One of the most familiar sights in any casino is the row upon row of brightly lit, clamorously engaging slot สล็อต machines. These contraptions universally lure the clientele with the prospect of instant wealth through a gaming experience that is all too often both incessant and continuous. The reasons for this are not too hard to divine. Paying attention to the psychological principles that underlie the gaming experience can yield a blueprint for thoroughly characterizing the gaming participant. Nowhere is this truer than with slot machines. This essay examines the psychology of slot machine design, which numerous of these gaming devices broadly and specifically employ to better profit their customers.
The slot machine is an object of operant conditioning principle. The renowned psychologist B.F. Skinner once demonstrated that principle with a series of clever experiments involving pigeons. What Skinner did was simple: he provided the hungry pigeons with food at regular, predictable intervals, and those birds quickly settled into predictable patterns of behavior.
In effect, Skinner made his hovering, doting, antic designs on the pigeons’ little brains have enormous consequences. And today, the “addiction” to slot machines and the like has reached similar horrifying proportions.
The almost-win—also known as the near-miss—is another powerful design feature programmed into today’s slot machines. Nearly winning a jackpot is demoralizing and instantly causes a drop in happiness, right? Not so fast, my friend. The near-miss effect in games of chance activates the same portions of the brain (the ventral striatum and the insula) that are associated with actual wins. In other words, when a player sees two jackpot symbols on the payline and one symbol just above or just below them, the payout for that particular combo hasn’t been “almost won”; it has been almost won + a small change in outcome from really hitting the big one.
Slot machines are appealing because they provide a sensory experience. We can see and hear the ‘one-armed bandits’ (older type of slot machine) all around us whenever we visit a casino. However, the term ‘one-armed bandit’ has a different analogy in the real world—bandits you need to give money to in order to survive. And it’s true, but not only because of the reasons you might already know about. National Harbor and Crystals Casino in Las Vegas are two relatively new places where you can see brightly lit, loud machines.
Furthermore, the notion of LDWs, or “losses disguised as wins,” is a common technique in the design of slot machines. These occasions happen when players “win” an amount of money that is actually less than the sum they initially bet. Yet, despite the clear loss, the machine still showers the virtual scene with celebratory graphics and sounds. Unsurprisingly, research from McMaster University has shown that the sounds in particular capture attention and that they condition players to keep on pressing buttons, even when they’re up on nothing.
Slot machine design even goes so far as to take advantage of humanity’s very natural, even primal, propensity to embrace ritual and superstition. Many gamblers, even those who should know better, believe that the act of pushing the button or pulling the lever with a certain amount of verve or style — or in a particularly “lucky” way — will more often bring them the desired result of winning. Evidently, which way you choose to do it seems very important. Slot tourneys, another slot machine mechanism intended to attract and hold the attention of players at the casino, are yet another design element that makes the presence of betting a more communal experience.
Moreover, one can find slot machines in many places. You can’t walk inside a casino without seeing rows of these machines. You can even bet on them virtually, through online casinos. And, if you want to get your gambling fix on the go, you can play slot-machine games right on your phone using mobile apps.
Do you think a Vegas night could ever be competitive? A man’s got to know his limitations. But he also has to know if he’s winning. The presence of slot machines in nearly all gaming establishments ensures that they’re not just luck-of-the-pull contraptions. But slot machines may be even more social (and therefore a little more addictive) than their predecessors.
The psychology of slot machine design, when able to be scientifically investigated, boils down to a sophisticated mixture of the use of reinforcers, with emphasis on positive ones; the employment of mechanisms to scaffold the player through the near-constant sequences of the game; and the presence of lights, sounds, and other sensory cues, as they interact with the player’s mind. The tricks that lead one to continue to play, even in the face of mounting losses, or the glide between the pay-off and the next round, fall into this area. A series of studies in the 1950s and 1960s has led psychologists to understand that for certain tasks, variable proportion life is the most potent form of reinforcement. When put on something like a slot สล็อต machine, this notion really becomes provocative.
