Preventing excessive lottery behaviors by correcting cognitive distortions: An online message experiment study

초록

A key contributor to problem lottery gambling is players' cognitive distortions regarding random outcomes. Examining South Korea's lottery context, this study explored whether corrective messages mitigate excessive lottery behavioral intention (EBI) and identified the underlying mechanisms. An online experiment was conducted among 1,997 lottery players in South Korea who were randomly assigned to corrective, public relations, or control message conditions. PROCESS model analyses yielded four findings. First, higher cognitive distortions-illusion of control and predictive control-were positively associated with stronger EBI. Second, corrective messages increased probability estimation accuracy and reduced EBI. Third, probability estimation accuracy mediated the corrective message's effect on EBI. Fourth, cognitive distortions moderated this indirect pathway, strengthening the mediating effect among people with higher distortion levels. These findings provide empirical support for the public service communication strategy of using corrective messages to curb excessive lottery gambling.

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