(www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326190802.htm)
Translated from the scientific to a layman's explanation, it means that when gamblers are getting their brains bashed in at the dice or blackjack table or riding a losing streak betting sports or the horses, they just can't grasp the logic or common sense that they ought to give it up.
By our own admission we are hardheaded and insistent. We usually have a big ego and want things to go our way. What's that part of the Serenity Prayer I have the most difficulty with? "Accept the things I cannot change."
Perhaps I will take a lesson from this and apply it to all aspects of my life. When my computer seems to have woke up on the wrong side of the circuit board and feels like aggravating me by operating at a snail's pace, I will not threaten it with a hammer, but I will find another option, perhaps walk to the store and get my news the old fashion way from a newspaper. Or when I am assembling my son's bike and I come to that screw that just doesn't seem to fit, I will not force it to the point of a coronary, but instead take a break or move on to another part of the bike.
Anger seems to be an accomplice to this trait. When we doggedly make a point either with our spouse or loved one, either of whom doesn't seem to agree with us, we don't seem to have the flexibility to compromise and instead we tend to go ballistic.
It is good to make this connection between gambling and anger as it provides insight that gambling is not just a one-off function or aberration of our personality, but in fact part of a deeper neural circuitry as revealed by the Italian study. But I also believe we are not destined by neurobiology. By learning the value of spiritual traditions such as "letting go," and "giving it up," the grip of our ego-driven, "rigid" behavior is loosened and we discover other options.
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