The aim of this paper is to analyze if and how optimism can be anchored in religious beliefs and attitudes in players of games of chance and gambling.Ĭlassic is the idea that religion instigates, among other functions, normative behavior. For Carver and Scheier ( 1982, 2012), optimism enters into self-regulation when people, despite anticipating obstacles to achieving certain goals, maintain the belief that they will be successful ( Armor and Taylor 1998 Scheier and Carver 1992). In the case of players of games of chance and gambling, the times they lost a game or a bet are very frequent, and the reasoning concerning the chances of winning should point to low probabilities. Furthermore, in the course of the life cycle, the emergence of adversities is practically inevitable, and the difficulty in overcoming them may lead individuals to pessimism ( Swann et al. Predictions based on the theory of social comparison ( Festinger 1954) would not give optimism its general character ( Carver and Scheier 2001 Mónico 2021). More intrinsically pessimistic players seem to recur to religiosity to anchor their positive expectations.Ĭonsidering that all areas of life are mediated by aims, the behavior of individuals is determined by the self-regulatory mechanisms adopted with a view to achieving them. In recurring players of games of chance and gambling, religious beliefs and attitudes predicted more optimism than pessimism, being more associated with extrinsic than intrinsic desirable events. ![]() Conclusions: Optimism is not a one-dimensional construct, should be analyzed considering the dichotomies of optimism/pessimism and intrinsic/extrinsic. Inversely, religious beliefs and attitudes tend to predict more intrinsic pessimism in comparison with intrinsic optimism. Extrinsic desirable events, like winning the lottery, were more predicted by religious beliefs and attitudes in comparison with intrinsic desirable events. However, the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic optimism has shown that the players anchor their optimism in different kinds of beliefs. ![]() The structural model showed an overall influence of religious beliefs and attitudes higher on optimism (R 2 = 44%) than on pessimism (R 2 = 5%). Results: Players are moderately religious and more optimistic than pessimistic, estimating a chance of 36% of highly unlikely desirable events. Method: The sample consists of 271 recurring players of games of chance and gambling, who answered a questionnaire composed of measures of religious beliefs and attitudes, optimism, pessimism, and estimates of future occurrences, evidencing good psychometric properties. Aims: To analyze the effect of religious beliefs and attitudes in optimism and pessimism dimensions in players of games of chance and gambling. Considering the classic literature of the effects of religiosity on risk behaviors, the issue of the influence of religiosity on optimism in players of games of chance has been less studied, especially when we considered optimism as a multidimensional concept comprising intrinsic and extrinsic optimism and pessimism. While those games depend more on luck than on individuals’ skills, optimism should be a distinctive feature. ![]() Our findings may be a valuable cue for coping with crisis situations.Games of chance usually make people feel a whirlwind of emotions, especially in gambling. However, there was an effect of positive emotions (both automatic and reflective) having a protective role from the feeling of general anxiety, which was significant for the older group only. We created models accounting for the variance of general anxiety, finding significant predictors for both separate groups of younger and older adults (negative emotions, both automatic and reflective and preventive behaviours). Unrealistic optimism was also positively correlated with negative automatic emotions and negatively correlated with positive reflective emotions. The results allowed us to confirm the occurrence of unrealistic optimism bias (being significantly stronger for men than women), which correlated negatively with the declared number of preventive behaviours. ![]() We also measured twelve specific emotions (differing in valence and origin) and the feeling of the anxiety caused by the coronavirus. In our study, we explored unrealistic optimism bias (the cognitive error giving people a feeling of invulnerability) and any declared preventive behaviours undertaken in order to minimise the risk of contagion. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic (and its consequences, such as lockdown and public health regimes) was a novel and stressful situation for most of people, and, as such, it significantly affected both cognitive and emotional functioning of individuals.
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