3.1.2: From Moral Principles to Ethics Codes
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- Rajiv S. Jhangiani, I-Chant A. Chiang, Carrie Cuttler, & Dana C. Leighton
- Kwantlen Polytechnic U., Washington State U., & Texas A&M U.—Texarkana
Learning Objectives
- Describe the history of ethics codes for scientific research with human participants.
- Summarize the American Psychological Association Ethics Code—especially as it relates to informed consent, deception, debriefing, research with nonhuman animals, and scholarly integrity.
The general moral principles of weighing risks against benefits, acting with integrity, seeking justice, and respecting people’s rights and dignity provide a useful starting point for thinking about the ethics of psychological research because essentially everyone agrees on them. As we have seen, however, even people who agree on these general principles can disagree about specific ethical issues that arise in the course of conducting research. This is why there also exist more detailed and enforceable ethics codes that provide guidance on important issues that arise frequently. In this section, we begin with a brief historical overview of such ethics codes and then look closely at the one that is most relevant to psychological research—that of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Historical Overview
One of the earliest ethics codes was the Nuremberg Code —a set of 10 principles written in 1947 in conjunction with the trials of Nazi physicians accused of shockingly cruel research on concentration camp prisoners during World War II. It provided a standard against which to compare the behavior of the men on trial—many of whom were eventually convicted and either imprisoned or sentenced to death. The Nuremberg Code was particularly clear about the importance of carefully weighing risks against benefits and the need for informed consent. The Declaration of Helsinki is a similar ethics code that was created by the World Medical Council in 1964. Among the standards that it added to the Nuremberg Code was that research with human participants should be based on a written protocol —a detailed description of the research—that is reviewed by an independent committee. The Declaration of Helsinki has been revised several times, most recently in 2004.
In the United States, concerns about the Tuskegee study and others led to the publication in 1978 of a set of federal guidelines called the Belmont Report . The Belmont Report explicitly recognized the principle of seeking justice , including the importance of conducting research in a way that distributes risks and benefits fairly across different groups at the societal level. It also recognized the importance of respect for persons, which acknowledges individuals’ autonomy and protection for those with diminished autonomy (e.g., prisoners, children), and translates to the need for informed consent. Finally, it recognized the principle of beneficence, which underscores the importance of maximizing the benefits of research while minimizing harms to participants and society. The Belmont Report became the basis of a set of laws—the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects —that apply to research conducted, supported, or regulated by the federal government. An extremely important part of these regulations is that universities, hospitals, and other institutions that receive support from the federal government must establish an institutional review board (IRB) —a committee that is responsible for reviewing research protocols for potential ethical problems. An IRB must consist of at least five people with varying backgrounds, including members of different professions, scientists and nonscientists, men and women, and at least one person not otherwise affiliated with the institution. The IRB helps to make sure that the risks of the proposed research are minimized, the benefits outweigh the risks, the research is carried out in a fair manner, and the informed consent procedure is adequate.
The federal regulations also distinguish research that poses three levels of risk. Exempt research is the lowest level or risk and includes research on the effectiveness of normal educational activities, the use of standard psychological measures and surveys of a nonsensitive nature that are administered in a way that maintains confidentiality, and research using existing data from public sources. It is called exempt because once approved, it is exempt from regular, continuous review. Expedited research poses a somewhat higher risk than exempt, but still exposes participants to risks that are no greater than minimal risk (those encountered by healthy people in daily life or during routine physical or psychological examinations). Expedited review is done by by one member of the IRB or by a separate committee under the authority of the IRB that can only approve minimal risk research (many departments of psychology have such separate committees). Finally, research that does not qualify for exempt or expedited review is greater than minimal risk research must be reviewed by the full board of IRB members.
Ethics Codes
The link that follows the list—from the Office of Human Subjects Research at the National Institutes of Health—allows you to read the ethics codes discussed in this section in their entirety. They are all highly recommended and, with the exception of the Federal Policy, short and easy to read.
- The Nuremberg Code
- The Declaration of Helsinki
- The Belmont Report
- Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects
https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/international/ethical-codes-and-research-standards/index.html
APA Ethics Code
The APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (also known as the APA Ethics Code ) was first published in 1953 and has been revised several times since then, most recently in 2010. It includes about 150 specific ethical standards that psychologists and their students are expected to follow. Much of the APA Ethics Code concerns the clinical practice of psychology—advertising one’s services, setting and collecting fees, having personal relationships with clients, and so on. For our purposes, the most relevant part is Standard 8: Research and Publication . Although Standard 8 is reproduced here in its entirety, we will consider some of its most important aspects—informed consent, deception, debriefing, the use of nonhuman animal subjects, and scholarly integrity—in more detail.
APA Ethics Code Standard 8: Research and Publication
8.01 Institutional Approval
When institutional approval is required, psychologists provide accurate information about their research proposals and obtain approval prior to conducting the research. They conduct the research in accordance with the approved research protocol.
8.02 Informed Consent to Research
- When obtaining informed consent as required in Standard 3.10, Informed Consent, psychologists inform participants about (1) the purpose of the research, expected duration, and procedures; (2) their right to decline to participate and to withdraw from the research once participation has begun; (3) the foreseeable consequences of declining or withdrawing; (4) reasonably foreseeable factors that may be expected to influence their willingness to participate such as potential risks, discomfort, or adverse effects; (5) any prospective research benefits; (6) limits of confidentiality; (7) incentives for participation; and (8) whom to contact for questions about the research and research participants’ rights. They provide opportunity for the prospective participants to ask questions and receive answers. (See also Standards 8.03, Informed Consent for Recording Voices and Images in Research; 8.05, Dispensing With Informed Consent for Research; and 8.07, Deception in Research.)
- Psychologists conducting intervention research involving the use of experimental treatments clarify to participants at the outset of the research (1) the experimental nature of the treatment; (2) the services that will or will not be available to the control group(s) if appropriate; (3) the means by which assignment to treatment and control groups will be made; (4) available treatment alternatives if an individual does not wish to participate in the research or wishes to withdraw once a study has begun; and (5) compensation for or monetary costs of participating including, if appropriate, whether reimbursement from the participant or a third-party payor will be sought. (See also Standard 8.02a, Informed Consent to Research.)
8.03 Informed Consent for Recording Voices and Images in Research
Psychologists obtain informed consent from research participants prior to recording their voices or images for data collection unless (1) the research consists solely of naturalistic observations in public places, and it is not anticipated that the recording will be used in a manner that could cause personal identification or harm, or (2) the research design includes deception, and consent for the use of the recording is obtained during debriefing. (See also Standard 8.07, Deception in Research.)
8.04 Client/Patient, Student, and Subordinate Research Participants
- When psychologists conduct research with clients/patients, students, or subordinates as participants, psychologists take steps to protect the prospective participants from adverse consequences of declining or withdrawing from participation.
- When research participation is a course requirement or an opportunity for extra credit, the prospective participant is given the choice of equitable alternative activities.
8.05 Dispensing With Informed Consent for Research
Psychologists may dispense with informed consent only (1) where research would not reasonably be assumed to create distress or harm and involves (a) the study of normal educational practices, curricula, or classroom management methods conducted in educational settings; (b) only anonymous questionnaires, naturalistic observations, or archival research for which disclosure of responses would not place participants at risk of criminal or civil liability or damage their financial standing, employability, or reputation, and confidentiality is protected; or (c) the study of factors related to job or organization effectiveness conducted in organizational settings for which there is no risk to participants’ employability, and confidentiality is protected or (2) where otherwise permitted by law or federal or institutional regulations.
8.06 Offering Inducements for Research Participation
- Psychologists make reasonable efforts to avoid offering excessive or inappropriate financial or other inducements for research participation when such inducements are likely to coerce participation.
- When offering professional services as an inducement for research participation, psychologists clarify the nature of the services, as well as the risks, obligations, and limitations. (See also Standard 6.05, Barter With Clients/Patients.)
8.07 Deception in Research
- Psychologists do not conduct a study involving deception unless they have determined that the use of deceptive techniques is justified by the study’s significant prospective scientific, educational, or applied value and that effective nondeceptive alternative procedures are not feasible.
- Psychologists do not deceive prospective participants about research that is reasonably expected to cause physical pain or severe emotional distress.
- Psychologists explain any deception that is an integral feature of the design and conduct of an experiment to participants as early as is feasible, preferably at the conclusion of their participation, but no later than at the conclusion of the data collection, and permit participants to withdraw their data. (See also Standard 8.08, Debriefing.)
8.08 Debriefing
- Psychologists provide a prompt opportunity for participants to obtain appropriate information about the nature, results, and conclusions of the research, and they take reasonable steps to correct any misconceptions that participants may have of which the psychologists are aware.
- If scientific or humane values justify delaying or withholding this information, psychologists take reasonable measures to reduce the risk of harm.
- When psychologists become aware that research procedures have harmed a participant, they take reasonable steps to minimize the harm.
8.09 Humane Care and Use of Animals in Research
- Psychologists acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals in compliance with current federal, state, and local laws and regulations, and with professional standards.
- Psychologists trained in research methods and experienced in the care of laboratory animals supervise all procedures involving animals and are responsible for ensuring appropriate consideration of their comfort, health, and humane treatment.
- Psychologists ensure that all individuals under their supervision who are using animals have received instruction in research methods and in the care, maintenance, and handling of the species being used, to the extent appropriate to their role. (See also Standard 2.05, Delegation of Work to Others.)
- Psychologists make reasonable efforts to minimize the discomfort, infection, illness, and pain of animal subjects.
- Psychologists use a procedure subjecting animals to pain, stress, or privation only when an alternative procedure is unavailable and the goal is justified by its prospective scientific, educational, or applied value.
- Psychologists perform surgical procedures under appropriate anesthesia and follow techniques to avoid infection and minimize pain during and after surgery.
- When it is appropriate that an animal’s life be terminated, psychologists proceed rapidly, with an effort to minimize pain and in accordance with accepted procedures.
8.10 Reporting Research Results
- Psychologists do not fabricate data. (See also Standard 5.01a, Avoidance of False or Deceptive Statements.)
- If psychologists discover significant errors in their published data, they take reasonable steps to correct such errors in a correction, retraction, erratum, or other appropriate publication means.
8.11 Plagiarism
Psychologists do not present portions of another’s work or data as their own, even if the other work or data source is cited occasionally.
8.12 Publication Credit
- Psychologists take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performed or to which they have substantially contributed. (See also Standard 8.12b, Publication Credit.)
- Principal authorship and other publication credits accurately reflect the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their relative status. Mere possession of an institutional position, such as department chair, does not justify authorship credit. Minor contributions to the research or to the writing for publications are acknowledged appropriately, such as in footnotes or in an introductory statement.
- Except under exceptional circumstances, a student is listed as principal author on any multiple-authored article that is substantially based on the student’s doctoral dissertation. Faculty advisors discuss publication credit with students as early as feasible and throughout the research and publication process as appropriate. (See also Standard 8.12b, Publication Credit.)
8.13 Duplicate Publication of Data
Psychologists do not publish, as original data, data that have been previously published. This does not preclude republishing data when they are accompanied by proper acknowledgment.
8.14 Sharing Research Data for Verification
- After research results are published, psychologists do not withhold the data on which their conclusions are based from other competent professionals who seek to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis and who intend to use such data only for that purpose, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and unless legal rights concerning proprietary data preclude their release. This does not preclude psychologists from requiring that such individuals or groups be responsible for costs associated with the provision of such information.
- Psychologists who request data from other psychologists to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis may use shared data only for the declared purpose. Requesting psychologists obtain prior written agreement for all other uses of the data.
8.15 Reviewers
Psychologists who review material submitted for presentation, publication, grant, or research proposal review respect the confidentiality of and the proprietary rights in such information of those who submitted it.
Source: You can read the full APA Ethics Code at http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx .
Informed Consent
Standards 8.02 to 8.05 are about informed consent. Again, informed consent means obtaining and documenting people’s agreement to participate in a study, having informed them of everything that might reasonably be expected to affect their decision. This includes details of the procedure, the risks and benefits of the research, the fact that they have the right to decline to participate or to withdraw from the study, the consequences of doing so, and any legal limits to confidentiality. For example, some states require researchers who learn of child abuse or other crimes to report this information to authorities.
Although the process of obtaining informed consent often involves having participants read and sign a consent form , it is important to understand that this is not all it is. Although having participants read and sign a consent form might be enough when they are competent adults with the necessary ability and motivation, many participants do not actually read consent forms or read them but do not understand them. For example, participants often mistake consent forms for legal documents and mistakenly believe that by signing them they give up their right to sue the researcher (Mann, 1994). [1] Even with competent adults, therefore, it is good practice to tell participants about the risks and benefits, demonstrate the procedure, ask them if they have questions, and remind them of their right to withdraw at any time—in addition to having them read and sign a consent form.
Note also that there are situations in which informed consent is not necessary. These include situations in which the research is not expected to cause any harm and the procedure is straightforward or the study is conducted in the context of people’s ordinary activities. For example, if you wanted to sit outside a public building and observe whether people hold the door open for people behind them, you would not need to obtain their informed consent. Similarly, if a college instructor wanted to compare two legitimate teaching methods across two sections of his research methods course, he would not need to obtain informed consent from his students.
Deception
Deception of participants in psychological research can take a variety of forms: misinforming participants about the purpose of a study, using confederates, using phony equipment like Milgram’s shock generator, and presenting participants with false feedback about their performance (e.g., telling them they did poorly on a test when they actually did well). Deception also includes not informing participants of the full design or true purpose of the research even if they are not actively misinformed (Sieber, Iannuzzo, & Rodriguez, 1995). [2] For example, a study on incidental learning—learning without conscious effort—might involve having participants read through a list of words in preparation for a “memory test” later. Although participants are likely to assume that the memory test will require them to recall the words, it might instead require them to recall the contents of the room or the appearance of the research assistant.
Some researchers have argued that deception of research participants is rarely if ever ethically justified. Among their arguments are that it prevents participants from giving truly informed consent, fails to respect their dignity as human beings, has the potential to upset them, makes them distrustful and therefore less honest in their responding, and damages the reputation of researchers in the field (Baumrind, 1985). [3]
Note, however, that the APA Ethics Code takes a more moderate approach—allowing deception when the benefits of the study outweigh the risks, participants cannot reasonably be expected to be harmed, the research question cannot be answered without the use of deception, and participants are informed about the deception as soon as possible. This approach acknowledges that not all forms of deception are equally bad. Compare, for example, Milgram’s study in which he deceived his participants in several significant ways that resulted in their experiencing severe psychological stress with an incidental learning study in which a “memory test” turns out to be slightly different from what participants were expecting. It also acknowledges that some scientifically and socially important research questions can be difficult or impossible to answer without deceiving participants. Knowing that a study concerns the extent to which they obey authority, act aggressively toward a peer, or help a stranger is likely to change the way people behave so that the results no longer generalize to the real world.
Debriefing
Standard 8.08 is about debriefing . This is the process of informing research participants as soon as possible of the purpose of the study, revealing any deception, and correcting any other misconceptions they might have as a result of participating. Debriefing also involves minimizing harm that might have occurred. For example, an experiment on the effects of being in a sad mood on memory might involve inducing a sad mood in participants by having them think sad thoughts, watch a sad video, and/or listen to sad music. Debriefing would be the time to return participants’ moods to normal by having them think happy thoughts, watch a happy video, or listen to happy music.
Nonhuman Animal Subjects
Standard 8.09 is about the humane treatment and care of nonhuman animal subjects. Although most contemporary research in psychology does not involve nonhuman animal subjects, a significant minority of it does—especially in the study of learning and conditioning, behavioral neuroscience, and the development of drug and surgical therapies for psychological disorders.
The use of nonhuman animal subjects in psychological research is similar to the use of deception in that there are those who argue that it is rarely, if ever, ethically acceptable (Bowd & Shapiro, 1993). [4] Clearly, nonhuman animals are incapable of giving informed consent. Yet they can be subjected to numerous procedures that are likely to cause them suffering. They can be confined, deprived of food and water, subjected to pain, operated on, and ultimately euthanized. (Of course, they can also be observed benignly in natural or zoo-like settings.) Others point out that psychological research on nonhuman animals has resulted in many important benefits to humans, including the development of behavioral therapies for many disorders, more effective pain control methods, and antipsychotic drugs (Miller, 1985). [5] It has also resulted in benefits to nonhuman animals, including alternatives to shooting and poisoning as means of controlling them.
As with deception, the APA acknowledges that the benefits of research on nonhuman animals can outweigh the costs, in which case it is ethically acceptable. However, researchers must use alternative methods when they can. When they cannot, they must acquire and care for their subjects humanely and minimize the harm to them. For more information on the APA’s position on nonhuman animal subjects, see the website of the APA’s Committee on Animal Research and Ethics ( http://www.apa.org/science/leadership/care/index.aspx ).
Scholarly Integrity
Standards 8.10 to 8.15 are about scholarly integrity. These include the obvious points that researchers must not fabricate data or plagiarize. Plagiarism means using others’ words or ideas without proper acknowledgment. Proper acknowledgment generally means indicating direct quotations with quotation marks and providing a citation to the source of any quotation or idea used. Self-plagiarism is also considered unethical and refers to publishing the same material more than once. In other words, researchers should not borrow prior phrasing from their other published works, just as students should not submit the same work to more than one class.
The remaining standards make some less obvious but equally important points. Researchers should not publish the same data a second time as though it were new, they should share their data with other researchers, and as peer reviewers, they should keep the unpublished research they review confidential. Note that the authors’ names on published research—and the order in which those names appear—should reflect the importance of each person’s contribution to the research. It would be unethical, for example, to include as an author someone who had made only minor contributions to the research (e.g., analyzing some of the data) or for a faculty member to make himself or herself the first author on research that was largely conducted by a student.
References
- Mann, T. (1994). Informed consent for psychological research: Do subjects comprehend consent forms and understand their legal rights? Psychological Science, 5 , 140–143. ↵
- Sieber, J. E., Iannuzzo, R., & Rodriguez, B. (1995). Deception methods in psychology: Have they changed in 23 years? Ethics & Behavior, 5 , 67–85. ↵
- Baumrind, D. (1985). Research using intentional deception: Ethical issues revisited. American Psychologist, 40 , 165–174. ↵
- Bowd, A. D., & Shapiro, K. J. (1993). The case against animal laboratory research in psychology. Journal of Social Issues, 49 , 133–142. ↵
- Miller, N. E. (1985). The value of behavioral research on animals. American Psychologist, 40 , 423–440. ↵


9.3: Information-Systems Operations and Administration
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- Ly-Huong T. Pham, Tejal Desai-Naik, Laurie Hammond, & Wael Abdeljabbar
- ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)
Another group of information-systems professionals is involved in the day-to-day operations and administration of IT. These people must keep the systems running and up-to-date so that the rest of the organization can make the most effective use of these resources.
Computer Operator
A computer operator is a person who keeps large computers running. This person’s job is to oversee the mainframe computers and data centers in organizations. Some of their duties include keeping the operating systems up to date, ensuring available memory and disk storage, and overseeing the computer's physical environment. Since mainframe computers have increasingly been replaced with servers, storage management systems, and other platforms, computer operators’ jobs have grown broader and include working with these specialized systems.
Database Administrator
A database administrator (DBA) is the person who manages the databases for an organization. This person operates and maintains databases, including database recovery and backup procedures, used as part of applications or the data warehouse. They are responsible for securing the data and ensuring that only users who are approved to access the data can do so. The DBA also consults with systems analysts and programmers on projects requiring access to or creating databases.
- Database Architect : Database architects design and create secure databases that meet the needs of an organization. They work closely with software designers, design analysts, and others to create comprehensive databases that may be used by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Most organizations do not staff a separate database architect position. Instead, they require DBAs to work on both new and established database projects.
- Database Analys t : Some organizations create a separate position, Database Analyst, who looks at databases from a higher level. He analyzes database design and the changing needs of an organization, recommends additions for new projects, and designs the tables and relationships.
- Oracle DBA : A DBA that specializes in Oracle database. Oracle DBA’s handle capacity planning, evaluate database server hardware, and manage all aspects of an Oracle database, including installation, configuration, design, and data migration.
Help-Desk/Support Analyst
Most midsize to large organizations have their own information-technology help desk and are the most visible IT roles. The help desk is the first line of support for computer users in the company. Computer users who are having problems or need information can contact the help desk for assistance. Often, a help-desk worker is a junior-level employee who does not necessarily know how to answer all of the questions that come his or her way. In these cases, help-desk analysts work with senior-level support analysts or have a computer knowledgebase at their disposal to help them investigate the problem at hand. The help desk is a great place to break into IT because it exposes you to all of the company's different technologies. A successful help-desk analyst has conflict resolutions, active listening skills, problem-solving abilities, and a wide range of technical knowledge across hardware, software, and networks.
Trainer
A computer trainer conducts classes to teach people specific computer skills. For example, if a new ERP system is installed in an organization, one part of the implementation process is to teach all users how to use the new system. A trainer may work for a software company and be contracted to come in to conduct classes when needed; a trainer may work for a company that offers regular training sessions, or a trainer may be employed full time for an organization to handle all of their computer instruction needs. To be successful as a trainer, you need to be able to communicate technical concepts well and have a lot of patience!
Quality Support Engineers
A quality engineer establishes and maintains a company’s quality standards and tests systems to ensure efficiency, reliability, and performance. They are also responsible for creating documentation that reports issues and errors relating to the computer and software systems.


17.6: Putting It Together- Using Technology to Manage Business Information
Summary
In this module you learned about the roles of data and information technology in business operations. Following is a summary of the key points we covered.
Data vs. Information
Technology has made it easy for businesses to gather facts about their customers and business operations. However, data are just facts and figures in their raw form. It’s not until the data are processed—i.e., converted into information—that businesses can use them to improve their operations.
Managing Data
Being able to collect data is central to most businesses; however, all that data needs to be stored somewhere so users can retrieve it and use it. The creation of databases—virtual warehouses where data is stored—allows businesses to take the first step in managing and using data. Since the creation of “cloud computing,” businesses have been able to store their data offsite but still access it from anywhere in the world. Businesses mine data in order to find valuable patterns and answers to questions.
Information in Networks
In order to make the greatest use of data, it must be shared. In business this means that data collected by marketing needs to be shared with other departments—finance, production, research, and development—via networks. Again, this is where businesses must make decisions about the best way to share data: through internal networks (LANS), wide-area networks, (WANS) or the cloud. Each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Ethical and Social Issues
Who owns your information? This question is at the heart of many of the ethical and social issues that arise when businesses collect data. The debate about how best to balance the benefits of information technology with the costs to personal privacy has led to a new field of study called technoethics.
Information Security and Cybersecurity
With big data comes big responsibility. This responsibility is about keeping customer and employee data safe from the threat of cyber criminals and illicit users. Large data security breaches have become more prevalent in recent years, and businesses are constantly working to find better and more effective ways to protect their data.
Synthesis
Each of us can be represents by hundreds of data points about our daily activities, our likes and dislikes, shopping habits, income, zip code, mobile phone use, age, gender, marital status, and so on—the list is nearly endless. We are in many respects the sum of the data collected about us. How businesses use that information will continue to evolve as technology changes. It’s clear, though, that collecting, storing, managing, and using our data are vital components of virtually all business operations. The issues associated with the use of data and information technology are evolving just as quickly. Society now finds itself torn between the benefits that data can provide and the toll it takes on individual privacy. Most people believe that the organizations collecting our data have a responsibility to protect it against unauthorized access and use. Regardless of whether you pursue a career in business or not, the topics you learned about in this module will apply to you as a citizen, an employee, and an individual. As technology and data collection methods become ever more sophisticated and complex, the burden is on all of us—consumers and businesses alike—to devise effective ways of managing and controlling them.


10.19: Price Variance
Learning Outcomes
- Analyze the variance between standard unit price and actual price of materials purchased
You own a woodworking shop and have figured out a price you will pay and how many pounds of wood you will need to make tables. What happens if you use more or less wood, or it costs more or less than you budgeted at standard price and quantity?
What might cause a variance between the standard unit price and the actual price? Quality of product purchased, market issues including unavailability of product or competition for the same materials could all be factors here. Let’s look at a couple of examples.
So what if we go back to our original budget, our total raw material cost should be $21,000, but when we compare to the actual, we see this:
| Total | |
|---|---|
| Required production in pairs | 2050 |
| Units of raw material needed per pair | 5 |
| Units of raw material needed to meet production | 10250 |
| Plus desired ending raw material inventory | 500 |
| Total units of raw materials needed | 10750 |
| Less units in beginning raw material inventory | 250 |
| Units of raw materials to be purchased | 10500 |
| Cost of raw material per unit | $3 |
| Cost of raw material to be purchased | $31,500 |
Now we can calculate our variance as follows:
- Standard quantity allowed for actual output at standard price = 10,500 × $2 = $21,000
- Actual quantity of input at actual price = 10,500 × $3= $31,500
Creating a spending variance of $10,500.
So now, our units remained the same at 5 per pair, but our cost went up by $1 per unit! So our production department did good work, but perhaps our purchasing department either had problems finding the raw material and had to pay a higher price, or they may not have done proper negotiating with suppliers!
How would you go about providing this information to management? What things might you do to fix these problems?
Practice Questions


3.5: Concentration- Make the Most of Your Study Time
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Building upon the notion of scheduling time to study, students need to monitor their levels of concentration during those study sessions. A study session that is filled with distractions and a general lack of concentration is wasted time. It is the responsibility of students to plan their study time and plan to do it in an environment that is conducive for good concentration.
To say that students are “paying attention” is to say that they are aware of certain factors that are going on in the environment. However, attention can wane and requires a process of continual refocusing, in other words, concentration. To determine if you are concentrating to your full ability, you need to monitor your level of concentration and what you are getting out of a study session. However, if you are not concentrating to your full capacity, that is not an excuse to just stop studying or zone out of a lecture; you need to take steps to improve your concentration in that given situation.
ACTIVITY 4-2:
Keep a Time Log (see Time Log worksheet at the end of this chapter) for one full week. Try to record what you are doing to the nearest 30-minute segment. If you are multi-taking, you need to select the most salient and intended task to record.
Record and add up the amount of time spent engaged in the following general activities:
In class ________hrs.
Studying outside of class ________hrs.
Sleeping/napping ________hrs.
Exercising/organized sports ________hrs.
Work/internship ________hrs.
Family commitments ________hrs.
Personal care/grooming ________hrs.
Meal preparation/eating/cleanup ________hrs.
Commuting (school, work, etc.) ________hrs.
Relaxing—watching TV, video games (alone) ________hrs.
Socializing with friends/entertainment ________hrs.
Other (List “other” activities) ________hrs.
There are 168 hours in one week. Do your totals add up to 168?
Reflect on how you are using your time. What surprised you about how you use your time? Are you spending as much time studying as suggested by the Academic Work Week formula? Do you need to make any adjustments in how you are using your time?
Figure 4-6. Concentration Capacity during a Lecture
Each person has finite resources that can be allocated toward concentration. You need to determine what you can do to improve your ability to concentrate on the task at hand, which in this case (Figure 4-6) is listening to a lecture. Controlling the distractions is necessary to be able to continually refocus on the lecture at hand. External distractions are those that originate outside of your body, such as a cell phone ringing, people talking, the temperature of the room, etc. Internal distractions are those that originate inside of the body, such as hunger, stray thoughts, emotional responses and thoughts, etc. (Dembo & Seli, 2008). Students need to be able to identify the distractions that are currently detracting from the task at hand and work to reduce them. For instance, if you learn that you tend to get sleepy in class, sitting close to the front or getting enough sleep at night can help reduce this as a distraction. If getting hungry in certain classes is an issue, bring a snack in to munch on quietly during class. Beyond the classroom, finding the optimal study environment is key to concentration. You will find that if you tend to study in the same basic locations that space will become a mental cue to focus on your work. Typically, students who find the right place to study and learn to manage their concentration will have to study less to reap the benefits, because they are more productive during their study time.
Quick Tips to lmprove Concentration
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Control the distractions that you can.
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Use active learning techniques. Take notes in lecture or while reading. Quiz yourself on what you just read. Talk out loud about what you are learning. Use a variety of study techniques to reduce boredom.
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Set a goal for what you realistically want to accomplish during your study session with activities that will promote active learning.
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Study in a comfortable and reasonably quiet environment. Make sure the furniture is conducive to studying—comfortable but upright. Find a place with proper lighting, good temperature (about 68°F), with minimal people traffic and noise level.
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Make sure you have all the resources needed to complete your study task—notebook, text, writing utensils, charged laptop, etc.
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Schedule yourself to study during high-energy times. It is difficult to con- centrate when you are sleepy.
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Resist procrastination. Putting assignments off to the last minute can lead to worry and stressful thinking that can interfere with concentration.
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Take short breaks periodically. A ten-minute break for every 50 minutes of studying or a five-minute break every 30 minutes is enough to refresh your mind and regain concentration. Set a timer if you are prone to taking longer breaks.
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For longer study sessions, alternate study topics to fend off boredom.
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Write down stray or stress-based thoughts. Give yourself permission to consider them later, and move on.
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Use positive directives, like “If I finish with this study goal now, I can relax later” or “I need to clear my head and refocus.”
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Track periods of reduced concentration levels with checkmarks as a way to possibly identify patterns in locations and times that may not optimize your concentration.
ACTIVITY 4-3:
Consider the three places that you tend to study most often. Write those locations below.
Location A: ________________________________________
Location B: ________________________________________
Location C: ________________________________________
Answer True or False to each of these statements with regard to each of your listed study locations.
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Location A
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Location B
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Location C
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I cannot typically hear other people talking.
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I have access to a comfortable, upright chair.
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I have access to a desk or flat writing space that is easy to utilize.
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It is quiet in this space.
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The lighting in this space helps to keep me alert.
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I am not too hot or too cold in this location.
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I tend to keep my breaks short when I study in this location.
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I am not interrupted by family and friends when I study at this location.
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This location is free of distractions (e.g., TV, non-school related computers, magazines, etc.).
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I feel alert when I study in this location.
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TOTAL True Responses
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In theory, you should elect to study in the location with the most “True” responses as it tends to have more of the features recommended for a conducive study environment. If you find that you are unsatisfied with any of your study locations, try out some new locations and utilize this tool to help you assess if it is a good location.


1.20: Functional Consciousness
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In the previous chapter I showed how consciousness is the experience of deep emotion, deep thought, and your ability to process ordinary events. That type of consciousness, however, is simply what makes humans aware of who they are, which is different from being aware and conscious of their environment. Being conscious of your environment is another type of consciousness altogether, and would involve things like working memory (which is storing and manipulating information in the short term).  Baddeley (2001) associated consciousness with the central executive component of working memory. There was a central executive system that was aided by two subsystems, one concerned with acoustic and verbal information, the articulatory, and the other for visual and spatial information. There was an “articulatory rehearsal” that was supposed to repeat words in your head so you could remember them for longer than a few seconds.
Working memory isn't the only functional aspect of consciousness. There would have to be a central processing unit of sorts to process the information and use it effectively. That unit would be more core to who you are because it would be the part making decisions, which is more conscious than memory, which only parts of come into consciousness for short periods of time. For instance, if it was possible to leave your body and take over some mechanical machine, or control technology or mechanical devices with your mind because you simply couldn't think about doing all the things needed to control the device at once becuase your central processing unit just can't do that. Say control a car with your mind, that wouldn't be possible even though it is possible to do it with your body because you can't feel what it is like to press the pedal a certain degree with just your mind. The physical experience makes it real. Even if you just understood what the machinery should do, it wouldn't be possible because you'd have to understand exactly what it should do, which you can't really think about because you only have a loose idea of, say, where the car should be and at what speed.
So you can only make a few decisions per minute, and when it comes to doing technical things like placing a car in the right location, are general and not specific. This explains why if someone were to use magic their mind would have to be clear in order to properly visualize what should happen. Though even that wouldn't be possible with a clear mind because the image you have of the result you want isn't going to be perfect. An example of that would be moving things using "the force". However, there are also emotional components to supporting consciousness. I do not believe a zombie or anything like that could be conscious because it wouldn't have the proper emotional support. Zombies are so lifeless that they wouldn't be sharp enough to support the conscious functions humans do.
Overall consciousness, however, occurs when feeling and understanding meet, this is because consciousness is shown in the ability to reflect on your feelings. In other words, when you understand what it is that you are feeling you are the most conscious. That is because during that time you are most aware of what is going on. This awareness could be described as an understanding of life, not just general understanding. That is you could be doing a math problem, but that math problem isn’t going to increase how conscious you are, because doing it isn’t going to increase your understanding of how it is that you are feeling. It could be that doing the problem makes you more awake, and as a side effect of that you understand how it is that you are feeling better, but that is just a side effect. Understanding how you are feeling makes you more aware of yourself because that increases how much you are thinking about yourself (or your feelings).
Since thoughts and emotions lead to feelings, the more you understand them as well the more conscious you are going to be. So if you are doing a math problem, the more you understand that you are doing a math problem, and the place the math problem has in your life, then the more conscious you are. That is, it isn’t doing the math problem that is making you more conscious, but it is understanding the place of what it is you are doing and feeling (in this case a math problem) and where that fits into your life that determines how conscious you are. It is your inner reflection of how the math problem makes you feel as a whole that separates humans being conscious from other animals. Consciousness basically means aware. This means that the math problem actually does lead to increased consciousness, because you are becoming more aware of the place of that math problem in your entire life as you do the math problem.
So consciousness basically means how aware someone is of themselves (it means other things as well). The more aware of yourself you are the more conscious you are. In order to be aware of yourself you need to understand where everything in your life fits in. It is this awareness, or commonsense, that is more important to understanding who you are. In order to be aware of yourself, or have a concept of self, you have to have a concept of how yourself interacts in the world as a whole, not just as individual parts.
Even though you might be sleeping, you are conscious because you still understand who you are. Then again, during dreams you don’t act in as rational a manner as when awake, as dreams tend to not make as much sense as real life. Therefore you wouldn’t be as conscious during a dream as you would when you are awake. You are still conscious to some degree, however, since you are functioning in a somewhat reasonable manner. But you still aren’t clearly perfectly aware of yourself or your place in the world since in dreams sometimes you do things and see things that don’t make sense, but you apparently don’t notice them. This indicates further that consciousness is more a matter of commonsense and how well you know yourself than just standard intellect like would be present say when doing a math problem. Your ability to reflect on yourself might not be related to normal IQ, but might more likely be more highly related to emotional IQ.
In other words commonsense can be measured just as standard intellect can be. But what leads to commonsense is emotional intelligence not intelligence that is more related to memory or something built up over time, like skill. The more commonsense someone has the more conscious they are because they know what it is that they are doing. This is a different type of consciousness then the type that makes humans human, this is the practical type of consciousness that makes someone aware of their environment and their ability to function, versus a deeper human consciousness. In dreams people have very little commonsense, for example, in a dream you might try to do the same thing over and over again even though it might be failing, and you just randomly appear in scenes or scenarios with no background knowledge of how you got there or where in the world you are. That suggests that during dreams you are solely emotional. So commonsense isn’t just emotional intelligence, but it is a general awareness that would result from understanding your emotions, thoughts, and feelings all at the same time (and their place in the world). In order to understand the proper place of emotions, thoughts and feelings just a large assortment of knowledge isn’t going to increase your understanding of who you are. What is going to increase your understanding of who you are however is understanding how your emotions, thoughts and feelings fit into the general assortment of facts and information which makes up the world.
In review, commonsense and a general knowledge of where you are leads to consciousness. Those things both are clear facts separated from a bunch of haziness (the real world). So something like a bee might act like it understands its place in the world, but it doesn’t consciously understand it because if you put it in a glass cage it might just bat against the wall trying to get out over and over, not aware that it is ever going to get anywhere. The bee has no commonsense or knowledge. Knowledge in that case would mean understanding that it is in a glass cage, and commonsense would mean understanding that it is never going to get out. So to have commonsense you do need knowledge, but you need to take knowledge and appropriately configure it in order to gain common sense, or consciousness.
You need some knowledge and standard intellect (like memory) to attain commonsense (or consciousness). The more memory you have (random assortment of facts and information) the more information you have to put together in an organized way. It could be that it is easier to put together small amounts of information since it is less to process, leading to more commonsense than just being confused with a lot of memory. However, if you have a lot of data (or memory) and are also capable of putting it together effectively (like you wouldn’t be doing in say a dream) then you would have more commonsense then if you had less data and put it together just as effectively, because overall you’d have more data that is properly processed. So commonsense (or consciousness) is your ability to organize the data in your head. This data is organized relative to yourself, therefore giving you a greater understanding of where you are relative to the data. Disorganized data doesn’t count at all. A greater memory might increase your commonsense, but only if you can put that extra data together effectively. The bee didn’t understand the data that it was in a glass cage, and it didn’t understand that it wasn’t getting anywhere by hitting against it over and over.  They just have no idea what they are doing. But that is because it probably doesn’t remember what it just did. It might remember to some extent, but that memory might not be clear. So it isn’t the bees fault that it has no commonsense, because it didn’t have a large enough memory to collect enough facts to potentially use commonsense. A person with no commonsense in that example would be someone constantly running into the door without using the handle. You know the person has a large enough memory to remember that it just did that and it shouldn’t do it again, but it is still doing it over and over. That human is not conscious at all.
That human is showing no understanding of its actions. Understanding actions leads to commonsense because it shows that you know your place in the world. That human apparently isn’t aware of its current place in the world, which is that it is never going to get out of the room with that strategy. So the more sense someone has, the more likely they are going to understand their place in the world and what they are doing, therefore being more conscious.
The better one understands the statement “I am happy” the more that person understands how they are then relative to their condition at previous times. That would lead to them understanding themself better. The better someone understands themself, the more aware of themself they are, leading to increased consciousness. That is an example of how understanding feelings leads to increased consciousness. That is also different from what makes humans truly conscious, however. It is someone’s own deep understanding of who they are and how they are happy at that specific time relative to their life, and the meaning of that which makes someone really aware.
So life is a bunch of data that needs to be sorted in some ways in order for a sense of self to be identified. One way to sort the data would be to identify things similar to yourself. A data point in the center would be you, the points closest to that would be the points most similar to you, and the points further out would be more different. That type of sorting would lead to a long term understanding of sense of self. The other type of sorting where the closest points are what is most relevant to you at the time would be a temporary sense of self. Take the bee example, the bee doesn’t understand that hitting the wall over and over isn’t getting it anywhere, so for it a temporary data point that it is missing that would increase its sense of self awareness is that it isn’t getting anywhere by doing that.
The other type of sense of self is a more long term one. Things like what you like and dislike, and what emotions different things cause in you repeatedly would help you identify “who you are”.  That means a deep psychological understanding of your emotions, thoughts and feelings, an understanding of how you perform both in individual and general instances, and what your ability is to perform in those instances.
Putting together some data points doesn’t increase self consciousness as much as if you put together data points that relate to yourself. It is when you relate data point(s) to yourself that even more increased consciousness occurs, because you are relating yourself to more information, increasing your interaction with the world and therefore understanding yourself better relative to the world. So doing a math problem isn’t going to increase your understanding of yourself a lot, because those data points don’t really relate to you. It is going to increase your understanding of yourself a little because you understand what it is that you are doing, which increases your understanding of yourself, but it doesn’t increase how much you are thinking about yourself, which would increase your awareness of yourself even more.
So basically any thought about oneself is going to increase ones sense of self. You have a permanent understanding of who you are that doesn’t change, and that is your long term understanding of self, but when you think about yourself, or you doing something (like trying to leave a room) your sense of self is temporarily increased because you are thinking about yourself more. So consciousness fluctuates greatly based on thought. It also increases greatly if you are having feelings or emotions about yourself as well. It increases when you are thinking, feeling, or being emotional about yourself because during those times you are more aware of yourself.
Commonsense increases someone’s ability to put data points (facts) together, but the more those facts (and resulting combinations of facts) relate to yourself the more that your consciousness is going to be increased. This leads to the conclusion that consciousness is just the awareness of the experience of oneself, and that experience includes ones actions, thoughts, feelings, and emotions (both long term and short term). It could be rephrased that consciousness is awareness of someone’s life experience, both short term and long term. The more commonsense someone has the more aware of their life they are going to be because they are going to be able to organize their life and their actions in an efficient, clear manner (both short term and long term) by connecting facts to themselves (the more distant the fact, the less consciousness it leads to because it is less related to yourself causing you to think about yourself less). The more someone is thinking about themself (or experiencing feelings and emotions about themself) the more they are going to be aware of that life experience because their life is going to be temporarily elevated in their minds.
It is impossible to have a perfect understanding of self, or consciousness because to do that you would have to be aware of the exact effect of each emotion, feeling and thought you have. To do that you’d have to be aware of everything in your environment, and everything that you can remember all at the same time. This means that your consciousness evolves based on your memory, that is if your memory changes, who you are changes because you can’t base yourself off the same things anymore. Who you are also changes based on your environment, and how aware you are of your environment.
You are going to be more aware of your environment if you are thinking more about your environment, or processing data about it (again this type of consciousness is more a functional one versus a deeper one). Processing data about your immediate environment leads to a greater sense of self because who you are is dependent on your immediate environment, because you automatically process what is going on in that environment. You get a lot of sensory stimulation from the environment you are in. That can be proved because when you think about your immediate environment your awareness of it increases much more than if you think about an environment you are not in. If you think about being in an environment you are not in your sense of self is going to decrease more than you would be if you weren’t thinking about anything, because your minds awareness is going to be divided between two places, so you’d have two senses of self. That links into the idea that processing data that is more relevant to yourself leads to greater consciousness, if the data is physically in your environment it is going to increase your self awareness because that is where you are (so you’d be thinking more about yourself).
While thinking about yourself being in another environment leads to less consciousness then just thinking about nothing, thinking about another environment without yourself in it leads to even less self consciousness then either of the two. That is because you just aren’t thinking about yourself at all. If you are processing data in your environment it is like you are thinking about that environment, only less so, so processing data in your environment would increase your sense of self more so than thinking about nothing in your environment, but less so than thinking about your environment directly. By “your environment” I mean the area directly around you, the closer it is to you the more related it is to you, so the more it is going to cause you to think about yourself. If you look at trees in the far distance you aren’t going to be as focused as if you were looking at someone right in front of you because your attention is on something less related to yourself.
 This thinking about oneself leads to greater consciousness because that is what consciousness is, awareness of oneself which is going to increase a lot when you think about yourself (or have feelings and emotions about yourself).
Those rules apply unless the environment has data which is similar to yourself, say if there is a painting of yourself far away that you are looking at, it would cause you to think more about yourself then if you were just focusing on your immediate environment. So if the environment is just environmental, sensory stimulation those rules apply, but if there is something in the environments that causes you to think deeply about something then you are going to be either even more removed from yourself (if you are thinking deeply about something not related to yourself like a math problem or a person who is different from you) or even more related to yourself (greater consciousness) if you are thinking about something deeply which is similar to yourself (say a person similar to yourself, or an experience of yours was a personal experience about you).
That shows that if you think about consciousness as a short term thing, your consciousness changes all the time and drastically. For instance, one might have barely any consciousness at all if they are completely out of it (drunk, really unfocused, laughing really hard). During that time you simply have little or no short term consciousness. There are multiple different time spans of awareness, however, one is of your life in the long term (many years), the other is of your life in the short term (a few years), and another is of your life in its immediate, current phase (days or so) (or any combination of time). People about over 50 might have a consciousness for each 10 year or so span of their life, and they would constantly remember all 5. People are aware of themselves and their lives at different periods. The only thing that is very consistent that people have of themselves is their understanding of who they are, how they interact in the world, and how their emotions, feelings, and thoughts respond in similar instances. Those are things which don’t change a lot based on the environment they are in, and that sense of self, or consciousness, is a more long term one. So long term consciousness is based off of how well you understand the psychology of your emotions, feelings, and thoughts, and also how those three interact as a whole to produce your long term psychological state/condition.
So having a larger memory isn’t going to necessarily increase your consciousness a lot because it isn’t going to lead to a greater understanding of yourself. What you remember of yourself changes your consciousness, but it doesn’t increase or decrease it a lot unless it is a dramatic amount of difference in memory, like the difference in memory between a dog and a human. Unless the greater your memory the greater your emotional experience and you’d need to constantly remember all prior experiences in order to maintain the most advanced level of emotional experience you have. In that case a decrease in memory would decrease your emotional experience, and the more advanced ones emotional experience the more likely it is they are going to have a better understanding of themself.
That leads to the idea that certain emotional experiences lead to a greater sense of self more so than other emotional experiences. If someone was in a war they would have the emotional experience of understanding how they respond in combat, and their sense of self would then forever (or as long as they can remember) be a more action oriented one. So the deeper the emotional experience, the more it contributes to your self consciousness. The more individual the emotional experience, that is, the more related the experience is to yourself, the more the experience is going to increase your self consciousness. That means that there isn’t just self consciousness, but people can be conscious about the world around them and other people, and that there is an overlap between self consciousness and world consciousness.
That is, if you have an experience with another person, you then become more aware of that person as well as more aware of yourself. So you’d have more consciousness of that person, and more self consciousness. The same idea goes if you have an emotional experience with an object, or group of objects (in the case of a war it might be something like guns). Going to war might increase someone’s consciousness of weapons or danger. Consciousness therefore means awareness in general, not just self awareness. If you are aware of something, then you are conscious of it.
Most dictionary definitions of consciousness just list it as being the things people are most aware of. There are things to be aware of that aren’t major things, things which you aren’t “most” aware of. Awareness just happens to center around the self. That is a selfish view of the world. Someone could be only most aware of wrongdoing, more aware of wrongdoing than they are of themself, that is possible. If that were true for most people then consciousness would be defined as wrongdoing, not someone’s interest, or awareness in themself.
So the best definition of consciousness is therefore “everything that someone is aware of”. People are aware of things in both the short term and the long term. A fly is probably only aware of things in the short term, since it has almost no memory compared to a human. A human’s consciousness can change drastically, however (their consciousness, or what it is that they are aware of in total). Conscious just means, “Are you aware in general”, but consciousness means, “what are you aware of exactly”.
The next question is, what are people usually most aware of? Most dictionary definitions have as definitions for consciousness things like awareness of ones surroundings, ones feelings, ones identity, things that people are usually most aware of. Those definitions are people’s long term sense of consciousness. Over the long run, most of the things you are going to be aware of are going to be related to yourself somehow; therefore most of consciousness is based on the self. However, you can think about things that aren’t related to yourself, and your thought changes drastically, so during periods of thought about things that aren’t related to oneself that person is almost completely not focused on themself. It is impossible to be completely not focused on oneself because you are experiencing physical sensations from your body all the time (which are going to be about yourself), not just mental ones.
So someone can have consciousness about something, the question “what is consciousness” is like asking “what is awareness”. Awareness is when you focus on certain things and therefore think about them and/or have more feelings and emotions about them. In review, consciousness means “awareness”, “everything that someone is aware of”, “everything that someone is aware of currently”, or “everything that someone is aware of currently or during a certain period of time (say their life)”. So you could ask, “what was your consciousness over the last 5 years”.  The response could be “wrongdoing”, “myself”, or a large list of things. A more specific version of that would be to ask, “what are you aware of, and when are you aware of it”, or “over the last five years what were you aware of, and when were you aware of it”. If someone wants to know someone else’s life time consciousness they could ask, “what were you aware of throughout your life”. If someone wanted to know if someone was conscious about something (or what their consciousness was of something) they could ask, “what is your awareness of that thing”, or “what is your consciousness of that” (for example, “what is your consciousness of war”). You could also say, “what does it truly mean to be human” that could also mean what is consciousness.
How This Chapter shows how Intelligence is intertwined with Emotion:
- Explaining the definition of consciousness shows how intelligence isn’t just random thoughts and emotions, but some parts of intelligence are directed thoughts and directed emotions, and that direction is what makes someone conscious.
References
Baddeley, A.D. (2001) ‘Is working memory still working?’ American Psychologist 56: 851–864.


8.8: Treatment Approaches for Drug Addiction
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Can drug addiction be treated?
Yes, but it’s not simple. Because addiction is a chronic disease, people can’t simply stop using drugs for a few days and be cured. Most patients need long-term or repeated care to stop using completely and recover their lives.
Addiction treatment must help the person do the following:
- stop using drugs
- stay drug-free
- be productive in the family, at work, and in society
Principles of Effective Treatment
Based on scientific research since the mid-1970s, the following key principles should form the basis of any effective treatment program:
- Addiction is a complex but treatable disease that affects brain function and behavior.
- No single treatment is right for everyone.
- People need to have quick access to treatment.
- Effective treatment addresses all of the patient’s needs, not just his or her drug use.
- Staying in treatment long enough is critical.
- Counseling and other behavioral therapies are the most commonly used forms of treatment.
- Medications are often an important part of treatment, especially when combined with behavioral therapies.
- Treatment plans must be reviewed often and modified to fit the patient’s changing needs.
- Treatment should address other possible mental disorders.
- Medically assisted detoxification is only the first stage of treatment.
- Treatment doesn’t need to be voluntary to be effective.
- Drug use during treatment must be monitored continuously.
- Treatment programs should test patients for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases as well as teach them about steps they can take to reduce their risk of these illnesses.
How is drug addiction treated?
Successful treatment has several steps:
- detoxification (the process by which the body rids itself of a drug)
- behavioral counseling
- medication (for opioid, tobacco, or alcohol addiction)
- evaluation and treatment for co-occurring mental health issues such as depression and anxiety
- long-term follow-up to prevent relapse
A range of care with a tailored treatment program and follow-up options can be crucial to success. Treatment should include both medical and mental health services as needed. Follow-up care may include community- or family-based recovery support systems.
How are medications used in drug addiction treatment?
Medications can be used to manage withdrawal symptoms, prevent relapse, and treat cooccurring conditions.
Withdrawal: Medications help suppress withdrawal symptoms during detoxification. Detoxification is not in itself “treatment,” but only the first step in the process. Patients who do not receive any further treatment after detoxification usually resume their drug use. One study of treatment facilities found that medications were used in almost 80 percent of detoxifications (SAMHSA, 2014).
Relapse prevention: Patients can use medications to help re-establish normal brain function and decrease cravings. Medications are available for treatment of opioid (heroin, prescription pain relievers), tobacco (nicotine), and alcohol addiction. Scientists are developing other medications to treat stimulant (cocaine, methamphetamine) and cannabis (marijuana) addiction. People who use more than one drug, which is very common, need treatment for all of the substances they use.
- Opioids: Methadone (Dolophine®, Methadose®), buprenorphine (Suboxone®, Subutex®, Probuphine®), and naltrexone (Vivitrol®) are used to treat opioid addiction. Acting on the same targets in the brain as heroin and morphine, methadone and buprenorphine suppress withdrawal symptoms and relieve cravings. Naltrexone blocks the effects of opioids at their receptor sites in the brain and should be used only in patients who have already been detoxified. All medications help patients reduce drug seeking and related criminal behavior and help them become more open to behavioral treatments.
- Tobacco: Nicotine replacement therapies have several forms, including the patch, spray, gum, and lozenges. These products are available over the counter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two prescription medications for nicotine addiction: bupropion (Zyban®) and varenicline (Chantix®). They work differently in the brain, but both help prevent relapse in people trying to quit. The medications are more effective when combined with behavioral treatments, such as group and individual therapy as well as telephone quitlines.
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Alcohol:
Three medications have been FDA-approved for treating alcohol addiction and a fourth, topiramate, has shown promise in clinical trials (large-scale studies with people). The three approved medications are as follows:
- Naltrexone blocks opioid receptors that are involved in the rewarding effects of drinking and in the craving for alcohol. It reduces relapse to heavy drinking and is highly effective in some patients. Genetic differences may affect how well the drug works in certain patients.
- Acamprosate (Campral®) may reduce symptoms of long-lasting withdrawal, such as insomnia, anxiety, restlessness, and dysphoria (generally feeling unwell or unhappy). It may be more effective in patients with severe addiction.
- Disulfiram (Antabuse®) interferes with the breakdown of alcohol. Acetaldehyde builds up in the body, leading to unpleasant reactions that include flushing (warmth and redness in the face), nausea, and irregular heartbeat if the patient drinks alcohol. Compliance (taking the drug as prescribed) can be a problem, but it may help patients who are highly motivated to quit drinking.
- Co-occuring conditions: Other medications are available to treat possible mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, that may be contributing to the person’s addiction.
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). Wheel of drug addiction treatments
How are behavioral therapies used to treat drug addiction?
Behavioral therapies help patients:
- modify their attitudes and behaviors related to drug use
- increase healthy life skills
- persist with other forms of treatment, such as medication
Patients can receive treatment in many different settings with various approaches.
Outpatient behavioral treatment includes a wide variety of programs for patients who visit a behavioral health counselor on a regular schedule. Most of the programs involve individual or group drug counseling, or both. These programs typically offer forms of behavioral therapy such as:
- cognitive-behavioral therapy, which helps patients recognize, avoid, and cope with the situations in which they are most likely to use drugs
- multidimensional family therapy —developed for adolescents with drug abuse problems as well as their families—which addresses a range of influences on their drug abuse patterns and is designed to improve overall family functioning
- motivational interviewing , which makes the most of people’s readiness to change their behavior and enter treatment
- motivational incentives (contingency management), which uses positive reinforcement to encourage abstinence from drugs
Treatment is sometimes intensive at first, where patients attend multiple outpatient sessions each week. After completing intensive treatment, patients transition to regular outpatient treatment, which meets less often and for fewer hours per week to help sustain their recovery.
Inpatient or residential treatment can also be very effective, especially for those with more severe problems (including co-occurring disorders). Licensed residential treatment facilities offer 24-hour structured and intensive care, including safe housing and medical attention. Residential treatment facilities may use a variety of therapeutic approaches, and they are generally aimed at helping the patient live a drug-free, crime-free lifestyle after treatment.
Points To Remember
Drug addiction can be treated, but it’s not simple. Addiction treatment must help the person do the following:
- stop using drugs
- stay drug-free
- be productive in the family, at work, and in society
Successful treatment has several steps:
- detoxification
- behavioral counseling
- medication (for opioid, tobacco, or alcohol addiction)
- evaluation and treatment for co-occurring mental health issues such as depression and anxiety
- long-term follow-up to prevent relapse
Medications can be used to manage withdrawal symptoms, prevent relapse, and treat cooccurring conditions.
- Behavioral therapies help patients:
- modify their attitudes and behaviors related to drug use
- increase healthy life skills
- persist with other forms of treatment, such as medication
- People within the criminal justice system may need additional treatment services to treat drug use disorders effectively. However, many offenders don’t have access to the types of services they need.


1.7: READ- Are We Legally Required to Offer Benefits to Part-Time Employees?
Are we legally required to offer benefits to part-time employees?
Some laws require employers to offer certain benefits to part-time employees, yes. State and local laws vary and may require that benefits such as paid sick leave, short-term disability, or health insurance plans or premiums be offered to part-time employees. Employers will want to check the laws in every state where they employ workers to ensure compliance.
Some federal laws also require that benefits be offered to part-time employees:
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers to offer health insurance to employees working at least 30 hours per week (or 130 hours per month) to avoid paying penalties.
Part-time employee eligibility to participate in a company's retirement plan must comply with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) "1,000-hour rule." Employees who have completed 1,000 hours of service in a 12-month period are eligible to participate in any retirement plan that is offered to other employees. This requirement applies to both full-time and part-time employees.
For plan years beginning after Dec. 31, 2020, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 requires employers to allow long-term part-time workers to make elective deferrals to the employer-sponsored 401(k) plan, except in the case of collectively bargained plans. Eligible employees are those who have completed at least 500 hours of service each year for three consecutive years and are age 21 or older. Years of service prior to 2021 do not have to be counted;however, employers may choose to have more generous eligibility rules. The 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act (also known as the Secure Act 2.0) reduces the three consecutive years of service to two years for plan years beginning after Dec. 31, 2024.
 Both the Service Contract Act (SCA) and the Davis Bacon and Related Acts (DBA) require covered federal contractors to provide certain fringe benefits (or monetary equivalents where allowed) to all employees.
Outside of state or federal requirements, eligibility for voluntary benefits is at the discretion of the employer. Policies should be very clear on what benefits are offered to full-time versus part-time employees and what the eligibility requirements are for these benefits (number of hours, types of benefits, etc.) Policies should be administered in a fair and consistent manner.
Further, there are mandated employee benefits such as unemployment and workers' compensation insurance that may be required under state law for all employees.
Source: Q & A: "Are we legally required to offer benefits to part-time employees?" Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). January 11, 2023.


4.1: Consumer Surplus
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Learning objectives
Explain the relationship between price and quantity demanded
Willingness to Pay and the Demand Curve
In general as the price of a good increases, the quantity demanded of that good decreases.
A demand curve is the graphical depiction of the relationship between the price of a certain commodity and the amount of it that consumers are willing and able to purchase at that price. Demand curves are used to estimate behaviors in competitive markets and are often used with supply curves to estimate the market equilibrium price, or the price at which sellers are willing to sell the same amount of a product as the market’s buyers are willing purchase. A demand graph can reflect the preferences of a single consumer, a group of consumers or an entire market. For demand graphs that reflect a group, the individual demands at each price are added together.
Demand is the willingness and ability of a consumer to purchase a good under the prevailing circumstances. It is defined by three elements:
- Individual Utility: An item’s utility is based on its ability to satisfy an individual’s needs or wants. Some utility is universal; every human needs water to survive so it has high utility for everyone. Some utility is based on personal preference; some people prefer Coke over Pepsi so for them Coke has the higher utility. The more people that find utility in the good the greater the market demand; the greater the individual utility in the product the greater the individual demand.
- Purchasing Power: Demand is measured based on a person’s willingness to buy under the prevailing circumstances. If an individual lacks the money to purchase the product, she can’t demand it because she cannot afford it.
- Ability to Decide: The individual must be able to choose to make a purchase. Sometimes circumstances may prevent a person from purchasing something they might desire, even if they have the necessary money. For example, an underaged person may not be permitted by law to purchase cigarettes. That person might want the cigarettes and can afford to purchase them, but since it is against the law for him to purchase it, there is no demand.
For the vast majority of goods and services, an increase in price will lead to a decrease in the quantity demanded. There are two exceptions to this general rule.
Supply and demand graph : The downward sloping demand curve reflects the fact that as price increases, consumers willing to purchase less of the good or service.
Veblen Goods
Veblen goods are expensive luxury products, such as designer handbags and high-end cars. In these rare circumstances, decreasing the price actually decreases the demand for the good. The reason for this is because part of the value of the good is exclusivity. These items are status symbols and lowering the price diminishes the status.
Giffen Goods
Giffen goods are another example where rising prices can lead to increased demand for a product. Giffen goods are very rare and are defined by three characteristics:
- It is an inferior good, or a good for which demand decreases as consumer income rises,
- There must be a lack of substitute product,
- The good must constitute a substantial percentage of the buyer’s income, but not such a substantial percentage of the buyer’s income that none of the associated normal goods are consumed.
For example, imagine a significant portion of a family’s grocery bill is bread. Bread is a staple and it is the cheapest option out of the food available. If bread prices rise, the family will need to cut back on other groceries to make up the difference. However, since the family still need to eat a certain amount of calories each day and bread is still the cheapest option, they will purchase more bread to make up for the food they aren’t purchasing and consuming. In this instance, bread is a giffen good.
The Demand Curve and Consumer Surplus
Consumer surplus is the difference between the maximum price a consumer is willing to pay and the actual price they do pay.
Learning objectives
Illustrate consumer surplus with the demand schedule and demand curve
Consumer surplus is the difference between the maximum price a consumer is willing to pay and the actual price they do pay. If a consumer would be willing to pay more than the current asking price, then they are getting more benefit from the purchased product than they spent to buy it. Consumer surplus plus producer surplus equals the total economic surplus in the market.
This chart graphically illustrates consumer surplus in a market without any monopolies, binding price controls, or any other inefficiencies. The price in this chart is set at the pareto optimal. This means that the price could not be increased or decreased without one of the parties being made worse off. The consumer surplus, as marked in red, is bound by the y-axis on the left, the demand curve on the right, and a horizontal line where y equals the equilibrium price. This area represent the amount of goods consumers would have been willing to purchase at a price higher than the pareto optimal price. Generally, the lower the price, the greater the consumer surplus.
Consumer Surplus : Consumer surplus, as shown highlighted in red, represents the benefit consumers get for purchasing goods at a price lower than the maximum they are willing to pay.
Another way to define consumer surplus in less quantitative terms is as a measure of a consumer’s well-being.  But the utility, or “usefulness,” of most goods vary depending on a person’s individual preferences. Since the utility a person gets from a good defines her demand for it, utility also defines the consumer surplus an individual might get from purchasing that item. If a person has no use for a good, there is no consumer’s surplus for that person in purchasing the good no matter the price. However, if a person finds a good incredibly useful, consumer surplus will be significant even if the price is high. An individual’s customer surplus for a product is based on the individual’s utility of that product.
Impacts of Price Changes on Consumer Surplus
Consumer surplus decreases when price is set above the equilibrium price, but increases to a certain point when price is below the equilibrium price.
Learning objectives
Explain how shifting a price away from pareto optimal will impact consumer surplus
Consumer surplus is defined, in part, by the price of the product. Recall that the consumer surplus is calculating the area between the demand curve and the price line for the quantity of goods sold. Assuming that there is no shift in demand, an increase in price will therefore lead to a reduction in consumer surplus, while a decrease in price will lead to an increase in consumer surplus.
Consumer Surplus : An increase in the price will reduce consumer surplus, while a decrease in the price will increase consumer surplus.
Below are two scenarios that illustrate how changes in price can affect consumers’ surplus. It is important to note that any shift from the good’s pareto optimal price will result in a decrease in the total economic surplus. The total economic surplus equals the sum of the consumer and producer surpluses.
Price Ceiling
A binding price ceiling is one that is lower than the pareto efficient market price. This means that consumers will be able to purchase the product at a lower price than what would normally be available to them. It might appear that this would increase consumer surplus, but that is not necessarily the case.
For consumers to achieve a surplus they have to be able to purchase the product, which means that producers have to make enough to be purchased at a price. If a good’s price drops below the market equilibrium for whatever reason, manufacturing the product will be less profitable for the producers. So while more consumers will want to purchase the product because of its low price, they will not be able to. This means the market will have a shortage for that good. This shortage will create a deadweight loss, or a market wide loss of efficiency and value that neither producer nor consumers obtain.
So any increase in consumer surplus due to the decrease in price may be offset by the fact that consumers that want the good cannot purchase it. At some point the benefit from the drop in price will be outweighed by the decrease in the good’s availability.
Price Floor
When a price floor is set above the equilibrium price, consumers will have to purchase the product at a higher price. Therefore, fewer consumers will purchase the product because some will decide that the utility they get from the good is not worth the price. Necessarily, this reflects a drop in consumer surplus.
Key Points
- Demand is the willingness and ability of a consumer to purchase a good under certain circumstances.
- Demand curves are used to estimate behaviors in competitive markets and are often used with supply curves to estimate the market equilibrium price, or the price at which sellers are willing to sell the same amount of a product as the market’s buyers are willing purchase.
- An individual’s demand is defined by her utility, purchasing power, and ability to make a purchasing decision.
- On a supply and demand chart, consumer surplus is bound by the y-axis on the left, the demand curve on the right, and a horizontal line where y equals the current market price.
- Another way to define consumer surplus in less quantitative terms is as a measure of a consumer’s well-being.
- An individual’s customer surplus for a product is based on the individual’s utility of that product.
- Consumer surplus will only increase as long as the benefit from the lower price exceeds the costs from the resulting shortage.
- Consumer surplus always decreases when a binding price floor is instituted in a market above the equilibrium price.
- The total economic surplus equals the sum of the consumer and producer surpluses.
- Price helps define consumer surplus, but overall surplus is maximized when the price is pareto optimal, or at equilibrium.
Key Terms
- demand curve : The graph depicting the relationship between the price of a certain commodity and the amount of it that consumers are willing and able to purchase at that given price.
- utility : The ability of a commodity to satisfy needs or wants; the satisfaction experienced by the consumer of that commodity.
- consumer surplus : The difference between the maximum price a consumer is willing to pay and the actual price they do pay.
- price floor : A mandated minimum price for a product in a market.
- Price ceiling : A government-imposed price control or limit on how high a price is charged for a product.
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