Abstract
In this comment, we suggest there has been a crusade among some gambling stakeholders to move the field away from personal responsibility influences and toward social setting effects. This perspective disproportionally attributes gambling-related negative consequences to the social setting rather than the gambler. We argue that personal responsibility is a pivotal issue during the emotional maturation of healthy adults and remains essential to understanding intemperate gambling. This comment explores this movement away from personal responsibility and briefly discusses some of the iatrogenic consequences that this position might create in a clinical setting.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
14th Dalai Lama, & Cutler, H. C. (1998). The art of happiness: a handbook for living. Riverhead Books.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall.
Blaszcynski, A., Shaffer, H. J., Ladouceur, R., & Collins, P. (2021). Clarifying responsible gambling and its concept of responsibility. International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00451-5
Blaszczynski, A., Ladouceur, R., & Shaffer, H. J. (2004). A science-based framework for responsible gambling: The Reno model. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20(3), 301–317.
Cassidy, R., Loussouarn, C., & Pisac, A. (2014). Fair Game: Producing Gambling Research. Retrieved from https://www.americanvalues.org/.
Collins, P., Blaszczynski, A., Ladouceur, R., Shaffer, H. J., Fong, D., & Venisse, J. L. (2015). Responsible gambling: Conceptual considerations. Gaming Law Review and Economics, 19(8), 594–599.
Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning. Beacon Press.
Freud, S. (1958). Civilization and its discontents. Doubleday.
Gray, H. M., Wiley, R. C., Williams, P. M., & Shaffer, H. J. (2021). A scoping review of “responsible drinking interventions. Health Communication, 36(2), 236–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1733226.
Grene, D. (1959). Sophocles. University of Chicago Press.
Hancock, L., & Smith, G. (2017). Critiquing the reno model I–IV international influence on regulators and governments (2004–2015)—The distorted reality of “responsible gambling.” International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction, 11(2), 145. https://doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2013.829515
Hodgins, D. C. (2020). Personal choice is a nuanced concept – Lessons learned from the gambling field: Commentary on: Problematic risk-taking involving emerging technologies: A Stakeholder framework to minimize harms (Swanton et al., 2019). Journal of Behavioral Addictions. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2020.00086
Kessler, R. C., Hwang, I., Labrie, R. A., Petukhova, M., Sampson, N. A., Winters, K. C., & Shaffer, H. J. (2008). DSM-IV pathological gambling in the national comorbidity survey replication. Psychological Medicine, 38, 1351–1360. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291708002900
Korn, D. A. (2000). Expansion of gambling in Canada: Implications for health and social policy. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 163(1), 61–64.
Korn, D. A., & Shaffer, H. J. (1999). Gambling and the health of the public: Adopting a public health perspective. Journal of Gambling Studies, 15(4), 289–365.
Korn, D. A., Gibbins, R., & Azmier, J. (2003). Framing public policy toward a public health paradigm for gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 19(2), 235–256.
Livingstone, C., Woolley, R., & Keleher, H. (2010). Productivity commission inquiry into Australia’s gambling industry. Canberra: Productivity Commission.
Lucidcafe Library. (2021). Albert Schweitzer philosopher, physician & humanitarian. Lucidcafe library. Retrieved from http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/F-%20Miscellaneous/General%20Miscellaneous/Albert%20Schweitzer/Quote/schweitzer.html
Petticrew, M., Maani, N., Pettigrew, L., Rutter, H., & Schalkwyk, M. C. V. (2020). Dark nudges and sludge in big alcohol: Behavioral economics, cognitive biases, and alcohol industry corporate social responsibility. The Milbank Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12475PMID-32930429
Rain, A., Roger, D. B., & Venables, P. H. (1982). Locus of control and socialization. Journal of Research in Personality, 16(2), 147–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(82)90071-x
Robins, L. N. (1993). Vietnam veterans’ rapid recovery from heroin addiction: A fluke or normal expectation? Addiction, 88(8), 1041–1054.
Robins, L. N., Davis, D. H., & Goodwin, D. W. (1974). Drug use in U.S. Army enlisted men in Vietnam: A follow-up on their return home. American Journal of Epidemiology, 99, 235–249.
Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., & Davis, D. H. (1975). Narcotic use in southeast Asia and afterward. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 955–961.
Roosevelt, E., Catt, C. C., & National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection (Library of Congress). (1933). It's up to the women. New York,: Frederick A. Stokes company.
Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 173–220). Academic Press.
Rothman, K. J. (1976). CAUSES. American Journal of Epidemiology, 104(6), 587–592. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117417.
Rotter, J. B. (1954). Social learning and clinical psychology. Prentice-Hall.
Shaffer, H. J., Blaszcynski, A., & Ladouceur, R. (2017). Truth, alternative facts, narrative, and science: What is happening to responsible gambling and gambling disorder? International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction, 15(6), 1197–1202.
Shaffer, H. J., Blaszczynski, A., Ladouceur, R., Collins, P., & Fong, D. (Eds.). (2019). Responsible gambling: Primary stakeholder perspectives. Oxford University Press.
Shaffer, H. J., & Korn, D. A. (2002). Gambling and related mental disorders: A public health analysis. In J. E. Fielding, R. C. Brownson, & B. Starfield (Eds.), Annual review of public health (Vol. 23, pp. 171–212). Annual Reviews Inc.
Shaffer, H. J., & Zinberg, N. E. (1985). The social psychology of intoxicant use: The natural history of social settings and social control. Bulletin of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors, 4(1), 49–55.
Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2021). Nudge: Improving decisions about money, health, and the environment (Final edition. ed.). Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
van Schalkwyk, M. C. I., Cassidy, R., McKee, M., & Petticrew, M. (2019). Gambling control: In support of a public health response to gambling. Lancet, 393(10182), 1680–1681. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30704-4
World Health Organization, Health and Welfare Canada, & Canadian Public Health Association. (1986). Ottawa charter for health promotion. Paper presented at the International Conference on Health Promotion: The Move Towards a New Public Health, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Zinberg, N. E. (1984). Drug, set, and setting: The basis for controlled intoxicant use. Yale University Press.
Zinberg, N. E., & Shaffer, H. J. (1985). The social psychology of intoxicant use: The interaction of personality and social setting. In H. B. Milkman & H. J. Shaffer (Eds.), The addictions: Multidisciplinary perspectives and treatments (pp. 57–74). Lexington Books.
Zinberg, N. E., & Shaffer, H. J. (1990). Essential factors of a rational policy on intoxicant use. Journal of Drug Issues, 20(4), 619–627.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Heather M. Gray, Brittany L. Ranchoff, and Paige M. Shaffer for their helpful thoughts and comments during the preparation of this comment.
Funding
Howard Shaffer has received funding from a variety of sources, including the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (FAAR), The Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations via the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Indian Health Services (IHS), the Integrated Centre on Addiction Prevention and Treatment of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals—which receives funding from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust—DraftKings, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In addition, during approximately the past 5 years, Shaffer or the Division on Addiction received funding from National Center for Responsible Gambling, National Institutes of Health, the Alcohol Beverage Management Research Fund, the Danish Council for Independent Research, Heineken USA, Inc., bwin.party, St. Francis House, the State of Florida (i.e., as a subcontract to Spectrum Gaming Group), the Massachusetts Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Grant Program (i.e., as a subcontracted evaluator for Worcester House of Corrections), and the Massachusetts Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Program—as a sub-contracted evaluator for Cambridge Police Department. Dr. Shaffer also has received speaker honoraria and compensation for consultation from the American Psychological Association, University of Massachusetts, Las Vegas Sands Corp., Davies Ward Phillips and Vineberg, LLP, Freshfelds Bruckhaus Deringer, LLP, and from the Dunes of Easthampton, a residential addiction treatment program, for serving as a consultant. Regarding this project, he received reimbursement from Laval University for travel expenses, but no honorarium associated with the international group on responsible gambling. Robert Ladouceur has received funding during the last few years for consultancies, book royalties, honoraria for conference presentations, and to cover travel expenses from sources including La Loterie Romande (Switzerland), Club NSW (Australia), Comelot (UK), La Française des Jeux (France), Loto-Québec (Québec, Canada), and National Lottery (Belgium). He is a member of the Independent Assessment Panel of the World Lottery Association.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Human and Animal Rights
This article does not contain human subjects or animal research.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shaffer, H.J., Ladouceur, R. Moving Away from Individual Responsibility: A Comment. J Gambl Stud 37, 1071–1078 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10046-x
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10046-x