ArticlePsychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors2020
Reinforcer pathology: Narrative of hurricane-associated loss increases delay discounting, demand, and consumption of highly palatable snacks in the obese.
Article in Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Influence of Behavioral Sciences on Adherence to Physical Activity and Weight Loss in Overweight and Obese Patients: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- Changes in alcohol use during COVID-19 and associations with contextual and individual difference variables: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2022Pooled it
- Income shock increases preferences for smaller immediate rewards and reduces alcohol demand among a sample of crowd-sourced adults.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Narrative theory v: Narratives about penalties resulting from illegal tobacco purchases increase psychological distress.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Future thinking to decrease real-world drinking in alcohol use disorder: Repairing reinforcer pathology in a randomized proof-of-concept trial.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2022Trial
- A story to tell: the role of narratives in reducing delay discounting for people who strongly discount the future.Memory (Hove, England) · 2021Trial
- Behavioral Impaired Control over Alcohol: Comparing Self-Medication and Behavioral Economic Models with the Interacting Effects of Acute Stress, Chronic Stress with Physical Neglect History, and Sex Assigned at Birth.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Stress and episodic future thinking: Effects on temporal window and alcohol demand.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Recent Experience Affects Delay Discounting: Evidence across Temporal Framing, Signs, and Magnitudes.Perspectives on behavior science · 2024Article
- The Phenotype of Recovery X: Associations between delay discounting, regulatory flexibility, and remission from substance use disorder.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Article
- Mechanisms of impulsive choice: Experiments to explore and models to map the empirical terrain.Learning & behavior · 2023Review
- Utility of the 5-trial adjusting delay task in screening for high delay discounting rates: A cohort study of individuals reporting harmful alcohol and tobacco use.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Extra-experimental scarcity impacts hypothetical operant demand: A natural SARS-CoV-2 eperiment.Behavioural processes · 2023Article
- Changes in Adults' Eating Behaviors During the Initial Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2023Review
- Reinforcer pathology of internet-related behaviors among college students: Data from six countries.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2022Article
- The effect of acute and chronic scarcity on acute stress: A dyadic developmental examination.Physiology & behavior · 2022Article
- Risk Pathways Contributing to the Alcohol Harm Paradox: Socioeconomic Deprivation Confers Susceptibility to Alcohol DependenceFrontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Behavioral economics of substance use: Understanding and reducing harmful use during the COVID-19 pandemic.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Reinforcer pathology's alternative reinforcer hypothesis: A preliminary examination.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2021Article
- Behavioral economic cigarette demand among individuals who smoke with and without obesity.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Reinforcer pathology is derived from the integration of two measures: (a) self-control (i.e., delay discounting), and (b) reward valuation (i.e., behavioral economic demand). Narrative theory asserts that vividly imagining oneself in a hypothetical, yet realistic, scenario can acutely alter decision making, valuation of reinforcers such as food, and how much food is consumed. The present study measured changes in reinforcer pathology for highly palatable snacks following either a negative or neutral scenario in obese individuals. Participants (N = 48), with a body mass index of 30 or greater, rated their liking of 7 calorie-dense snack items and completed discounting and purchase demand tasks for their top-rated snack. Participants then read a randomly assigned hypothetical scenario (i.e., a devastating hurricane [negative] or minor storm [neutral]), completed the tasks again, and were given ad libitum access to their top 3 ranked snack foods. Results indicated that delay discounting, demand for participants' top-rated snack food, and negative affect all increased in the hurricane group compared with the minor storm group. The hurricane group also consumed more calories, even when hunger was standardized with a preload meal bar. Consistent with reinforcer pathology, these results suggest that vivid consideration of a devastating scenario constricts the temporal window and increases demand for hedonic snack foods among obese individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.