- My orange Catholic Bible
tells me, "Thou shalt not make a machine
"in the likeness of a human mind."
And a new study from the Journal
of Experimental Psychology
warns the same thing about slot machines.
(electronic music)
The study from the
University of Milano-Bicocca
illustrates how anthropomorphism,
that overpowering tendency to attribute
human-like mental states
to non-human entities
enables a slot machine to better
latch on to its human host.
Inspired by recent theories
of anthropomorphism
in social perception,
the researchers conducted a
series of four experiments,
in which individuals were
primed to see a slot machine
either as a credit-guzzling
automoton, which it is,
or a fickle goddess, who
will mock you with defeat,
or reward you with victory,
depending on her whims.
In each experiment, the researchers found
that an anthropormorphized
description of the slot machine
increased gambling behavior
and reduced winnings.
And winnings decrease because
the gamblers gambled more
on their anthroporphized machines.
After all, that's the insidious
nature of the algorithm.
The more you gamble, the more you lose.
That's why casinos love them.
They're essentially a
robot army of wage-suckers.
Each one captures a gambler,
and sets to draining.
Powered by an algorithm
pre-programmed to deliver
a certain number of wins and losses.
Of course, nobody plays a slot machine
with that sort of frank realism in mind.
So, we fill our heads
with fantasies about luck
and the ultimate jackpot.
And when we attribute a human will
to the mechanical money-muncher,
that only sinks the hook in deeper.
The Milano-Bicocca study is
the first to explicitly test
the effects of anthropomorphization
on gambling activity,
though past studies have noted
the tendency among gamblers.
And you can be certain
slot machine designers
had some inkling of it, as well.
After all, as the authors point out,
physical and online slot machines
are positively crawling
with vixens, muscle-men,
cartoon characters, and Egyptian kings,
all serving to cast the
machine in the likeness
of a human mind.
Do you find yourself anthropomorphizing
your gambling machines?
Let us know about it
in the comments below.
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weird, soul-vexing science,
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