Education
M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, University of Calgary
B.A. Honours in Psychology, University of Winnipeg
Other Training
Postdoctoral Fellow, International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors, McGill University
Predoctoral Clinical Internship (Rural Stream), Department of Clinical Health Psychology, University of Manitoba
Research Interests
My primary area of research is gambling. I am interested in the processes involved in the development and maintenance of general gambling behaviour as well as gambling problems. With the gambling industry continuing to grow on a global scale, I see gambling and the indisputable concerns that arise from gambling problems to be an area of scientific inquiry with endless possibilities. My past research has examined a range of topics including cognitive mechanisms underlying problem gambling, affect-regulation expectancies and motives related to gambling, Internet gambling, sports wagering, and poker playing. Ultimately, I hope this research will lead to the development of new and improved prevention and treatment programs for individuals experiencing gambling problems.
One ongoing area of study for me has been the examination of behavioural discounting and its relation to risk-taking and gambling. Briefly, discounting refers to the process in which delayed or probabilistic outcomes are subjectively devalued such that immediate or certain outcomes with less absolute value are preferred. Studies on problem gamblers have shown that problem gamblers have higher rates of delay discounting compared to controls suggesting that problem gamblers tend to prefer smaller, more immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards. In one study I examined how discounting of delayed and probabilistic outcomes relate to unprofitable decisions on a gambling task. I found a negative correlation between probability discounting of gains and losses which provides interesting insight into general risk attitudes. Specifically, it suggests that attitudes towards risk are mostly dependent on how an individual weights the lowest-valued outcomes when presented with probabilistic choices. For example, a person who is risk-seeking is relatively unaffected by the lowest valued outcomes, regardless of whether it is a probabilistic loss (they are willing to try to lose nothing even if they may lose a large amount) or a probabilistic gain (they are willing to take a chance that may result in a large gain, even if they may get nothing).
Recently, I have been involved in research that aims to build on our current understanding of gambling behaviour from a social psychological theoretical framework. In a set of studies supported by the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre (Callan, Shead, & Olson, 2008-2009), we demonstrated that threatening personal deservingness by leading them to believe they have less discretionary income compared to similar peers leads to increased preference for immediate rewards which, in turn, leads to increased gambling behaviour. We believe these findings are important because they will contribute to a better understanding of the psychological processes related to the vulnerabilities that lead some individuals towards gambling-related problems. We recently received a grant from OPGRC to continue this line of research (Olson, Callan, & Shead, 2010-2011). Specifically, we will test whether gambling advertisements evoke feelings of deprivation which then increase desire for immediate rewards and, in turn, lead to increases in gambling urges and gambling behaviour.
I am currently conducting research on gambling activities that contain an element of skill, specifically poker. My interest in poker was sparked by the rapid rise in poker’s popularity since the early 2000s, particularly among adolescents and university students. I see the study of poker as an exciting opportunity for studying a relatively unexplored area in gambling research. In one study of university students who gamble regularly, I found that poker players were more likely to be male, younger, have higher scores on an index of alcohol abuse, spend more time gambling, and gamble more frequently compared to non-poker players. More recently, I analyzed the Internet gambling habits of students at a large American university. The results of this analysis indicated that poker is the predominant online gambling activity and that Internet gamblers show relatively high rates of gambling problems, gamble more frequently, and are more likely to report indicators of potentially harmful lifestyles (e.g., drinking alcohol, smoking, using marijuana, using illicit drugs, and unhealthy Body Mass Indices) compared to non-Internet gamblers and non-gamblers. Such findings and the continued expansion of the online gambling industry emphasize the need to investigate poker and online gambling in future studies.
My research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. I have been awarded research grants from the Alberta Gaming Research Institute and the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre.
Refereed Publications
Shead, N. W., Derevensky, J. L., & Meerkamper, E. (2010). Your mother should know: A comparison of maternal and paternal attitudes
and behaviors related to gambling among their adolescent children. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction,
doi. 10.1007/s11469-010-9279-0
Moubarac, J-C, Shead, N. W., Derevensky, J. L. (In press). Bingo playing and problem gambling: A review of our current knowledge.
Journal of Gambling Issues.
Shead, N. W., Derevensky, J. L., Fong, T. W., & Gupta, R. (In press). Characteristics of Internet gamblers among a sample of students
at a large, public university in Southwestern United States. Journal of College Student Development.
Shead, N. W., Derevensky, J. L., & Gupta, R. (2010). Risk and protective factors associated with youth problem gambling. International
Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 22(1), 39-58.
Shead, N. W., Walsh, K., Taylor, A., Derevensky, J. L., & Gupta, R. (2010). Youth gambling prevention: Can public service
announcements featuring celebrity spokespersons be effective? International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.
doi.org/10.1007/s11469-009-9260-y
Shead, N. W., & Hodgins, D. C. (2009). Affect-regulation expectancies among gamblers. Journal of Gambling Studies, 25, 357-375.
Shead, N. W., & Hodgins, D. C. (2009). Probability discounting of gains and losses: Implications for risk attitudes and impulsivity.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 91, 1-16.
Shead, N. W., Callan, M. J., & Hodgins, D. C. (2008). Probability discounting among gamblers: Differences across problem gambling
severity and affect-regulation expectancies. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 536-541.
Callan, M. J., Shead, N. W., & Olson, J. M. (2009). Foregoing the labor for the fruits: The effect of just world threat on the desire for
immediate monetary rewards. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 246-249.
Callan, M. J., Ellard, J. H., Shead, N. W., & Hodgins, D. C. (2008). Gambling as a search for justice: Examining the role of personal
relative deprivation in gambling urges and gambling behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1514-1529.
Shead, N. W., Hodgins, D. C., & Scharf, D. (2008). Differences between poker players and non-poker playing gamblers. International
Gambling Studies, 8, 167-178.
Hodgins, D. C., Shead, N. W., & Makarchuk, K. (2007). Relationship satisfaction and psychological distress among concerned
significant others of pathological gamblers. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195, 65-71.
Shead, N. W., & Dobson, K. S. (2004). Psychology for sale: The ethics of advertising professional services. Canadian Psychology, 45,
125-136.