Why Do People Become Addicted: Towards a Theoretical Explanation for Eyal's Experiment-Based Hook Model

Authors

Christopher Reyes, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow
Vladik Kreinovich, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow

Publication Date

11-1-2021

Comments

Technical Report: UTEP-CS-21-88

Abstract

Why do people become addicted, e.g., to gambling? Experiments have shown that simple lotteries, in which we can win a small prize with a certain probability, and not addictive. However, if we add a second possibility -- of having a large prize with a small probability -- the lottery becomes highly addictive to many participants. In this paper, we provide a possible theoretical explanation for this empirical phenomenon.