Reinforcer Pathology: Implications for Substance Abuse Intervention

Bickel, Warren K.; Athamneh, Liqa N.; Snider, Sarah E.; Craft, William H; DeHart, William Brady; Kaplan, Brent A.; Basso, Julia C.

doi:10.1007/7854_2020_145

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 115 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In contrast, narratives which shift perspective toward immediate outcomes, including economic scarcity due to job loss or experiencing a hurricane, have been shown to increase demand for unhealthy reinforcers such as fast foods (Mellis et al, 2018; Snider et al, 2020; Sze et al, 2017). These observations have been shown to support the novel Reinforcer Pathology theory (see Bickel et al, 2020, for review). Reinforcer Pathology theory stipulates that the interaction between excessive delay discounting and the valuation of unhealthy reinforcers contributes to addiction severity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Systematic replication in a more diverse sample including potential gender effects will strengthen these findings. Third, we did not include measures to assess prior or current substance use (e.g., tobacco and cocaine) or assess potential narrative effects on alcohol valuation (e.g., behavioral economic demand and craving), which could further confirm Reinforcer Pathology Theory (Bickel et al, 2020). Fourth, we did not assess the amount of time that it took participants to complete the additional questionnaires which served as a break between the two discounting tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Narrative theory IV: Within-subject effects of active and control scarcity narratives on delay discounting in alcohol use disorder.

Craft¹,

Tegge²,

Bickel³

2022

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Imagining narratives involving sudden economic scarcity has been shown to increase delay discounting rates. However, previous studies have only compared active and control narratives between groups. Moreover, an investigation of the quantitative effects of different narrative scenario types has not been conducted. In this study, active and control scarcity narratives were administered within-subject in a sample of individuals meeting criteria for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Individuals with AUD (N = 81; 26.9% female) were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. After assignment to the job (N = 42) or storm (N = 39) narrative groups, participants completed delay discounting tasks while imagining an active (job loss/hurricane) and control (job neutral/mild storm) condition. Both active narratives increased delay discounting relative to the corresponding control condition ( p < .001), with no effect of order of presentation ( p = .202). Additionally, both narrative types exerted similar effect sizes on discounting rates (job: d = 0.54; storm: d = 0.45). This study replicates and extends previous research on the manipulability of delay discounting rates with scarcity narratives. We demonstrated that the active narrative significantly increased delay discounting relative to a control narrative within-subject, regardless of presentation order. Moreover, both the job loss and hurricane narratives exerted a similar effect on the delay discounting rate. These results highlight the robust ability of the Narrative Theory framework to shift delay discounting rates and suggest that in AUD, imagining economic scarcity due to job loss or hurricane exerts comparable effects on behavioral economic decision-making. Public Significance StatementThis study's findings replicate and extend previous work on scarcity by demonstrating the feasibility of using active and control scarcity narratives to shift delay discounting rates within-subjects during a single session in individuals with alcohol use disorder. This highlights the robustness of Narrative Theory as a framework to influence a behavioral process relevant to substance use and abuse.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative theory IV: Within-subject effects of active and control scarcity narratives on delay discounting in alcohol use disorder.

Craft¹,

Tegge²,

Bickel³

2022

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They found that the smoking adolescents with obesity discounted substantially more than the smoking adolescents without obesity. Future research comparing in adults the discounting of delayed reward for individuals who smoke with and without obesity should be examined to further test reinforcer pathology theory (Bickel et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral economic cigarette demand among individuals who smoke with and without obesity.

Bickel¹,

Freitas‐Lemos²,

Tegge³

et al. 2021

Health Psychology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Obesity and cigarette smoking are leading preventable causes of mortality, with greater mortality risk when these disorders occur together. Comorbid obesity and cigarette smoking may affect the valuation of cigarettes. The present study examines the demand for cigarettes between obese and nonobese smokers. Method: Participants (N = 187) from four in-laboratory studies completed the hypothetical cigarette purchase task. According to self-reported height and weight, participants were assigned to either the obese group (body mass index [BMI] $ 30) or to the nonobese group (BMI , 30). Results: Significant differences in demand intensity were observed between individuals with and without obesity, F(1, 168) = 9.284, p = .003, with individuals who smoke and are obese showing higher demand intensity (product purchasing when free). These differences in demand intensity between groups remained after adjusting for the number of cigarettes consumed per day. No differences were observed in elasticity of demand, F(1, 168) = 1.033, p = .311. Conclusions: The results reported here suggest that individuals who smoke and are obese may value brief, intense, and immediate reinforcers more than individuals who smoke and are not obese. Further research may suggest reinforcer pathology as a basis for this result.

show abstract

“…They further showed that these networks enable future-minded choices allowing one to opt for options that maximize future payoffs ( 52 ). Moreover, these critical insights contributed to the formation of Reinforcer Pathology Theory (RPT) ( 53 , 54 ).…”

Section: Episodic Future Thinking: How Could It Put Extinction Into Practice?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Imagining the Future to Reshape the Past: A Path to Combine Cue Extinction and Memory Reconsolidation With Episodic Foresight for Addiction Treatment

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reinforcer Pathology: Implications for Substance Abuse Intervention

Cited by 33 publications

References 115 publications

Narrative theory IV: Within-subject effects of active and control scarcity narratives on delay discounting in alcohol use disorder.

Narrative theory IV: Within-subject effects of active and control scarcity narratives on delay discounting in alcohol use disorder.

Behavioral economic cigarette demand among individuals who smoke with and without obesity.

Imagining the Future to Reshape the Past: A Path to Combine Cue Extinction and Memory Reconsolidation With Episodic Foresight for Addiction Treatment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About