Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2012 Jan;38(1):8-19. doi: 10.3109/00952990.2011.643979. Epub 2012 Jan 3.
Behavioral economics research has revealed systematic biases in decision making that merit consideration in efforts to promote money management skills among those with substance use disorders (SUDs).
The objective of this article was to briefly review the literature on five of those biases (i.e., hyperbolic delay discounting, defaults and preference for the status quo, loss aversion, mental accounting, and failure to account for opportunity cost) that may have particular relevance to the topic of money management.
Selected studies are reviewed to illustrate these biases and how they may relate to efforts to promote money management skills among those with substance use disorders. Studies were identified by searching PubMed using the terms "behavioral economics" and "substance use disorders", reviewing bibliographies of published articles, and discussions with colleagues.
Only one of these biases (i.e., hyperbolic delay discounting) has been investigated extensively among those with SUDs. Indeed, it has been found to be sufficiently prevalent among those with SUDs to be considered as a potential risk factor for those disorders and certainly merits careful consideration in efforts to improve money management skills in that population. There has been relatively little empirical research reported regarding the other biases among those with SUDs, although they appear to be sufficiently fundamental to human behavior and relevant to the topic of money management (e.g., loss aversion) to also merit consideration. There is precedent of effective leveraging of behavioral economics principles in treatment development for SUDs (e.g., contingency management), including at least one intervention that explicitly focuses on money management (i.e., advisor-teller money management therapy).
The consideration of the systematic biases in human decision making that have been revealed in behavioral economics research has the potential to enhance efforts to devise effective strategies for improving money management skills among those with SUDs.
行为经济学研究揭示了决策中的系统性偏差，这些偏差在努力提高物质使用障碍（SUD）患者的理财技能时值得考虑。
本文的目的是简要回顾有关五种偏差的文献（即双曲线延迟折扣、默认和现状偏好、损失厌恶、心理账户和忽略机会成本），这些偏差可能与理财技能的主题特别相关。
通过搜索 PubMed 中使用的术语“行为经济学”和“物质使用障碍”，查阅已发表文章的参考文献，并与同事讨论，选择研究进行综述，以说明这些偏差以及它们如何与努力提高物质使用障碍患者的理财技能相关。
只有一种偏差（即双曲线延迟折扣）在 SUD 患者中得到了广泛研究。事实上，它在 SUD 患者中普遍存在，足以被视为这些障碍的潜在风险因素，因此在努力提高该人群的理财技能时值得仔细考虑。相对而言，关于 SUD 患者的其他偏差的实证研究报告较少，尽管它们似乎是人类行为的基本偏差，与理财管理的主题相关（例如，损失厌恶），因此也值得考虑。在治疗 SUD 的发展中，已经有充分的证据表明可以有效地利用行为经济学原理，包括至少一种明确关注理财管理的干预措施（即顾问-出纳员理财管理疗法）。
考虑行为经济学研究中揭示的人类决策中的系统性偏差，有可能提高为 SUD 患者设计有效提高理财技能策略的努力。
