Behavioral determinants of drug action. The contributions of Peter B. Dews

Peter B. Dews played a significant role in shaping the distinctive characteristics and defining the underlying principles of the discipline of behavioral pharmacology. His early and sophisticated use of schedules of reinforcement in the 1950s, incorporated from research in the experimental analysis of behavior and integrated into the discipline of pharmacology, provided tremendous insight, inspiration, and impetus to the newly emerging field of behavioral pharmacology. The experimental findings generated by Dews' research, blending the sophisticated use of behavior and pharmacological principles together with the elegant manner of their presentation and far-reaching implications, provided the force and momentum to establish and direct behavioral pharmacology for several decades. This article attempts to capture some of Dews' research that integrated and inspired the blending of sophisticated behavioral work with that of pharmacology.     

Roger T. Kelleher, behavior analyst

Roger T. Kelleher, rightly known as one of the foremost contributors to behavioral pharmacology, also made many important contributions to the experimental analysis of behavior. He participated significantly in the development of the discipline, through both his research and his editorial contributions to thisjournal. This article summarizes his contributions to the field of behavior analysis. His most significant empirical and conceptual contributions to behavior analysis came in two domains-conditioned reinforcement and the power of schedules of reinforcement. His accomplishments in these two domains still serve as principal foundations for modern research and theory.     

Rate dependency, behavioral mechanisms, and behavioral pharmacology.

Behavioral pharmacology has become increasingly independent of the experimental analysis of behavior. At its beginning, behavioral pharmacology was closely related to the experimental analysis of behavior, with developments in each field aiding the other. Early attempts to systematize data in behavioral pharmacology culminated with the development of the rate-dependency concept, but as this principle was found to have more limited generality than originally was hoped, a theoretical void developed. This circumstance was followed by increased reliance on pharmacological theory as a basis for experimentation and interpretation, with an attendant decrease in emphasis on environmental variables and behavioral interpretations. Lack of interplay between behavioral pharmacology and the experimental analysis of behavior is detrimental to both disciplines because each could contribute significantly to the other. The current trend might be reversed if more research were directed at elucidating behavioral mechanisms of drug action.     

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.     

I. V. Zavadskii and the beginnings of behavioral pharmacology: an historical note and translation.

I. V. Zavadskii, who worked in Pavlov's laboratory between 1907 and 1909, performed a study that has many of the characteristics of modern behavioral pharmacology. He studied the effects of alcohol, morphine, cocaine and caffeine on the conditioned salivary reflex. A translation of his paper and some brief comments on his life are presented.     

行为决策理论之父：纪念Edwards教授2周年忌辰

著名心理学家W ard Edwards对行为决策的学科形成与理论发展作出了巨大贡献。文章简要介绍了Edwards的生平,以主观期望效用模型和贝叶斯决策为核心回顾了Edwards的决策理论、主要成就及其对行为决策研究的学术贡献。文章并从行为决策领域的研究、科普、应用及人才培养等方面总结了中国行为决策研究的发展历程,以及Edwards的学术思想对中国行为决策研究的主要影响。文章展望了行为决策研究的前景,并呼吁更多的中国心理学工作者投身于行为决策研究。     

BEHAVIORAL GERONTOLOGY: APPLICATION OF BEHAVIORAL METHODS TO THE PROBLEMS OF OLDER ADULTS

Elderly persons are under-represented in research and clinical applied behavior analysis, in spite of data suggesting that behavior problems are quite prevalent in both community dwelling and institutionalized elderly. Preliminary investigations suggest that behavioral procedures can be used effectively in treating various geriatric behavior problems. We discuss a number of areas within behavioral gerontology that would profit from additional research, including basic field study, self-management, community caregiver training, institutional staff training and management, and geriatric behavioral pharmacology. Special considerations for adapting behavioral procedures are discussed, and suggestions for expanding the role of behavior analysis in geriatric care are offered.     

Introduction to the Beck Commemorative Special Feature

My father, Aaron Beck (“Tim” to those closest to him), would have been proud of this special issue of Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, and so honored. Anyone who knew my father, knew he was a scientist at heart. His curiosity, intelligence, and humility made him a great scientist and a productive researcher. This introduction shares a personal perspective and context for his contributions, including his lifelong commitment to enhancing the evidence for cognitive and behavioral practice.     

Homework

In commemoration of Dr. Aaron T. Beck’s enormous contributions to our field, I comment on the state of our knowledge regarding the role of homework in cognitive behavioral therapy. The available evidence suggests homework is a contributor to positive therapeutic outcomes in cognitive behavioral therapy. Although therapists play an important role in facilitating clients’ engagement with homework as they develop greater facility with CBT skills, little is known about the contributions of specific approaches to promoting homework engagement. I highlight some of these strategies and discuss the need for researchers to empirically evaluate them.     

Disentangling behavioral intention and behavioral expectation

Social psychologists have extensively researched behavioral intention and its relation to future behavior, usually within the framework of M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen's (1975, Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley) theory of reasoned action. However, the field has confounded two separate constructs while investigating intention: behavioral intention (BI) and what P. R. Warshaw, B. H. Sheppard, and J. Hartwick (in press, in R. Bagozzi (Ed.), Advances in marketing communication, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press) have coined behavioral expectation (BE), which is the individual's self-prediction of his or her future behavior. In this paper we define both constructs and explain how they differ in terms of the processes by which they are formed, their roles in determining behavior, and their utilities as behavioral predictors. We propose that behavioral expectation is the more accurate overall predictor since many common behaviors are unreasoned (i.e., mindless or habitual) behaviors, goal-type actions, or behaviors where the individual expects his or her intention to change in a foresseable manner. These are all cases where present intention (BI) is not the direct determinant of behavior but where the individual may be capable of appraising whatever additional determinants exist and of including them within his or her behavioral expectation. A study (N = 197) is reported in which student subjects received either a BE (n = 113) or a BI (n = 84) version of a questionnaire pertaining to their performance of 18 common behaviors. Overall, behavioral expectation was the better predictor of self-reported performance.     

Utilization and predicted trends of behavioral inventories

Published articles (N=1703) during the period 1975 to 1982 in three behavioral journals (Behavior Therapy, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, andJournal of Applied Behavior Analysis) were reviewed for the utilization of preintervention and categories of behavioral inventories. Results revealed that (a) the three forms of the Fear Survey Schedule (FSS) and the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS) were the most utilized traditional behavioral measures, (b) new self-developed inventories were reported with significantly (p<.05) different frequencies across the three journals, (c) numerous published inventories beyond the traditional FSS and SADS were reported, and (d) an expanded use of IQ measures in preintervention behavioral assessment was also found. Trends regarding the nature of behavioral inventories among the three journals and a discussion on advances in behavioral assessments are presented.     

Sidney w. Bijou: the illinois years, 1965-1975

Sidney W. Bijou is among the founders of behavior analysis, but the record of his contributions is incomplete. It has not systematically described his contributions beyond his tenure at the University of Washington (1948-1965). The purpose of this paper is to describe his contributions over the course of the next decade-his years at the University of Illinois (1965-1975). I begin by reviewing his education and training, contributions at Washington, and why he left and moved to Illinois. Then, I describe his Illinois years: his appointments, colleagues, and service; the Child Behavior Laboratory; grant funding and publications; further service, awards, and recognition; and influence on his colleagues, students, classroom teachers and research supervisors, and visiting scholars. Bijou is modest about his contributions at Illinois, but he advanced the field in many ways over the course of the decade, especially the careers of his colleagues and students.     

Shortcomings of the behavioral competition theory of contrast: Reanalysis of McLean (1992)

McLean (1992) presented significant data showing that the occurrence of behavioral contrast in a multiple schedule was correlated with shifts in the frequency of reinforcers from a second source between components of the schedule, and interpreted his results as showing that contrast was due to changes in the degree of response competition within the constant component of the multiple schedule. Reanalysis of his data shows that there was an effect of reinforcement in the alternative component of the schedule independent of the shifts in reinforcers between components. Thus, the effect of relative rate of reinforcement cannot be ascribed, at least entirely, to the mechanisms proposed by the behavioral competition theory of contrast.     

A Review of Baum's Review of Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behaviorism

Baum expressed numerous concerns about my Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behaviorism in his review. If his review were an independent submission and I were an independent referee, I would recommend that his review be rejected and that he be encouraged to revise and resubmit, once he has studied the field a bit more and clarified for himself and journal readers several important matters. I outline two sets of concerns that he might usefully clarify in his revision: (a) the important contributions of B. F. Skinner to a book about radical behaviorism, and (b) the nature of private behavioral events. In particular, the methodological behaviorism inherent in Baum's position needs to be resolved.     

Facing fear-provoking stimuli: The role of courage and influence of task-importance

ABSTRACT

Courage research is emerging, although there is little empirical literature on task-importance, and morality or nobility within courage. This experimental study assessed courage, persistence despite fear, in the relationship between anxiety, behavioral approach and task-importance. Twenty-eight participants with elevated spider fear were randomly assigned to high or low importance conditions. Participants undertook a behavioral approach test where they moved their hand alongside a ruler to as close as they felt comfortable to a non-living spider display. In partial support of the first hypothesis, courage scores predicted behavioral approach distance above-and-beyond spider fear when task-importance was not experimentally augmented. Supporting the second hypothesis, experimentally induced task-importance significantly moderated the relationship between courage and behavioral approach distance such that high importance participants moved closer to the spiders at all levels of courage. This study provides foundational evidence that 1) self-report measures can predict behavioral courage above-and-beyond fear 2) perceived task-importance influences behaviour.     

Children and adolescents as producers of their own development

Interest in the historically changing contexts of human life has been associated with the elaboration of a life-span view of human development. This view holds that all levels of the context, including the biological, psychological, and sociocultural, change in reciprocal relation to one another. As a consequence of being embedded in a context which they both influence and are influenced by, children and adolescents may promote their own development. One way this occurs is that as a consequence of their characteristics of physical and behavioral individuality people promote differential reactions in their socializing others (e.g., parents, teachers, or peers); these reactions feed back affecting further development. My colleagues and I have conducted research that describes such child and adolescent contributions to development. We have focused on characteristics of physical individuality, such as body type and physical attractiveness, and on characteristics of behavioral individuality, such as behavioral style or temperament. Findings from these studies are conceptualized in terms of a person-context “goodness-of-fit” model. Adaptive development is associated with congruence, or fit, between a person's attributes of individuality and the demands of his or her setting. Implications of this research for illustrating the use of the life-span perspective, and for theory in and practice of intervention, are discussed.     

Age and outstanding occupational achievement: Lehman revisited

The findings of H. C. Lehman's (1953, Age and achievement, Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press) study of age and outstanding occupational achievement were reviewed along with the explanations which have been put forth to account for the finding that major contributions are most likely to occur in young adulthood. Subsequently, an alternative explanation was proposed based on the central developmental tasks facing individuals in young adulthood and middle age. More specifically, it is argued, in accordance with N. Haan (1981, in R. M. Lerner & N. A. Busch-Rossnagel (Eds.), Individuals as producers of their own development: A life span perspective, New York, Academic Press), that young adults employ an accommodating adaptive style, and that the cognitive and behavioral concomitants of this style may increase the likelihood of major contributions. It is also noted that the realistic, controlling adaptive style of the middle aged would tend to facilitate minor contributions. Finally, the broader literature was reviewed in relation to these hypotheses, and certain practical implications of this reinterpretation were laid out.