Michael Bozarth

Address:

Department of Psychology
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York  14260-4110

Research Interests:

Self-actualization theory, client-center therapy models, behavior modification and learning-based theories of psychopathology, psychopharmacology, biological psychiatry, harm-reduction strategiesrnrnAlso, addiction theories, animal models, neurobiological basis of addiction, treatment models, psychopharmacology of abused drugs, neuropsychopharmacology,

Biography:

• My empirical research has involved primarily investigating the biological basis of appetitive motivation and reward processes with special attention to addictive agents such as the psychomotor stimulants (e.g., amphetamine, cocaine, methamphetamine) and the opioids (e.g., heroin, morphine, oxycodone). 
• Other interests involve the neuropsychopharmacology of catecholamine systems (e.g., dopamine) and their relationship to general motivational theory and specific applications in biological psychiatry. 
• My more recent work is largely directed to applying what I’ve learned over the past 40+ years studying addictive behavior and the neuroscience of addiction; 
• Another active line of investigation involves the study of terrorism and the deployment of better counter-terrorism strategies. 
• This last endeavor uses primarily a social cognition approach to better understand the terrorist’s mindset and to help develop more effective predictive algorithms for potential adversarial events. 
• Although I am no longer active in most professional societies, I am a former Fellow of the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology and remain a Charter Fellow Emeritus of the Association for Psychological Science.

 

Specifically, my work now involves:

• facilitating addiction technology transfer, 
• development of more rational drug-regulation policies, and 
• application of harm-reduction strategies.