Problem 4 Flashcards
Theory addiction as choice: Heyman
Says: Value of drugs is always higher than the value of other things, and both go down, but at each point in time, drugs will ben more rewarding than alternative reinforcers.
> people decide day by day what provides the most reward at this moment, that is actually the immediate choice that Bickel also has.
3 principles:
- Preferences are dynamic: choosing one thing means you cannot have the other thing.
- Given a series of choices, there is more than one way to frame the possible options
- individuals always choose the better option (trying to get the most out of the situation).
local choice - decide by day
Global choice - decide multiple days, choose the less preferred choice so that the more preferred choice becomes even better.
It seems that people with an addiction tend to make more local choices.
so according to Heyman:
- addiction is not a disease
- it is a disorder of choice: contained (beperkte) choice, voluntary behavior, it does not mean someone choses to be an addict, but someone choses the current best option (local choice).
Drug reinforcement vs. natural reinforcement
- Drugs deliver more immediate reward than natural reinforcers
-drug reinforcement is more salient (e.g. intoxication) - Drug use affects motivational reward systems subverting (ondermijnen) the rewarding properties of natural reinforcers.
Theory addiction as a choice: Bickman
Says: an addiction have an inelastic demand for substances, so if we use substances more, there willing to invest more to obtain them.
2 principles:
- Demand
- Delay discounting
Demand: refers to resources allocated to obtaining substance. - demand is inelastic: insensitive to price change and intensity of demand: level of consumption at near costs.
if we value something we will spend more time, money, effort to obtain that reinforcement.
- Addicts value substances more than other commodities.
- Increased experiences with substances is associated with escalating levels of demand.
higher levels of demand are associated with
- severity of substance use and dependence
- reduced treatment succes.
- it is a maintaining factor in addiction
- possibly an etiological factor.
Delay discounting: can be used to measure the extent to which an individual has an excessive preference for immediate acquisition of a reinforcer.
decrease in reinforcement value as function of time.
delay discounting can explain:
-smaller immediate rewards vs. larger delayed rewards
- decreased reinforcement value as function of time.
–> chronic exposure to drugs is associated with increased delay discounting.
delayed discounting is associated with:
- severity of substance misuse and dependence
- reduced treatment succes.
reinforced pathology to the understanding of addiction (2)
The combined effects of (1) high valuation for immediate drug reinforcers and (2) an excessive preference for immediate acquisition of a reinforce in spite of negative long-term consequences –> combination of these two factors may be important for the addictive process.
Treatment contingency (onvoorspelbaarheid) management
increases the price of substance use by adding an immediate incentive (beloning) for abstinence that will be forfeited by drug consumption. this treatment delivers incentives such as Money, vouchers of prices contingent on drug abstinence and is effective in stimulant, opioid, marijuana and tobacco use. in this way, contingency management decreases consumption by increasing the unit price of drug use, decreasing the relative control of the impulsive decision system.
behavioral economics
hybridization of psychology and economics to understand the choices that people make –> focus on how individual people allocate their behavioral resources.
Law of effect
A behavioral response increases in strength and frequency then it has positive rewarding consequences, and a behavioral response decreases in strength and frequency when it has positive rewarding consequences.
Positive reinforcement drug use
Drug use increases in strength and frequency because drugs of abuse have a strong hedonic rewarding effect.
Negative reinforcement drug use
Drug use in the addict is further maintained because it alleviates (verlicht) withdrawal symptoms.
Rational addiction perspective
Argues that addictive behavior, defined as consumption of goods that increase future consumption of the same good can be fundamentally understood as being rational behavior in economic terms.
Delay discounting
Is a measure of inter temporal choice that characterizes preferences for smaller immediate rewards vs. larger delayed rewards.
(1/3 core behavioral economic assays)
Alcohol demand
The amount of a commodity (koopwaar) that is sought or consumed at a given price. in this case, alcohol demand is an index of the individuals value of alcohol as reinforcer. Participants report how much alcohol (or other drugs) they would consume at a variety of prices that start very low and escalate to very high levels.
These indices include consumption at minimum price (intensity), the price that reduces consumption to zero (breakpoint) and the aggregate slope of the demand (elasticity), which quantifies the degree to which intensity of demand is defined.
(2/3 core behavioral economic assays)
Proportionate alcohol-related reinforcement
The relative allocation (toewijzing) of time and enjoyment associated with alcohol use compared to alcohol-free behavior.
3 empirical choice principles that predict self-defeating, selfish patterns of behavior
- Matching law: the matching predict the lowest possible rate of reinforcement. As predicted the subjects shifted to matching, lowering their overall reinforcement rate as they did so.
- Melioration (verbetering): synonym of local choice
- Hyperbolic discounting: liever een kleinere beloning op korte termijn, dan een grotere beloning op langere termijn) –> relevant because a common feature of addictive drugs is that they provide immediate benefits but delayed costs.
These quantitative laws of choice that predict how different species choose between different commodities and activities, such as food, water and exercise. these are general principles that apply to everyday choices and predict compulsive-like consumption patterns that are consistent with the behavior of addicts.
Hernstein’s matching law
proposes that, over time, behavioral rates of responding scale to (match) the available reinforcement schedules.
- Important psychological processes to understand economic preferences.
- Second important inside from the matching law –> delay to reward had a similar effect to response cost, indicating that the reinforcing value of an outcome was a function not only of its reinforcing properties, punishments, alternatives, but also the immediacy of access.
