Addiction: A Behavioral Economic Perspective

Heshmat reviews recent developments in behavioral economics studies to explain addiction and ways to overcome self-destructive behaviors. Conceptualizing addiction as a failure of decision making leads to a number of solutions for reducing addiction, he says, such as teaching economic rationality to emphasize the importance of long-term rewards, strategies to promote self-control behaviors to resist immediate gratification, and changing the context in which individuals make decisions. Among his topics are a primer on behavioral economics, the definition and functions of emotion, anxiety and decision making, addiction and choice, and sources of self-control failure in relation to sustained dieting behavior. Annotation ©2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)