Overconsumption as a function of how individuals make choices: A paper in honor of Howard Rachlin's contributions to psychology

• Published in: Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior 2023-01, Vol.119 (1), p.91-103
• Main Author: Heyman, Gene M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: choice; Choice Behavior; Concurrent schedule; Humans; matching law; Mathematical models; maximizing; overconsumption; Rachlin; Reinforcement; Resistance (Psychology); Reward
• ISSN: 0022-5002; 1938-3711
• DOI: 10.1002/jeab.821

Howard Rachlin's widely influential behavioral economic approach to self‐control and related issues provides the model for this submission. The topic is overconsumption. Current human consumption levels are unsustainable. Explanations typically focus on societal factors, such as the seductive power of advertising and/or misguided tax policies. However, the effectiveness of these factors depends on the degree to which individuals are susceptible to the message: “consume more.” Humans are not blank slates. This paper argues that how individuals frame their choices establishes the susceptibility to overconsume. According to economic theory, consumers frame their options as bundles, composed of different combinations of the available items and activities. This leads to maximizing. In experiments, participants tend to frame their options as “either‐or” choices. This leads to the matching law. Mathematical models of concurrent schedule choice procedures show that (1) the matching law implies overconsumption of the most preferred option and (2) that individuals will persist in preferring their favorite option even when doing so reduces overall reward rates. Given that the matching law better describes how individuals choose than does maximizing, the mathematical models of widely used choice procedures help explain why efforts to increase consumption have been more influential than efforts to control consumption.