Matching, behavioral economics, and teleological behaviorism: Final cause analysis of substance use and health behavior

Abstract

Howard Rachlin and his contemporaries pioneered basic behavioral science innovations that have been usefully applied to advance understanding of human substance use disorder and related health behaviors. We briefly summarize the innovations of molar behaviorism (the matching law), behavioral economics, and teleological behaviorism. Behavioral economics and teleological behaviorism's focus on final causes are especially illuminating for these applied fields. Translational and applied research are summarized for laboratory studies of temporal discounting and economic demand, cohort studies of alcohol and other drug use in the natural environment, and experimental behavioral economic modeling of health behavior‐related public health policies. We argue that the teleological behavioral perspective on health behavior is conducive to and merges seamlessly with the contemporary socioecological model of health behavior, which broadens the contextual influences (e.g., community, economic, infrastructure, health care access and policy) of individuals’ substance use and other health risk behaviors. Basic‐to‐applied translations to date have been successful and bode well for continued applications of basic science areas pioneered by Howard Rachlin and his contemporaries.

Role of relative-reinforcement value of alcohol-free activities during recovery from alcohol use disorder in an adult clinical sample.

“…C. A. Meyers et al, 2023). Thus, the behavioral economic emphasis on promoting access to alternative alcohol-free rewards and enriching the environment is useful at multiple levels of the socioecological model of health and behavior change spanning natural recovery, clinical treatment, and prevention programming (Rachlin et al, 2018; Tucker et al, 2023; Vuchinich et al, 2023). Future research on the role of alcohol-free activities across populations of individuals with AUD and levels of analysis spanning individual to community to policy interventions is recommended.…”

“…A related difference concerns the context-dependence of patterns of choice behavior. A given choice is dependent on the other activities and commodities available in the context of choice, and the matching law, originally derived from animal experimental choice research and later extended to human choice behavior, quantifies this relationship (Vuchinich et al, 2023). Hence, the relative-reinforcement value (RRV) of a given activity reflects its strength of preference in relation to the other options available in the context of choice.…”

“…In addition, extensive research spanning human clinical and preclinical studies has demonstrated that a pattern of harmful substance use is most likely to occur when immediate constraints on engaging in substance use are minimal and few rewarding alternatives are available (Murphy et al, 2021; Vuchinich et al, 2023). Of these two domains, the extent of rewarding substance-free alternatives is generally more influential on patterns of substance use over time compared to simply punishing use or reducing drug access.…”

Algorithm for Determination of Indicators Predicting Health Status for Health Monitoring Process Optimization

“…The risk of a negative result on health increases when multiple key behavior and body condition factors are at play. When an improper body condition exists, persons must further alter their behavior to negotiate it safely [57]. Human health deviations as a system disorder occur and intensify when body conditions and behavior indicators reach critical parameters [58].…”

Poor Reliability and Validity of Habit Effects in Substance Use and Novel Insights from a Goal-Directed Perspective

“…The theory proposes an action control cycle with two stages: a discrepancy detection stage and an action selection stage. The mechanisms proposed for substance use in the action selection stage partially overlap with the mechanisms that have been proposed in recent biased choice theories (e.g., delay discounting, alternative reinforcer, and economic demand; [15]; see also [76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83]). The discrepancy detection phase is typically not articulated in these biased choice theories.…”