Psychology Faculty

Gene Heyman

Senior Lecturer

Gene Heyman

Ph.D.

Contact

McGuinn Hall 505

Telephone: 617-552-9287

Email: gene.heyman@bc.edu

Education

  • Ph.D., Harvard University

Courses

PSYC1110 Introduction to Psychology as a Natural Science

PSYC4433 Addiction, Choice, and Motivation

PSYC4471 Research Practicum in Experimental Psychology

Research Interests

Gene Heyman is currently conducting two research projects: (1) the economic and social correlates of opiate use and overdose deaths, and (2) the allocation of attention, using briefly presented stimuli in a lab setting. The addiction research combines published, federal and Internet-housed drug use and economic data for the 3000-plus US counties. The attention research explores two questions: (1) do the economic and psychological principles that govern the allocation of choice also govern the allocation of attention? And (2) how does attention allocation relate to higher order cognitive processes. The addiction project uses statistical methods to identify the correlates of drug use; the attention lab studies take advantage of a new procedure (developed at BC) for measuring attention.

 

Personal Website Curriculum Vitae

Department

Psychology

Profile

Gene Heyman does research on topics in drug use (e.g., the overdose epidemic), behavioral economics (e.g., delay discounting), and selective attention. In different ways, these topics each involve making choices.

Representative Publications

Heyman, G. M. (2018). Deriving addiction: An analysis based on three elementary features of making choices.  Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Addiction. Pp 23-33.

Heyman, G. M. (2017). Do addicts have free will? An empirical approach to a vexing question. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 5, 85-93.

Heyman, G. M., Grisanzio, K., & Liang, V. (2016) Introducing a method for quantifying the allocation of attention: the results reveal commonalities with quantitative aspects of choice. Frontiers in Psychology.

Heyman, G.M., 2015. Opiate Use and Abuse, History of. In: James D. Wright (editor-in-chief), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Vol 17. Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 236–242.

Heyman, G. M. (2014, Feb. 4). Drug addiction is a matter of difficult choices. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/02/10/what-is-addiction/drug-addiction-is-a-matter-of-difficult-choices

Heyman, G. M., Dunn, B., & Mignone, J. (2014). Disentangling the correlates of drug use: A regression analysis of the associations between frequency of drug use, years-of-school, impulsivity, working memory, and psychiatric symptoms. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 5, 70.

Heyman, G. M. (2013). Quitting drugs: quantitative and qualitative features. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 9, 29-59.

Heyman, G. M. (2009) Addiction: A disorder of choice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

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