Everyday experience tells us that there is a connection between the costs of engaging in certain activities and the likelihood that those behaviors will be actually be undertaken. For example, the potential health costs of cigarette smoking might deter a person from starting to smoke.
The Behavior Lab in the Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire was established in 1997 to examine how different types of costs influence whether a behavior occurs and how frequently. The types of cost that we investigate are:
· time costs - the
delay that must be experienced before a reward is available
Related concepts: ability to delay gratification and exhibit self-control
· energy costs -
the work that must be performed to obtain a reward
Related concepts: tendency to procrastinate and exhibit laziness
· uncertainty costs
- the risk that the reward might not be received
Related concepts: tendency to seek risk and prefer gambles
Some of our research projects simply examine whether changing the costs influences the likelihood that the behavior occurs is a sytematic, predictable way.
Other research projects examine how the influence of these costs (or lack of influence) is linked to substance use/abuse and problem gambling.