In keeping with the goals of this Special Issue, this paper poses the following questions: What are addiction’s non-eliminable features and can they be explained by one or more general principles? I have added the qualifier “distinctive” to these goals, as in “distinctive non-eliminable features.” The result is a highly heterogeneous list, which includes features of addiction’s natural history, such as its high remission rates, its unique idioms (e.g., “kicking the habit”), and its patented interventions, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. I show that each of these distinctive features reflects how individuals make choices. In particular, they reflect the competing claims of two basic choice processes: global maximizing of the sort assumed in introductory economics textbooks and Herrnstein’s matching law, which has empirical rather than theoretical roots. These are basic choice processes, which apply to all decision making, not just drugs and not just addicts. Nevertheless, they can result in addiction when one of the options has the capacity to undermine the value of competing interests and undermine global maximizing. Conversely, the analyses also show that the two basic choice processes combine so as to predict that addiction is a semi-stable state that is biased to resolve in favor of remission. These predictions are supported by the high rates of addiction, by the high rates of remission from addiction, and by the fact that remission is often unassisted or “spontaneous.” The analyses fail to support the idea that pathological psychological processes lead to addiction. Rather they show that addiction emerges from the interactions of normal choice processes and the behaviorally toxic effects of drugs.

为了与本期特刊的目标保持一致，本文提出了以下问题：成瘾的不可消除特征是什么？它们可以用一个或多个一般原则来解释吗？我在这些目标中添加了“独特的”限定词，例如“独特的不可消除的特征”。结果是一个高度异质的列表，其中包括成瘾自然史的特征，例如高缓解率、其独特的习语（例如，“戒除习惯”）及其专利干预措施，例如匿名戒酒者. 我展示了这些独特的特征中的每一个都反映了个人如何做出选择。特别是，它们反映了两个基本选择过程的竞争主张：在介绍性经济学教科书中假设的那种全局最大化和 Herrnstein 匹配定律，它具有经验而非理论根源。这些是基本的选择过程，适用于所有决策，而不仅仅是毒品，也不仅仅是瘾君子。然而，当其中一种选择有能力破坏竞争利益的价值并破坏全球最大化时，它们可能会导致上瘾。相反，分析还表明，两个基本选择过程相结合，可以预测成瘾是一种半稳定状态，倾向于解决有利于缓解。这些预测得到了高成瘾率的支持，由于成瘾的高缓解率，以及缓解通常是不受帮助或“自发”的。这些分析未能支持病理性心理过程导致成瘾的观点。相反，他们表明，成瘾源于正常选择过程和药物行为毒性作用的相互作用。