人类有一股好强的天性，所以当一个人受挫时最容易失去理智。这就说明了为什么在赌场上失败会使赌徒们更加失去自制力。

　　同样，赌博似乎也存在在我们的基因当中，并且在我们大脑中是以硬链接的形式存在的，这也许可以解释为什么这样一种潜在破坏性的活动会如此之寻常。甚至连猴子也赌博。一个测量猴子对于果汁奖励的赌博愿望的研究发现：尽管潜在奖励在减少，灵长类动物却表现得不理智，并且打赌认为奖励的几率会增加。

　　去年刊登在神经元杂志上的一项研究表明：几乎所有的获胜都会激活大脑当中的与获胜有关的回路，并且会进一步增强赌博的动机。”

　　赌徒们通常将险胜解释为特殊的事件，这鼓励他们继续赌博。剑桥大学的鲁克克拉克说道：“我们的结论显示大脑对于险胜事件作出的回应就像对待完全胜利一样，即使结果是失败的。”

　　其他的研究也显示失败会使赌徒失去自制力。去年的一份研究显示，当人们提起计划赌博费用时，他们是理智的。但是如果他们失败了，理智就不复存在了，于是他们改变了赌博计划并且赌得更多。

　　Gambling, too, seems to be in our genes and hard-wired into our brains, which might explain why such a potentially ruinous behavior is so common.

　　Even monkeys gamble. A study that measured monkeys' desire to gamble for juice rewards found that even as potential rewards diminished, the primates acted irrationally and gambled for the chance to get a wee bit more.

　　A study published in the journal Neuron last year found that almost winning activates win-related circuitry within the brain and enhances the motivation to gamble. "Gamblers often interpret near-misses as special events, which encourage them to continue to gamble," said Luke Clark of the University of Cambridge. "Our findings show that the brain responds to near-misses as if a win has been delivered, even though the result is technically a loss.

　　Other studies have also shown that losing causes gamblers to get carried away. When people plan in advance how much to gamble, they're coldly rational, a study last year found. But if they lose, rationality goes out the window, and they change the game plan and bet even more.