Abstract
Differences on cognitive distortions during gambling in pathological gamblers and no-gamblers. The verbalizations of 80 pathological gamblers (DSM-IV) and 80 non-gamblers, during a slot-machine gambling situation, were analyzed using the "thinking aloud method". There are differences in the cognitive distortions of both groups. Pathological gamblers show higher percentages of result predictions, considering chance as a self-corrective process and personification of the gambling machine. Nongamblers show higher percentages of illusion of control, belief in luck and attention to absolute frequencies. The presence of those cognitive distortions characteristics for the pathological gambling, can be crucial in the pathological gambling development and maintenance.
