Normalized demand for drugs and other reinforcers.

The concepts of behavioral economics have proven to be useful for understanding the environmental control of overall levels of responding for a variety of commodities, including reinforcement by drug self-administration. These general concepts have implications for the assessment of abuse liability and drug abuse intervention and the formulation of public policy on drug abuse. An essential requirement is the ability to compare the demand for different drugs directly in order to assess relative abuse liability, and to compare demand for the same drug under different environmental and biological interventions to assess their ability to reduce demand. Until now, such comparisons were hampered by the confounding effect of varying drug doses and potencies that prevent quantitative comparisons of demand elasticity--sensitivity of consumption and responding to the constraint of price (effort). In this paper we describe a procedure to normalize demand-curve analysis that permits dose- and potency-independent comparisons of demand across drugs. The procedure is shown to be effective for comparing drug demand within and across the drug classes. The technique permits a quantitative ordering of demand that is consistent with the peak levels of responding maintained by the drugs. The same technique is generalized for the comparison of other types of reinforcers under different biological conditions.     

Three predictions of the economic concept of unit price in a choice context

Economic theory makes three predictions about consumption and response output in a choice situation: (a) When plotted on logarithmic coordinates, total consumption (i.e., summed across concurrent sources of reinforcement) should be a positively decelerating function, and total response output should be a bitonic function of unit price increases; (b) total consumption and response output should be determined by the value of the unit price ratio, independent of its cost and benefit components; and (c) when a reinforcer is available at the same unit price across all sources of reinforcement, consumption should be equal between these sources. These predictions were assessed in human cigarette smokers who earned cigarette puffs in a two-choice situation at a range of unit prices. In some sessions, smokers chose between different amounts of puffs, both available at identical unit prices. Individual subjects' data supported the first two predictions but failed to support the third. Instead, at low unit prices, the relatively larger reinforcer (and larger response requirement) was preferred, whereas at high unit prices, the smaller reinforcer (and smaller response requirement) was preferred. An expansion of unit price is proposed in which handling costs and the discounted value of reinforcers available according to ratio schedules are incorporated.     

Similar consumption and responding across single and multiple sources of drug

Two experiments were conducted to assess whether total response output and total consumption would be similar when drugs are available from single and multiple sources of reinforcement, as predicted by behavioral economics. In Experiment 1, cigarette-deprived smokers were exposed to a concurrent-chains schedule in which equal fixed-ratio schedules served as the initial links, and different reinforcer magnitudes (i.e., number of cigarette puffs) were arranged across alternatives. After the session, obtained unit price was calculated and imposed in the next session when a different number of puffs was available according to a single fixed-ratio schedule. Thus, the unit price at which cigarette puffs could be earned was yoked within subjects across the single and concurrent-chains schedules. When plotted as a function of unit price, similar consumption and response rates were usually obtained across these schedules. Experiment 2 addressed a weakness of Experiment 1, namely, that responding was allocated exclusively to the larger reinforcer magnitude in concurrent-chains conditions, and therefore this schedule may have functioned as a single schedule. In Experiment 2, subjects were instructed to alternate responding between the two alternative schedules. Instructions produced approximately equal response allocation between the two alternatives. Again, similar consumption and response rates were observed across the single and instructed concurrent-chains schedules. These findings are discussed in the context of direct effects and behavioral economics perspectives of drug self-administration.     

价格框架对不同认知闭合需要者在线动态价格的感知与购买意愿的影响*

采用问卷与实验相结合的方法,以112名大学生为被试,考察价格框架对不同认知闭合需要者在线购物时对动态定价策略下的价格感知与购买意愿的影响。结果发现：（1）相比非动态价格,动态价格条件下消费者感知价格公平感、购买意愿都较低;（2）在打折框架下,高认知闭合需要者对采取动态价格在线购物网站的感知信任显著好于非动态价格,而低认知闭合需要者则相反,说明消费者的价格感知受这三个变量的综合影响;（3）在降价框架下,认知闭合需要与动态价格的交互作用不显著,意味着在线消费者的购买意愿可能受到更多其它因素制约。     

CONSUMPTION AND RESPONSE OUTPUT AS A FUNCTION OF UNIT PRICE: MANIPULATION OF COST AND BENEFIT COMPONENTS

We conducted preference assessments with 4 typically developing children to identify potential reinforcers and assessed the reinforcing efficacy of those stimuli. Next, we tested two predictions of economic theory: that overall consumption (reinforcers obtained) would decrease as the unit price (response requirement per reinforcer) increased and that the cost and benefit components that defined unit price would not influence overall consumption considerably when unit price values were equal. We tested these predictions by arranging unit price such that the denominator was one (e.g., two responses produced one reinforcer) or two (e.g., four responses produced two reinforcers). Results showed that consumption decreased as unit price increased and that unit price values with different components produced similar consumption.     

Outwitting the rational mind: How effortful thinking influences price cognition

Prior research presents mixed findings on how people's degrees of effortful thinking influence their reliance on heuristics and biases. Although the tenets of dual process theory would argue that effortful thinking should attenuate people's reliance on heuristics, a number of contemporary findings suggest otherwise: Effortful thinking may, in fact, enhance biased processing of information in certain instances. This research shows how, in the context of pricing, people's degrees of effortful thinking can amplify their inclination towards biased processing of price information. In five studies (n = 1,339), we find that effortful thinking induces a greater preference for nine‐ending (vs. zero‐ending) prices, and the effect is mainly driven by people's greater propensity for argument‐based decision making. Such predilection to nine‐endings attenuates with lower cognitive effort in processing price information. Moreover, when locus of deliberation shifts from price to quality, consumers' preference for nine‐ending priced options is subdued.     

产前诊断中的伦理学问题

药价虚高已成为影响广大人民群众切身利益的突出的社会问题。国家有关部门通过政府行政手段进行了多次药品降价行动,但效果并不明显,"药价虚高"的现状并未得到根本扭转。影响药价虚高的因素归纳起来,就是医疗卫生体制因素和市场流通机制因素,从药品市场角度探讨药价虚高现象的成因和解决途径。     

Unit price and choice in a token-reinforcement context

Pigeons were exposed to multiple and concurrent second-order schedules of token reinforcement, with stimulus lights serving as token reinforcers. Tokens were produced and exchanged for food according to various fixed-ratio schedules, yielding equal and unequal unit prices (responses per unit food delivery). On one schedule (termed the standard schedule), the unit price was held constant across conditions. On a second schedule (the alternative schedule), the unit price was either the same or different from the standard. Under conditions with unequal unit prices, near-exclusive preference for the lower unit price was obtained. Under conditions with equal unit prices, the direction and degree of preference depended on ratio size (number of responses per exchange period). When this ratio differed, strong preferences for the smaller ratio were observed. When this ratio was equal, preferences were nearer indifference. Response rates on the multiple schedule were generally consistent with the preference data in showing sensitivity to ratio size. Results are discussed in terms of a unit-price model that includes handling and reinforcer immediacy as additional costs. On the whole, results show that preferences were determined primarily by delay to the exchange period.     

廉价的优越感：社会排斥如何影响新奢侈品的消费

本研究从消费者社会需求层面,探讨在中国新奢侈品会给哪些人带来优越感,什么样的产品可以带来优越感,以及为何会带来优越感等问题。本研究使用一个混合设计的实验,结果发现：（1）相比较非社会排斥状态,社会排斥状态增加了消费者的身份消费需求。（2）在产品炫耀性大时,相比较传统大众产品和奢侈品,社会排斥增加了消费者对新奢侈品的购买意愿。而在产品炫耀性小时,社会排斥的影响不显著;（3）社会排斥、产品种类和产品炫耀性三者的交互作用影响消费者购买意愿的中介变量是消费者感知的产品身份价格比。结论表明,相比较传统大众产品和奢侈品,炫耀性新奢侈品以相对低的价格满足了社会排斥消费者的身份消费需求,为他们提供了一个获得优越感的渠道。     

Effects of Spikes in the Price of Gasoline on Behavioral Intentions: A Mental Accounting Explanation

In recent years, gasoline prices have spiked in response to world events, only to fall again within weeks or months. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these price fluctuations have a substantial impact on consumers' planned spending and their overall perceptions of financial well‐being. We propose that consumers' behavioral intentions in response to these spikes are driven in part by how consumers mentally account for the fluctuations in gasoline prices. Specifically, we contend that people allocate sharp increases in the price per gallon of gasoline to a comprehensive mental account. As a result, such increases affect consumers' perceptions of their overall cost of living and have far‐reaching effects on their planned spending. These predictions are tested in three experiments. The paper concludes with the discussion of a theoretical and applied implications of the results. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.