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Gambling and the Brain

Humankind has forever liked to gamble. There has always been that deep-rooted psychology to take risks and hunt rewards. The line between compulsive gambler and those who may only occasionally bet for fun is quite fine. Most of us are built the same way, as in we all like to play games, to win, and then to be paid handsomely. Yet some, we tend to think, take it to an extreme. If you ask many people why they gamble, their response is "it is like a drug".
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The Russian writer Dostoevsky portrays in his short story The Gambler the psychological implications of gambling and how gambling can affect gamblers. He also associates gambling and the idea of "getting rich quick", suggesting that Russians may have a particular affinity for gambling. Dostoevsky shows the effect of betting money for the chance of gaining more in 19th-century Europe.

Why do gamblers bet more after they have just lost a hand? Why do investors throw good money after bad? Why do so many people say that they will win their money back in the next hand? Is part of the appeal of gambling its unpredictability? Or do we just look at it as a way to "get rich quick"? The answer to these questions may lie in the science of the brain. Some studies indicate that gamblers bet more after a loss because they are induced to fix an error. Their brains are telling them they've made a mistake and that they need to correct it. These studies could possibly explain other risky acts.

Though many participate in gambling as a form of recreation or even as a means to gain an income, gambling, like any behavior which involves variation in brain chemistry, can become a psychologically addictive and harmful behavior in some people.
Compulsive gambling
gambling is a behavior which may rely on brain circuits that originally evolved to help animals assess rewards important to their survival. Researchers have found that those same circuits are used by the human brain to assess social rewards.

So, if you ever see some poor guy sitting on the casino steps, his head in his hands because he's just blown his kid's college fund, remember he may not have been a compulsive greedy man, but just a poor soul who is only following the signals in his brain.


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