Contingency management approaches to drug self-administration and drug abuse: Efficacy and limitations

This paper discusses substance abuse disorders as being cases of reinforced operant behavior and argues that drug self-administration behavior can be productively studied and influenced within the framework of contingency management approaches to operant behavior. Three aspects of the approach are discussed: (1) reinforcement by drugs; (2) schedule of drug availability; and (3) scheduled consequences of drug self-administration. Each is discussed with respect to the generality of relationships between species, between drug classes, and between basic laboratory and applied clinical or social situations with the intent of documenting the efficacy of the contingency management approach. Subsequent sections discuss limitations of the approach and suggest directions for future research.