Science of Choice

Looking at Addiction as a Decision-Making Disorder

Shahram Heshmat Ph.D.

The Difference Between Dreamers and Doers

Indulging in the desired future ignores possible obstacles and therefore masks the necessity to act.

Belief in Free Will as Predictor of Success in Self-Control

The belief that there is no such thing as free will leads people to stop exercising it.

One Trait That Predicts Addiction

Young people think of their future selves in the same way that they think of strangers.

10 Elements of Clear Thinking

Good statistical thinking can improve our logical and problem-solving skills.

What Is Loss Aversion?

We are motivated to avoid losses than to pursue comparable gains.

7 Lessons in Self-Control We Can Learn From Mindfulness

It is not what we are feeling that is important but how we relate to it that matters.

The 6 Triggers of Craving

One of the major goals of drug addiction treatment is to teach addicts how to deal with cravings.

10 Reasons Why People Continue to Use Drugs

A behavioral economic perspective views addiction as a consequence of falling victim to decision failures, which lead to a preference for the addictive behavior.

Fight Emotion With Emotion

An important way to enhance self-control is to use our emotions to achieve challenging goals.

10 Reasons Why People Spend Too Much

When we learn how and why we are vulnerable, we can develop practices that can help us improve our financial well-being.

Choose Your Feelings

Our ability to manage the flow of thought and emotion contributes to our happiness.

10 Factors That Influence Your Purchase Decisions

Consumers are powerfully influenced by their emotions and environmental cues, as well as by how options are presented to them.

7 Common Reasons Why People Use Drugs

Vulnerability to addiction can be explained by considering multilevel factors from the molecular to the societal.

Making Causal Judgment

Causal and counterfactual reasoning inform our judgments of causality.

Why Addicts Make Poor Decisions

Decision failures could explain why addicts pursue and consume drugs even in the face of negative consequences.

Use This Problem-Solving Strategy to Achieve Any Goal

The mental contrasting strategy has four steps: wish, outcome, obstacle, and plan.

I Want It Now!

The more we disregard our longer-term interests in favor of immediate gratification, the more likely that we will have a range of behavioral problems, including addiction.

8 Predictors of Early Onset of Binge Eating

Youth with loss of control go on to experience persistent and intensified problematic eating patterns during adulthood.

10 Faulty Thoughts That Occur in Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Faulty thinking sheds light on the development and maintenance of BDD.

Explaining Delusional Thinking

The dual-process framework of decision-making can provide some insights into the theory of delusional belief.

The Many Ways We Lie to Ourselves

Everyone is in denial about something.

The Role of Motivation in Delusional Belief

Motivated delusions can have psychological benefits that might lead both to the formation or maintenance of delusions.

Five Steps in Forming Irrational Beliefs

Most of our core beliefs about the world are not based on rational and conscious choices.

What Causes Someone to Develop an Eating Disorder?

Individuals with eating disorders are suffering because of an inadequate attachment with their caregivers.

Why Do We Love to Chase?

Unpredictable rewards produce much larger pleasure than expected ones.

Five Common Factors Influencing Our Feelings of Time

The perception of time as lasting too long is associated with too high of a cost, which leads to the selection of alternatives with more immediate outcomes.

Eight Reasons Why We Get Bored

Boredom is an unpleasant emotional state in which the individual feels a lack of interest in and difficulty concentrating on the current activity.

Stress and Addiction

There is solid evidence for the link between chronic stress and the motivation to abuse addictive substances.

Who Is Actually in Charge When We Make Decisions?

Emotional awareness provides insight into the working of the mind and the nature of decisions.

What Is Behavioral Economics?

The basic message of behavioral economic is that humans are hard wired to make judgment errors and they need a nudge to make decisions that are in their own best interest.

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