London. Being excluded from others or even marginalized by society can be a risk factor in the development of pathological gambling. The elderly, unemployed, and foreigners are most at risk. According to researchers of the University of Milan-Bicocca, this occurs because isolation leads to the creation of parasocial relationships, that is, they simulate the relationships that occur between human beings to compensate for the lack of interactions with people: these parasocial relations can also develop with inanimate objects such as slot machines, which is even more probable if human qualities are attributed to them, such as the will to decide the outcome of the game. The experimental research study conducted by the research group of the University Milano-Bicocca is based on these aspects. The group consists Professors from the Department of Psychology of Luca Pancani, Paolo Riva, and Simona Sacchi. The article was published in the Journal of Gambling Studies under the title “Connecting with a Slot Machine: Social Exclusion and Anthropomorphization Increase Gambling”. (9Colonne)
