Behavior as the central outcome in health care.

Argues that behavioral outcomes are the most important consequences in studies of health care and medicine. These outcomes include mortality, and health-related quality of life. The trend toward the "biologicalization" of behavioral and biomedical sciences is discussed, and the question is posed as to whether medical measures are more valid or meaningful than behavior outcomes. Examples are given of the variability in behavioral health outcomes within fixed levels of biological variables such as arthritis, blood pressure, and cholesterol. The behavioral approach differs from the traditional medical model by emphasizing outcome rather than disease category. A model of behavioral health outcomes is presented in which both biological and environmental events gain importance because they affect behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A revolution in counseling research.

Asserts that published research in counseling has, on the whole, been of little value as a base or guide for professional practice. Tied to largely inappropriate models derived from the physical sciences, much of the research has been trivial, atomistic, and obsessed with statistics and technical matters of research design. Counseling researchers have often futilely pursued the goals of precision and control, despite the fact that the major objects of study--counselees and the counseling process--do not lend themselves to precise measurement, certainly not at this stage in the development of the behavioral sciences. Major changes in the methods and contents of research are needed. Promising trends in the design and conduct of studies include (a) macroscopic rather than microscopic levels of study, (b) field rather than laboratory studies, (c) focusing on the total individual as the unit of study, (d) developing a contractual relationship between researcher and S, (e) giving due attention to applied evaluation methods, (f) viewing the researcher as the basic research instrument, and (g) anticipating the use of the research findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intelligence: Genetics, Genes, and Genomics.

More is known about the genetics of intelligence than about any other trait, behavioral or biological, which is selectively reviewed in this article. Two of the most interesting genetic findings are that heritability of intelligence increases throughout the life span and that the same genes affect diverse cognitive abilities. The most exciting direction for genetic research on intelligence is to harness the power of the Human Genome Project to identify some of the specific genes responsible for the heritability of intelligence. The next research direction will be functional genomics--for example, understanding the brain pathways between genes and intelligence. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) will integrate life sciences research on intelligence; bottom-up molecular biological research will meet top-down psychological research in the brain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Report from the National Institute on Aging: the research grant support mechanism

Most NIH support of research on aging has been in the area of the biomedical sciences, followed by behavioral and social sciences. Research project and program project grants are the primary mechanisms available to the NIA for support of research on aging. The grant process for aging research begins with preparation and review at the applicant institution. The process of review at NIH proceeds from referral to an intitial review group for peer review and NIA for possible funding, NIA staff review, the National Adivisory Council on Aging review, and concludes with NIA funding action. The primary mode of applicant appeal of a negative decision by NIA on an application is reapplication.     

Mental health and behavioral sciences: One federal agency's role in the behavioral sciences.

Presents a historical overview of the role of the National Institute of Mental Health in developing and using the behavioral sciences as the substantive base of its various programs of research, training and services. Major themes of research programs are illustrated with special reference to schizophrenia, brain-behavior relations, small-group interaction, collective behavior, and adaptation in stress. Training program development in the various mental health specialties is also described. Innovative models of interdisciplinary research training, involving the biological, psychological and social sciences are recommended to respond to complex research challenges in the mental health field. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation, cognition and pseudoscience

CONTEXT: Research on the promotion of physical activity has been based on a variety of conceptual models. These models generally target one level of analysis, such as the individual, community, or the environment, and differ in their relative contact with basic or applied science. There have been limited attempts to develop approaches that target multiple levels of analysis and can stimulate basic and applied research. OBJECTIVE: Theoretical integration in a multidiscliplinary field such as promotion of physical activity should take into account that social, behavioral, and biomedical colleagues may use different explanatory models, and use different approaches to the development of scientific knowledge. This essay argues for the development of integration of theory across multiple domains that can incorporate methods and findings of basic and applied scientists, and that uses language and methods common to social, behavioral, and biomedical scientists. METHOD: Behavioral choice theory is presented as an example of one theoretical approach that bridges different approaches to physical activity intervention, and that can stimulate both basic and applied research on physical activity. Behavioral research on choice was discussed in relationship to basic research, human laboratory research, and community and clinical research. CONCLUSIONS: Implications of behavioral choice theory for community and environmental change was discussed. The essay ends with ideas for future directions in integration of theory for physical activity research.     

Psychoneuroimmunology: Past, present, and future.

Provides a brief overview of the history and current status of behavioral immunology research as well as speculation on the likely future directions. It is suggested that field may have broad implications for basic biological sciences and medicine. The field of psychoneuroimmunology has clear relevance for health psychology; its relevance to actual health outcomes, however, is not yet known. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chloral hydrate alters the organization of the ciliary basal apparatus and cell organelles in sea urchin embryos

The use of mice with targeted deletion, or knockout, of specific genes provides a relatively new approach to establish the molecular bases of behavior. As with all ablation studies, the interpretation of behavioral data may be limited by the technique. For example, indirect effects of the missing gene may affect behavior, rather than the missing gene per se. Also, because the missing gene might affect many developmental processes throughout ontogeny and because up-regulation or compensatory mechanisms may be activated in knockouts, behavioral data from mice with targeted gene deletions should be interpreted with caution. The development of conditional knockouts, in which a specific gene can be inactivated any time during ontogeny, should allow investigators to avoid these conceptual shortcomings associated with behavioral data from knockouts in the near future. The behavioral alterations reported in knockout mice are reviewed here. Many dramatic changes in complex motivated behaviors including aggression, sexual, ingestive, and parental behaviors, have been reported for knockouts. There have also been many reports of alterations in sensorimotor abilities and spontaneous activity, as well as impairments in balance, coordination, and gait. Impaired learning and memory have also been reported for mice with targeted disruption of specific genes. Taken together, the use of knockouts will provide an important new tool to understand the mechanisms underlying behavior.     

An opinion on the construction of behavior theory.

"On both intellectual and pragmatic grounds, present day theory in the behavioral sciences is far from satisfactory." 5 aspects of theory construction are selected as requiring increased emphasis in the behavioral sciences: "1. General theory on a par with miniature systems development. 2. Interim projection of theory from empirical results that are in prima facie opposition. 3. A more sophisticated and more explicit determination of the sense in which theoretical assertions are applicable or valid in the real world. 4. A working language for theoretical expression based on simple ideographic terms and lending itself to symbolic manipulation. 5. A truly reciprocal interaction between substantive behavior theory on the one hand, and mathematics and logic on the other. These features are all present in the comparatively successful natural sciences. They have appeared only in isolated or fragmentary form in the behavioral sciences and have never really caught hold." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral medicine: The contribution of the experimental analysis of behavior to medical care.

There has been a great increase in research and clinical activity using psychological methods and procedures for understanding and modifying patterns of behavior that affect physical health. The term "behavioral medicine" has come into use to describe some of these activities. The present article reviews the contribution of the experimental behavioral sciences in the understanding and treatment of medical disorders and disease and examines some of the implications of the new field for psychology. Current definitions, which emphasize either a biopsychosocial or a behavioral framework, are discussed. Major themes in clinical behavioral medicine are identified, including the modification of overt behavior or physiological responses that constitute problems in their own right, the modification of behavior of health care providers, the improvement of adherence to prescribed treatment, and the modification of behavior or responses that constitute risk factors for disease. (95 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Note on Training Psychologists for Careers in Behavioral Medicine.

Discusses the training of psychologists for careers in behavioral medicine, a rapidly growing new field that is becoming increasingly attractive to psychologists and other behavioral and biomedical scientists. The author suggests that the optimum training setting in which to educate the PhD would be in an academic psychology department of a university that also had a medical school. His suggestions also include having a practicum that requires dealing both with emotionally and mentally disturbed patients and with psychosomatic patients, and requiring an additional postdoctoral year that would be used to specialize in cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal, or other problems. The recommendations have nothing to say about other disciplines in the behavioral and biomedical sciences but are meant to describe a model for the training of psychologists to participate in this growing and exciting enterprise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Statement before the Subcommittee on Government Research, Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate.

Two major trends in the behavioral and social sciences that have implications for federal policy are (1) an increasingly empirical approach with emphasis on data analysis and quantification and (2) the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of these sciences. Within the federal government, health, education, welfare, defense, and social and economic planning have large behavioral and social science components that require substantial strengthening and support, through existing agencies such as the National Science Foundation, particularly in the areas of research and manpower education and training. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Re-examining threats to the reliability and validity of putative brain-behavior relationships: new guidelines for assessing the effect of patients lost to follow-up

It often happens in behavioral and biomedical research that subjects in prospective, multiple assessment investigations, including clinical trials, are lost to follow-up evaluations. The purpose of this report is to outline a model that will enable the investigators to determine the extent to which results based upon the maintained cohort can be generalized to the attrited cohort, or those subjects lost to follow-up. While our proposed model derives from a specific application pertaining to changes in personality and affect behaviors following left and right hemisphere stroke, it should apply, with appropriate study-specific modifications, to a wide range of follow-up research designs in neuropsychology, behavioral science more generally, and other areas of biomedical research.     

The psychologist as a behavioral scientist in the business school.

There is now a need for entering faculty personnel in business schools "to apply the behavioral science point of view as integrated members of the business faculty, rather than as distinguished visitors from the psychology department." Recent studies critical of business curricula have stressed the importance of the behavioral sciences in the business school curriculum. The "educational and research experiences leading to the doctorate in industrial psychology" gives the industrial psychologist the opportunity to "fill the role of behavioral scientist in the business school." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compound complementarities in the study of motivated behavior.

In his classic article, E. Stellar (see PA, Vol 28:7127; see also PA, Vol 81:28758) proposed that diverse motivated behaviors reflected the activity of excitatory and inhibitory centers in the hypothalamus. His specific and testable ideas provided the theoretical focus for a great deal of fruitful research on the biological bases of behavior for 2 decades. Subsequently, new findings and technical developments again changed the perspective and experimental approaches in behavioral neuroscience. It is suggested that the modern emphasis on the anatomy and chemical function of neuronal systems has come at the expense of understanding the subcomponents of behavior and the hierarchical levels of integration involved in transforming reflexes into operant acts. Increased attention in the future to the infrastructure of the behaviors being elucidated, when combined with reductionistic studies of neurons, will fulfill the potential contribution to behavioral neuroscience that is implicit in Stellar's article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a model of positive health.

This article proposes a model of positive health based on a human-system framework. Such a framework is comprehensive in that (a) it encompasses all of the human system's behavioral subsystems (biochemical, physiological, perceptual, cognitive, and interpersonal), and (b) it permits a higher asymptote of health conceptualization and measurement than that afforded by Western biomedical theory. The article sets forth the conceptual basis of the model and reviews empirical studies that support the model. Finally, the article explores implications of the model for health research, for programs of health enhancement, and for the role of the behavioral sciences in health theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primate research, family politics, and social policy: Transforming "cads" into "dads."

The ideology of fatherhood, as it is defined in Western, industrialized culture, assumes that fathers are biologically predisposed to be relatively uninvolved in infant care. This article summarizes recent revisions of both primate research and sociobiological theory. These new perspectives on male parenting behavior shift the focus from a narrow emphasis on the genetic relationship between male primates and their offspring to a broader focus that includes multiple social, demographic, and ecological variables. This paradigm underlines the behavioral flexibility, rather than the behavioral fixity, of male parenting behaviors. The relevance of this new theoretical consensus for social policy that could strengthen fathers' relationships with their children is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

And still the dryads linger.

Ancient ancestors invented dryads, or tree nymphs, to explain what they could not otherwise understand. It is argued that hypothetical constructs serve the same function for some contemporary behavioral scientists. Constructs such as intelligence, motivation, and creativity become modern dryads when used to explain behavior rather than simply to describe it. To be scientifically useful a hypothetical construct must be validated. This means that it must be shown to be functionally related to some behavioral variable(s) other than the one it was invoked to explain. It is concluded that few of the hypothetical constructs in the behavioral sciences have met this test and that those that cannot meet the test should be abandoned. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The behavioral sciences and the federal government: Summary and recommendations.

Reprinted from the Behavioral Sciences and the Federal Government, 1968, No. 1680. Examines how the knowledge and methods of the behavioral sciences can be effectively applied to the programs and policies of the federal government, stressing the need to consider the way behavioral science research is related to planning and management, and to consider the methods used for testing research for quality and relevance. The conditions which are considered to be necessary for the effective use of the knowledge and methods of behavioral sciences are suggested in regard to domestic and foreign affairs, international cooperation in research, science policies, and future-oriented research and public policies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

DNA.

The authors predict that in a few years, many areas of psychology will be awash in specific genes responsible for the widespread influence of genetics on behavior. As the focus shifts from finding genes (genomics) to understanding how genes affect behavior (behavioral genomics), it is important for the future of psychology as a science that pathways between genes and behavior be examined not only at the molecular biological level of cells or the neuroscience level of the brain but also at the psychological level of analysis. After a brief overview of quantitative genetic research, the authors describe how genes that influence complex traits like behavioral dimensions and disorders in human and nonhuman animals are being found. Finally, the authors discuss behavioral genomics and predict that DNA will revolutionize psychological research and treatment early in the 21st century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)