title: Drugs' rapid payoffs distort evaluation of their instrumental uses.
abstract: Science has needed a dispassionate valuation of psychoactive drugs, but a motivational analysis should be conducted with respect to long-term reward rather than reproductive fitness. Because of hyperbolic overvaluation of short-term rewards, an individual's valuation depends on the time she forms it and the times she will revisit it, sometimes making her best long-term interest lie in total abstinence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Commerce, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa; 151 Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Coatesville, PA 19320. george.ainslie@va.gov picoeconomics.org.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ainslie
mesh_terms: D055030:Drug Users / Q000523:psychology*; D058999:Drug-Seeking Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D012651:Self Medication / Q000523:psychology*