Exploring the potential of evaluative conditioning to alter attitudes towards gambling: a longitudinal study

The rise of online gambling activities increases the risk of developing a gambling disorder (listed in the DSM-5), with serious personal and societal consequences. This study explores whether an evaluative conditioning (EC) intervention, suitable for social marketing campaigns, can reduce gambling-related attitudes and intentions. In a longitudinal between-subjects experiment (EC vs. control condition) among 170 participants, both groups showed decreased gambling attitudes and intentions over five time points. This suggests that mere repeated exposure to potential negative outcome feelings, mentally associated with gambling, effectively induced these shifts. Exploratory analyses suggest greater susceptibility to these effects among individuals with less negative attitudes and intentions at baseline. These findings highlight the potential of social marketing strategies emphasizing negative emotional outcomes to counteract gambling's positive associations in daily life, while underscoring the need for further research on individual, procedural, and contextual boundary conditions.