of gambling attitudes on the correlations tested
in this hypothesis.
It was
conjectured that extreme attitudes on gambling may inhibit other
functions, including the psi function—low scorers would have an
uncooperative attitude, which may interfere with psi, whereas high
scorers, even with a cooperative attitude, may suffer the negative
consequences of ‘heightened anxiety’ as a result of trying too hard
(for a similar case, see Broughton & Alexander, 1997).
'Moderate'
scores on the GAS scales, however, might reflect a type of individual
who is even-keeled on the subject of gambling. Such a participant, free
from the constraints of bias for or against gambling, generally and in
its various forms (i.e., horse-racing, casino, and lotteries), may be
able to use his or her psi function in an unencumbered manner. Thus,
moderate scores may still show a linear relationship with psi scores,
as originally hypothesized, and this group of 'gambling moderates' may
produce different results from those already found in Hypotheses 1 and
3. (Testing Hypothesis 2 again would not be wise as the limited
variance of each subscale would adversely affect the outcomes.)
On the basis of
the above rationale, scores for the four scales were combined into an
unbiased aggregate gambling score by totalling the four scores of the
four GAS subscales. The aggregate score absorbs the diverse effects of
the various attitudes on the subscales. The sample was then divided
into three groups (low’ scorers: n = 34; ‘moderate’ scorers: n = 33; and 'high' scorers: n = 33) based on aggregated scores.
When Hypothesis
I was retested for each of the three groups, there were no significant
hit-rates, which is understandable given the small number of
participants in each group. However, when Hypothesis 3 was retested for
the three groups, only the moderate group produced two significant
correlations:
spade-hitting and EN, r(31) = .31, p = .042, one-tailed; spade- hitting and IN, r(31) = .32, p = .037, one-tailed (where p < .05 is considered significant).
Discussion
In the planned
analyses, no relationships were found between (i) psi and any of the
gambling attitudes, and (ii) psi and intuition (either extraverted or
introverted). It was then argued that a moderate attitude towards
gambling would be psi-conducive in a way that freed the moderate
participant from the inhibitory effects of extreme viewpoints about
gambling, which could scramble the psi function.
This argument
was validated to some extent. In the post hoc analysis, there were
significant correlations of psi with the two types of intuition, which
therefore appears to be an important personality factor influencing the
psi function. Specifically, individuals in the present study (provided
their GAS aggregate score was 'moderate'), who scored high on intuition
(extraverted or introverted) tended to identify the ace of spades more
often that individuals who scored low on intuition.
In conclusion,
exploratory analysis is essential in all fields of research, but
especially paranormal research, where we do not fully understand the
nature of psi. In this regard, uncovering the dynamics of psi as it
pertains to human subjects may require constant reconsideration of the
hypotheses proposed. Given that certain types of people seem better
able to elicit psi than others, it is clear that only by identifying
these types as specifically as possible can we then go on to develop
ways of confidently applying psi in the real world.
References
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Broughton, R. S., & Alexander, C. H. (1997). Autoganzfeld II: An attempted replication of the PRL ganzfeld research. Journal of Parapsychology, 61, 209-226.
Don, N. S.,
McDonough, B. E., & Warren, C. A. (1998). Event-related potential
(ERP) indicators of unconscious psi: A replication using subjects
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Kassinove, J. I. (1998). Development of the Gambling Attitude Scales: Preliminary findings. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54, 763-771.
Kugel, W. (1990-1991). Amplifying precognition: Two experiments with roulette. European Journal of Parapsychology, 8, 85-97.
Rhine, L. E. (1967). ESP and in life and lab: Tracing hidden channels. NY: Collier-Mcmillan.
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