Chinese Beliefs in Luck are Linked to Gambling Problems via Strengthened Cognitive Biases: A Mediation Test

Abstract

Problematic patterns of gambling and their harms are known to have culturally specific expressions. For ethnic Chinese people, patterns of superstitious belief in this community appear to be linked to the elevated rates of gambling-related harms; however, little is known about the mediating psychological mechanisms. To address this issue, we surveyed 333 Chinese gamblers residing internationally and used a mediation analysis to explore how gambling-related cognitive biases, gambling frequency and variety of gambling forms ('scope') mediate the association between beliefs in luck and gambling problems. We found that cognitive biases and scope were significant mediators of this link but that the former is a stronger mediator than the latter. The mediating erroneous beliefs were not specific to any particular type of cognitive bias. These results suggest that Chinese beliefs in luck are expressed as gambling cognitive biases that increase the likelihood of gambling problems, and that biases that promote gambling (and its harms) are best understood within their socio-cultural context.

Are hotel guests bothered by unlucky floor or room assignments?

“…However, this may also mean that, in their superstitious behavior, the Chinese may be more motivated by protective functions of superstitions, driven by hope and anticipated regret, as opposed the fear of a negative event (Vaidyanathan et al, 2018). Lim and Rogers (2017) further note that the Chinese tend to believe in luck as an internal and stable property of a person, while external sources of luck, to which (un)lucky hotel floor and room number would belong, are open to manipulations through culturally and sanctioned practices. Thus, not bothered by and not seeking a change of an unlucky floor and room assignment in hotels might be viewed as non-conformance to socially accepted practices of ensuring one's luck, supporting the idea of socialadjustive function of superstitious behavior (Vaidyanathan et al, 2018).…”

“…For the Asian cohort, the paranormal scale is based on Huang and Teng's (2009) Chinese superstitious belief scale. This scale has also been tried and tested in different Chinese contexts (Kim et al, 2016;Lim and Rogers, 2017). The Chinese superstitious belief scale contains six underlying dimensions: Homonyms; Traditional customs; Power of crystal; Horoscope; Feng-shui; and Luck for gambling.…”

Supernatural operating rules: How people envision and experience God, the devil, ghosts/spirits, fate/destiny, karma, and luck.

“…Others report seeing ghosts (Pew Research Center, 2009) or receiving messages from deceased loved ones (Exline, in press; Streit-Horn, 2011). Many also attribute events to the impersonal forces of fate/destiny (Au & Savani, 2019; Flórez et al, 2009; Green et al, 2004; Norenzayan & Lee, 2010), karma (White & Norenzayan, 2019; Willard et al, 2020), and luck (Lim & Rogers, 2017; Stauner et al, 2017; Woolley & Kelley, 2020).…”

“…Although perceived ghost encounters usually bring fear (Hinton et al, 2020), believing that a deceased loved one is sending messages may provide great comfort (Exline, in press; Streit-Horn, 2011). And in terms of impersonal forces, fate beliefs have been linked with avoidance of medical exams (Green et al, 2004), karma beliefs with prosocial choices (White & Norenzayan, 2019), and luck beliefs with gambling behaviors (Lim & Rogers, 2017).…”

Understanding leisure gaming and urban community development in China

“…Prior studies have suggested that many Chinese believe that one's success and wealth depend on fate, luck, Feng Shui or an accumulation of good deeds (Prentice & Wong, 2015). However, Chinese gamblers are less likely to seek professional help than other cultural groups despite having financial problems (Lim & Rogers, 2017). Recent researchers of residents' attitudes toward the gaming industry have observed that the Chinese exhibit mixed emotions toward the industry (Kang, et al, 2008;Luo & Xiao, 2017).…”