Press Releases :: September 18, 2008

Subcommittee Looks at Role of Social, Behavior, and Economic Sciences in Health Choices

(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Research and Science Education held a hearing to explore the role of the social, behavioral, and economic sciences in improving our Nation’s health and well being and reducing the economic burden of health care. As health care costs continue to skyrocket, Subcommittee Members examine how citizens make the choices that affect their health. 

“Each person decides whether to smoke, to exercise, to cook at home or stop at the nearest fast food joint,” said Subcommittee Chairman Brian Baird (D-WA).  “We have all of the tools and resources we need to make the healthy choice every time, but we still engage in unhealthy behaviors.  Access to information and resources is not the sum of what influences our decisions.”

Basic and applied research in the social, behavioral and economic sciences is funded out of a number of federal agencies, led by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

“They say it takes a healthy body to make a health mind.  The inverse is equally true,” said Baird. 

The hearing also examined the role of emotional literacy, behavior change communications, economics models, and the mind-body connection.  The witnesses spoke specifically about the role of behavior in diseases associated with smoking, unsafe sexual practices, and a sedentary lifestyle.

For more information and witness testimony visit the Committee’s website.

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