Nurturing behavioral repertoires within a nonsupportive environment

Recent articles have expressed concern over the increasing retreat to mentalism among behaviorists. The problem has been described elsewhere as a shift in verbal behavior resulting from the contingencies imposed by mentalistic verbal communities. Previous solutions have focused on strengthening our behavioral graduate programs to make the graduates' verbal repertoires more resistant to change. We suggest it is useful to analyze the problem in terms of inappropriate audience control and offer an approach by which behaviorists may assemble audiences to maintain their behavioral verbal repertoires within mentalistic verbal communities.     

A post-genomic view of behavioral development and adaptation to the environment

Recent advances in molecular genetics and epigenetics are reviewed that have major implications for the bio-behavioral sciences and for understanding how organisms adapt to their environments at both phylogenetic and ontogenic levels. From a post-genomics perspective, the environment is as crucial as the DNA sequence for constructing the phenotype, and as a source of information in trying to predict phenotypes. The review is organized with respect to four basic processes by which phenotypes adapt to environmental challenges, with an emphasis on the data for humans: (1) developmental plasticity, (2) epigenetic mechanisms, (3) genotype-environment correlations, and (4) gene × environment interactions.     

Al-Qaeda's operational evolution: behavioral and organizational perspectives

Al-Qaeda is widely regarded by the military, law enforcement, diplomatic, and intelligence communities as being the foremost threat to U.S. national security and safety. The nature of this threat, however, has changed since al-Qaeda first emerged in the late 1980s. This article describes the emergence of a new form of transnational terrorism and details al-Qaeda's progression from being an organization to an ideological movement. Drawing on a theory of social movements, we analyze its trajectory and the levels of influence. We also offer a behavioral perspective in explaining how al-Qaeda has adapted as a learning organization with new leadership, tactics, and patterns of recruitment and training.     

Epileptic tendencies in relation to behavioral responses to a novel environment in the Mongolian gerbil

The severity of epileptic-like seizures in gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus), placed in an open field, is directly related to their ambulatory activity on subsequent trials. An inverse relationship, however, occurs between seizure severity and oriented, bipedal rearing behavior on subsequent trials. Principal components and multiple linear regression analyses support the hypothesis that ambulation and rearing have different underlying neuronal mechanisms. If these two activities are considered as measures of arousal and attention, respectively, then epileptic-like seizures may be caused by hyperactivity of mechanisms which induce arousal.     

Perceived fit with an academic environment: Attitudinal and behavioral outcomes

Because person–organization fit relates to important outcomes, and because fit is a time-dependent process, there exists a need to model longitudinal data related to fit. In a multi-university sample (N = 1174), we tested hypotheses concerning person–organization fit and various behavioral and attitudinal outcomes; correlations between changes in these variables over time, and the correlates of these changes. Using autoregressive modeling and latent growth curve modeling, results indicated that academic fit leads to academic satisfaction, which in turn leads to turnover intent, and to a lesser extent GPA and class absenteeism. Changes in academic fit correlated highly with similar changes in satisfaction and GPA and with opposite changes in turnover intent. Academic satisfaction did not correlate with subsequent organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as predicted; changes across these domains were significantly related, but were small. Consistent with our hypotheses, Realistic interests correlated negatively with changes in academic fit and satisfaction. Investigative interests were correlated positively with changes in fit and initial satisfaction levels. We conclude by discussing implications, limitations, and future research concerning the longitudinal analysis of person–organization fit.     

Units of interaction, evolution, and replication: organic and behavioral parallels

Organic and behavioral evolution both involve variation, selection, and replication with retention; but the individuals involved in these processes differ in the two kinds of evolution. In this paper, biological units of evolution, selection, and retention are compared with analogous units at the behavioral level. In organic evolution, natural selection operates on variations among organisms within a species, with the result of preserving in future generations of organisms those heritable characteristics that contributed to the organism's survival and reproduction. Species evolve as characteristics of the population change as a result of past selection. Continuity in a lineage in the biosphere is maintained by replication of genes with retention of organismic characteristics across successive generations of organisms. In behavioral evolution, reinforcement operates on variations among responses within an operant, with the result of preserving in future responses those characteristics that resulted in reinforcement. Continuity in a behavioral lineage, within the repertoire of a given organism, appears to involve retention and replication, but the unit of retention and replication is unknown. We suggest that the locus of retention and replication is the nervous system of the behaving organism.     

Brain weights correlate with behavioral parameters in individual inbred mice housed in a common and enriched environment

Fifty 8-week-old Balb/c mice were individually identified and housed together in a large and enriched environment for 5 months. Maze and open field exploration, response to an aversive noise, swimming, and induced grooming tests were applied to each mouse in an initial search for possible relationships between brain morphology and spontaneous behavior in isogenic individuals living in a complex social and physical environment. The tasks generated 39 quantitative behavioral indices which include locomotion, rearing, still, and grooming bout frequencies, latencies, total, and mean bout durations. At the end of the tests, the 7-month-old mice were sacrificed and the fresh weights of their whole brain, cerebellum, brain stem, diencephalon, telencephalon, and prosencephalon were rapidly obtained. Behavioral data have wide variations and do not adjust to normal population distributions. Means of the same parameter differ between tests. A Spearman correlation matrix of all data yielded many significant correlations between indices of the same task which can be interpreted in terms of time budget and sequence probability. Significant correlations between indices of different tests suggest diverse emotionalities, exploratory strategies, and motor skills. The correlations between body and brain weights and among separate brain regions were not significant. There were several low but significant correlations between brain weights and behavioral indices. Such correlations, the resulting factors, and significant behavioral differences between mice with large and small brains suggest that mice displaying low motor activity in novel environments have larger brains and forebrain/hindbrain ratios than mice with high activity, and that animals with high scores of some specific behaviors have larger brain areas physiologically related to such behaviors.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

How research in behavioral pharmacology informs behavioral science

Behavioral pharmacology is a maturing science that has made significant contributions to the study of drug effects on behavior, especially in the domain of drug-behavior interactions. Less appreciated is that research in behavioral pharmacology can have, and has had, implications for the experimental analysis of behavior, especially its conceptualizations and theory. In this article, I outline three general strategies in behavioral pharmacology research that have been employed to increase understanding of behavioral processes. Examples are provided of the general characteristics of the strategies and of implications of previous research for behavior theory. Behavior analysis will advance as its theories are challenged.     

Engineering the behavioral engineer

Twenty-eight nursing staff members treated, by operant methods, a simulated headbanging patient. They were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions, involving improvement versus non-improvement of the "patient" and promise of reward versus no promise of reward. The promise of reward significantly improved accuracy of treatment. Improvement of the patient, however, did not improve accuracy.     

Biasing the pacemaker in the behavioral theory of timing

In the behavioral theory of timing, pacemaker rate is determined by overall rate of reinforcement. A two-alternative free-operant psychophysical procedure was employed to investigate whether pacemaker period was also sensitive to the differential rate of reinforcement. Responding on a left key during the first 25 s and on a right key during the second 25 s of a 50-s trial was reinforced at variable intervals, and variable-interval schedule values during the two halves of the trials were varied systematically. Responding on the right key during the first 25 s and on the left key during the second 25 s was not reinforced. Estimates of pacemaker period were derived from fits of a function predicted by the behavioral theory of timing to right-key response proportions in consecutive 5-s bins of the 50-s trial. Estimates of pacemaker period were shortest when the differential reinforcer rate most strongly favored right-key responses, and were longest when the differential reinforcer rate most strongly favored left-key responses. The results were consistent with the conclusion that pacemaker rate is influenced by relative reinforcer rate.     

Context effects in the behavioral ratings of hyperactivity

It was proposed that parents of hyperactive children would observe more problems at home in some but not all home contexts. To test this hypothesis, parents of teacher-identified hyperactive and nonhyperactive children were asked to complete a context-specific behavioral rating scale (Werry, 1968). Hyperactive children were rated by their parents as changing activities, talking, interrupting, and exhibiting dependency more than nonhyperactive children. Furthermore, those differences between hyperactive and control children were observed primarily in the play and homework contexts.This research was supported by a National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH(32282).     

Outcome predictors in the behavioral treatment of stuttering

The MMPI and subscales of the Stuttering Severity scale were utilized to predict motivation and success in the behavioral treatment of 32 stutterers. Subjects spent a mean of 10 individual sessions in criterion-oriented learning of fluent speech based on speech-muscle relaxation aided by EMG visual biofeedback. Judged motivation and judged success were strongly related to each other and significantly related to MMPI K and Es scores and negatively to F and Sc. Actual success was negatively related to Sc and Pd, completely unrelated to Es, and (if anything) negatively related to K. Results are consistent with previous studies, and show that global judgements of progress were only minimally related to a measure of actual progress.     

Outline of the evolution of behavioral and nonbehavioral patterns of parental care among the vertebrates: critical characteristics of mammalian and avian parental behavior

An outline of the evolution of parental care among the vertebrates is presented, leading to a characterization of critical features of parental care among the mammals and birds. Among the lower vertebrates (fishes, amphibia) and reptiles there are a variety of patterns of parental care. These can be divided into those that involve parental behavior and those that are nonbehavioral. Among extant species, parental behavior is not the predominant form of parental care, although it is present in many species of fish, frog and reptile. Nonbehavioral patterns of parental care predominate and are equally effective as parental behavior. Parental behavior is based on reciprocal stimulus interaction (trophallaxis) between the parent and the offspring and includes behavior directed at the nest, eggs, and developing young. Among lower vertebrates and reptiles there are increases in the complexity and completeness of parental behaviors but only among the mammals and birds has parental behavior been elaborated as the only form of parental care. Critical characteristics of mammalian parental behavior are: simultaneous onset of birth, lactation, and maternal care, rapid formation of an attachment of the mother to her offspring, synchrony in the behavioral interaction between mother and young during their development until weaning, and the significance of the mother-offspring unit as the basis of social organization. Among birds there is the period of egg incubation in the nest preceding hatching of the young, in addition to the above characteristics of mammals, but the mother-offspring unit is not the basis for social organization.