Please join the Psychology Department for the next talk in the Applied Behavior Analysis Speaker Series. Special guest, Dr. Patrick Johnson from California State University, Chico will discuss "Mechanisms and models: Understanding the role of delay and probability discounting in public health behaviors."
Humans, like other species, are often short-sighted in their decision making, preferring less valuable, but immediate rewards over more valuable, but delayed rewards. In the arena of public health, these sorts of impulsive choices can have devastating consequences for both the individual and society. Recently, behavior analysts have attempted to explain how and why individuals behave impulsively in certain situations using the behavioral economic constructs of delay and probability discounting. In this seminar, Dr. Johnson will describe translational efforts currently underway in his laboratory to explore why we sometimes choose so-called "smaller-sooner" rewards, and how the science of discounting can be applied to better understand public health behaviors such as condom use (or, more specifically, the lack thereof) and distracted driving.
Dr. Johnson received his B.S. in psychology from the University of Florida, his M.A. in applied behavioral science from the University of Kansas, and his Ph.D. in psychology from Utah State University. He recently completed a three-year NIDA postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he conducted research on decision-making processes underlying substance abuse and sexual risk. A recent addition to Chico State, Dr. Johnson is expanding this line of research to focus on behavioral economic variables underlying impulsive decision making in its many forms (e.g., addiction, distracted driving, sexual risk), with an emphasis on the development of treatment strategies to improve decision making in vulnerable populations.
Communication Services are available for this event by contacting Dr. Debra Malmberg ( /818.677.6338) at least 5 days prior to the event.