Introduction: Behavioral economic studies of nicotine product consumption have traditionally examined substitution between two products and rarely examined substitution with more products. Increasing numbers of tobacco products available for commercial sale leads to more possible cross-product interactions, indicating a need to examine substitution in more complex arrangements that closely mirror the tobacco marketplace. Methods: The experimental tobacco marketplace (ETM) is an experimental online store that displays pictures, information, and prices for several tobacco products. Smokers were endowed with an account balance based on their weekly tobacco purchases. Participants then made potentially real purchases for seven (Experiment 1) or six (Experiment 2) tobacco/nicotine products under four price conditions for conventional cigarettes while prices for other products remained constant. Smokers returned 1 week later to report tobacco/nicotine use and return unused products for a refund. Results: In Experiment 1 (n = 22), cigarette purchasing decreased as a function of price. Substitution was greatest for electronic cigarettes and cigarillos and significant for electronic cigarettes. Experiment 2 (n = 34) was a replication of Experiment 1, but with cigarillos unavailable in the ETM. In Experiment 2, cigarette purchases decreased as a function of price. Substitution was robust and significant for electronic cigarettes and Camel Snus. Conclusions: The ETM is a novel, practical assay that mimics the real-world marketplace, and functions as a simple research tool for both researchers and participants. Across the two experiments the product mix in the ETM altered which products functioned as substitutes suggesting complex interactions between purchasing and product availability. Implications: This article adds a novel method of collecting purchasing data that mimics real world purchasing to the existing literature. The ETM is a practical avenue by which to study both hypothetical and potentially real purchasing.

Understanding the association between polysubstance use and impulsivity is pertinent to treatment planning and efficacy. Delay discounting, a measure of impulsivity, supplies the rate at which a reinforcer loses value as the temporal delay to its receipt increases. Excessive delay discounting has been widely observed among drug using individuals; though, the impact of using more than one substance has been only minimally studied. Here, after controlling for demographic variables, we systematically compare delay discounting in community controls, heavy smokers, alcohol-dependent, and cocaine-dependent individuals to assess the impact of non-, mono-, dual-, and tri-substance use. All substance-using groups discount significantly more than community controls (p < 0.05). Additionally, groups that smoke cigarettes in addition to another substance dependency discount significantly more than cigarette smoking alone (p < 0.05). Lastly, tri-substance users who were alcohol-dependent, cocaine-dependent and heavy cigarette smokers discount significantly more than heavy smokers (p < 0.01). However, tri-substance users do not discount significantly more than any dual-substance group. Tri-substance use is associated with greater impulsivity than mono-substance smoking, but no greater impulsivity than dual-substance users, suggesting a ceiling effect on discounting when more than two substances are in use. The present study suggests that smokers who engage in additional substance use may experience worse treatment outcomes given that excessive discounting is predictive of poor therapeutic outcomes in several studies.

We examined risky sexual choice under the lens of rational decision-making. Participants ( N = 257) completed a novel sexual-choice task in which they selected from among hypothetical sexual partners varying in physical attractiveness and in the probability that one would contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI) from a one-time sexual encounter with them. We found that nearly all participants evaluated the sexual-choice alternatives in a coherent fashion consistent with utility-based theories of rational choice. In subsequent analyses, we classified participants’ responses according to whether their sexual preferences were based on maximizing attractiveness or minimizing the risk of STIs. Finally, we established an association between sexual choice in our task and reported real-world sexual risk-taking.

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