Reframing Health Behavior Change With Behavioral Economics

by Warren K. Bickel (Editor), Rudy E. Vuchinich (Editor)

Behavioral economics is a rapidly developing area of psychological science that has synergistically merged microeconomic concepts with behavioral research methods. A driving force behind the growth of behavioral economics has been its recent application to behaviors that significantly affect health. The book examines the latest behavioral economic research on smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, obesity, gambling, and other poor health habits, and explores the implications for individual and community interventions and policy directions. This innovative book describes new concepts and methods developed in behavioral economics and applies them to understanding health behavior change. The richness of behavioral economic concepts provides novel methods and measures that lend to an understanding of health behavior that is different from previous work in the field. Featuring contributions from experimental and clinical psychologists and economists, this book will be of interest to a broad range of students and professionals concerned with health behavior, including researchers, clinicians, and policymakers, as well as psychologists, educators, and all those who work with people who are currently attempting to make positive health and lifestyle changes.

439 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2000

About the author

Warren Kurt Bickel was an American behavioral pharmacologist and the Virginia Tech Carilion Behavioral Health Research Professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Virginia Tech's Carilion School of Medicine. He was also a professor of psychology at Virginia Tech and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine in their Carilion School of Medicine, the director of Virginia Tech's Addiction Recovery Research Center, and the co-director of their Center for Transformative Research on Health Behaviors. He formerly served as editor-in-chief of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology and as president of Division 28 (Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse) of the American Psychological Association.