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Category: Project

Description: Past work has demonstrated that presenting statistical information in a foreground-background icon array can improve risk understanding, reduce decision-making biases, and decrease the salience of low-probability risks. In the present study, we assess whether presenting readily available gambling information within a foreground-background icon array influences individuals’ gambling-related judgments (e.g., their perceived likelihood of winning a prize). Across two experiments (N = 1,151), we find that using icon arrays to present gambling information reduces the appeal of scratch card games. That is, participants presented with gambling information in a foreground-background icon array, as opposed to a non-graphical numerical format, reported feeling less likely to win a prize, less excitement to play, and less urge to gamble on a scratch card game presented in a hypothetical gambling task. Overall, we conclude that presenting gambling information in an icon array format represents a simple yet promising tool for correcting gamblers’ often overly-optimistic perceptions and reducing the appeal of negative expected value scratch card games.