Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Behaviorism”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 649 records · Page 36Linked to original sources

Type A behavior pattern: facial behavior and speech components.

Early descriptions of the Type A coronary-prone pattern include both nonverbal and motoric signs. Facial behaviors during the Type A Structured Interview of 24 Type A and 24 Type B men were examined using the Facial Action Coding System. In addition, speech components and heart rate reactivity during the Structured Interviews were examined. Among the facial behaviors assessed, two significantly differentiated Type As from Type Bs: Glare and Disgust. The Glare and Disgust facial scores correlated significantly with a number of speech components, most notably Hostility, which has been found to be associated with CHD incidence in other research. No differences between the two behavior types were found for heart rate reactivity. Implications of the findings for the understanding and assessment of coronary-prone behaviors such as hostility are discussed.

Adult↗

Peer suicidal behavior and adolescent risk behavior.

The relationship between adolescent suicide attempts and death by suicide and psychosocial functioning of peers remains poorly understood, especially in the myriad ways that these suicidal behaviors might impact friends. This study explored the relationship between peer suicidal behavior and adolescent risk behavior using a large, nationally representative sample of adolescents (N = 5852). Results indicate that youth exposed to peer suicidal behavior are significantly more likely to have their own suicidal ideation and attempts, and to smoke cigarettes and marijuana, binge drink, be involved in a serious physical fight, and have inflicted injuries that require medical attention. These results highlight the need for professionals to be aware of these risks in friends of those who have attempted or died by suicide. Assessment and intervention for peers is appropriate and required for this at-risk group.

Adolescent↗

The Riverside Behavioral Q-sort: a tool for the description of social behavior.

The Riverside Behavioral Q-sort (RBQ) is a flexible technique for gathering a wide-ranging description of the behavior of individuals in dyadic social interaction. Ratings of RBQ items can attain adequate reliability to reflect behavioral effects of experimental manipulations and to manifest meaningful correlations with a variety of personality characteristics. The RBQ's flexibility, validity, and relative ease of use may facilitate the more frequent inclusion of behavioral data in personality and social psychology.

Female↗

Psychophysiological and behavioral evidence for varying forms and functions of nonsocial behavior in preschoolers.

Four-year-old children showing low levels of social behavior in a laboratory play session with unfamiliar peers were classified as reticent (unoccupied or onlooking behaviors) or solitary-passive (solitary constructive or exploratory play). Compared with a group of more social children, the children in both low-social groups were rated high on maternal reports of shyness and displayed a pattern of right frontal EEG asymmetry. However, only the reticent group was elevated on measures indicative of a fearful temperament, both concurrently and retrospectively. A subset of children in the solitary-passive group showed increasing levels of reticent behavior over the course of the visit, suggesting that for some children solitary-passive behaviors provide a means for coping with feelings of unease.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Behavioral research and the double-blind placebo-controlled methodology: challenges in applying the biomedical standard to behavioral headache research.

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled experimental design has prevailed as the "gold standard" in biomedical research, intended to control potential bias in patient/group assignment, investigator allegiance, patient expectations, and nonspecific therapeutic effects. Properly executed, such designs ensure a study's internal validity and allow differential group outcomes to be attributed to the active treatment. These controlled trials generally yield more conservative outcomes than open trials and case reports and establish efficacy in pharmaceutical research. In meta-analytic reviews, studies are often assigned quality scores based in part on the degree to which they meet this scientific standard. Applying the biomedical research design standards for blinding and placebo control to clinical trials evaluating behavioral and other nonpharmacologic headache treatment nearly always is either infeasible or simply not possible. Only rarely is blinding meaningfully achievable in administration of behavioral or psychological therapies. Various "psychological placebo" control conditions have been forwarded in behavioral studies (eg, sham treatments, pseudomeditation), but these controls are incapable of emulating an inert control condition comparable to that of the pill placebo in pharmacologic research, and they are best reserved for studies examining the mechanisms whereby an intervention produces improvement. This article reviews the conceptual and procedural challenges in applying the standard pharmaceutical clinical trials research design to behavioral headache research as well as implications for meta-analyses across studies of various treatment modalities.

Behavior Therapy↗

Evolutionary innovation in behavior and speciation: opportunities for behavioral neuroethology.

Populations of animals differentiate by speciation. How speciation takes place, for long a puzzle for evolutionary biologists, should be regarded as a research opportunity for neuroethologists and comparative behaviorists. It is now clear that behavior may play an important part in the process of speciation. The existence of sexually dimorphic anatomy and behavior in many animals has provided a rich subject for investigation by comparative neurobiologists and behaviorists, who emphasize analysis of proximate mechanisms that generate dimorphism in phenotype. However, sexual dimorphisms also figure prominently in the theory of sexual selection. Sexual selection is viewed as a primary behavioral mechanism in the process of speciation. Some examples of 'explosive' speciation are presented, and the putative role that sexual selection plays in these cases is reviewed. A consideration of any evolutionary selective process must include genetics, and I will briefly summarize studies that indicate that even complex behavioral systems such as sexual selection, which sociobiologists refer to as a 'strategy', can have a relatively simple genetic basis.

Animals↗

Near-saddle-node bifurcation behavior as dynamics in working memory for goal-directed behavior.

In consideration of working memory as a means for goal-directed behavior in nonstationary environments, we argue that the dynamics of working memory should satisfy two opposing demands: long-term maintenance and quick transition. These two characteristics are contradictory within the linear domain. We propose the near-saddle-node bifurcation behavior of a sigmoidal unit with a self-connection as a candidate of the dynamical mechanism that satisfies both of these demands. It is shown in evolutionary programming experiments that the near-saddle-node bifurcation behavior can be found in recurrent networks optimized for a task that requires efficient use of working memory. The results suggests that the near-saddle-node bifurcation behavior may be a functional necessity for survival in nonstationary environments.

Animals↗

Risk management in the practice of behavior therapy: boundaries and behavior.

Behavior therapy represents a treatment modality widely utilized by clinicians but to date insufficiently examined from the risk-management standpoint. Given that the determination of negligence is dependent on the role of the therapist as proximate cause of the adverse outcome and on the availability of an accepted standard of care from which deviations can be specified, a number of general characteristics of behavior therapy may render its practitioners potentially vulnerable to litigation. These may include its directiveness, its replicability, and its methodologic rigor. Similarly, certain specific behavioral techniques may carry some medicolegal risks, including the use of aversion methods, utilization of family members or other lay cotherapists, response cost, and exposure therapies. In addition, therapeutic boundaries in behavioral treatment may be different from those in psychoanalytic therapy, allowing for therapist practices that might otherwise be considered unusual or in themselves negligent, but the therapist may have a heavier burden of justification in such cases. The authors suggest that recognition of the possibility of adverse results, ongoing and competent informed consent, adequate documentation, willingness to consult, and careful monitoring of treatment outcome may help mitigate the medicolegal risks of these procedures.

Behavior Therapy↗

Managed behavioral health care premises, accountable systems of care, and AMBHA'S perms. American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association.

This article discusses the concepts and approaches underlying managed behavioral health care and the need to assess quality of care. The author describes the Performance Measures for Managed Behavioral Healthcare Programs (PERMS) developed by the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (AMBHA), which is offered as a first step toward enhanced quality of care assessment in managed behavioral health care.

Behavioral Medicine↗

Assessment of disruptive behavior associated with dementia: the Disruptive Behavior Rating Scales.

Disruptive behavior associated with dementia is a major clinical problem, but there has been limited methodology for assessing it. This study describes the development of a set of rating scales used to measure four dimensions of disruptive behavior that present frequent problems in patients with dementia: physical aggression, verbal aggression, agitation, and wandering. In addition, a total disruptive behavior scale is derived by averaging scores from these four scales. A sample of 16 patients in a skilled nursing facility was used to test interrater reliability and validity of this instrument. Interrater reliability was quite favorable for all scales. There was clear evidence for convergent validity of all scales except the verbal aggression scale, where a substantial correlation was found with one relevant external measure but not the other. There was also favorable evidence of discriminant validity for all scales except the verbal aggression scale. Psychometric properties of this instrument appear to be promising and indicate that it has potential utility for further research on causes and treatments for disruptive behavior in demented patients.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Sex steroids and human behavior: prenatal androgen exposure and sex-typical play behavior in children.

Gonadal hormones, particularly androgens, direct certain aspects of brain development and exert permanent influences on sex-typical behavior in nonhuman mammals. Androgens also influence human behavioral development, with the most convincing evidence coming from studies of sex-typical play. Girls exposed to unusually high levels of androgens prenatally, because they have the genetic disorder, congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), show increased preferences for toys and activities usually preferred by boys, and for male playmates, and decreased preferences for toys and activities usually preferred by girls. Normal variability in androgen prenatally also has been related to subsequent sex-typed play behavior in girls, and nonhuman primates have been observed to show sex-typed preferences for human toys. These findings suggest that androgen during early development influences childhood play behavior in humans at least in part by altering brain development.

Androgens↗

Practical behavioral trials to advance evidence-based behavioral medicine.

There is a well-documented gap between research and practice in many areas of behavioral medicine. This gap is due in part to limitations in the capacity of the research database to address questions that are of central concern to clinicians, administrative decision makers, and policymakers. Thus, there has been a call for "practical clinical trials" that compare clinically viable alternative interventions and assess multiple outcomes important for clinical and policy decisions in diverse patient populations and settings. Such trials offer great potential, and they raise interesting challenges regarding optimal research design and source of funding. We discuss issues related to practical clinical trials in behavioral medicine, propose a need for practical behavioral trials (PBTs), and describe design features that will facilitate clinical and policy decision making. This type of PBT can help to close the gap between research and practice and advance the field of evidence-based behavioral medicine. We discuss potential challenges and objections to PBTs and conclude by providing recommendations for the design, conduct, reporting, and review of practical trials.

Behavioral Medicine↗

Assessment of children's Type A behavior: relationship with negative behavioral characteristics and children and teacher demographic characteristics.

Thirty-two teachers rated Type A behavior, using Matthews Youth Test for Health, (MYTH) and negative characteristics of hyperactivity, negative peer relations, social withdrawal, and depression in 105 children, between the ages of 6 and 11, from lower to middle class Black and White families. Children's age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status (SES) and teachers' gender, grade taught, and years of teaching experience were not related to teachers' MYTH ratings. However, White teachers rated children higher on Type A behavior than Black teachers. Controlling for teacher race effects, MYTH total scores, rather than reflecting a global negative view of the child, showed a strong overlap with hyperactivity and were differentiated from social withdrawal and depression. The MYTH Impatience/Aggression factor was highly related to hyperactivity and negative peer interactions; the Competitiveness factor was associated with a lack of social withdrawal. The conclusions verify the multidimensional nature of children's Type A behavior pattern and the importance of rater demographic characteristics in the assessment of children's behavior.

Black or African American↗

Effect of 5-[3-[((2S)-1,4-benzodioxan-2-ylmethyl)amino]propoxy]-1,3-benzodioxole HCl (MKC-242), a novel 5-HT1A-receptor agonist, on aggressive behavior and marble burying behavior in mice.

Behavioral effects of 5-[3-[((2S)-1,4-benzodioxan-2-ylmethyl)amino]propoxy]-1,3-be nzodioxole HCl (MKC-242), a novel 5-HT1A-receptor agonist, were evaluated using animal models of anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder and compared against reference compounds. MKC-242 suppressed foot shock-induced fighting behavior without loss of motor coordination in mice as the reference compounds did. The ED50 values of MKC-242, buspirone, tandospirone and diazepam were 1.7, 42, 80 and 2.0 mg/kg, p.o., respectively. The duration of the suppression of fighting by MKC-242 was longer than those of buspirone and tandospirone and comparable to that of diazepam. Similar results were also obtained with the water-lick conflict test in rats. The plasma concentration of MKC-242 in rats was much higher than the reported value of buspirone during 0.25-6 hr after oral administration. In addition, MKC-242 reduced marble burying behavior without reduction of motor activity. Fluoxetine, tandospirone and diazepam also reduced the behavior at non-sedative doses. These findings indicate that MKC-242 possesses a longer-lasting anxiolytic effect than azapirones. This might be due to the high concentration of the compound in plasma. In addition, it is also suggested that MKC-242 possesses an antiobsessional effect.

Aggression↗

Behavioral activation and the prevention of suicidal behaviors in patients with borderline personality disorder.

Clinical approaches in treating and preventing suicidal behaviors in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have received limited attention. To stimulate further work in this area, we present a behavioral activation treatment for depression (BATD; Lejuez, Hopko, & Hopko, 2002) that has shown promising results in treating clinically depressed patients and a theoretical conceptualization for why BATD may prove particularly useful in reducing the frequency of suicide-related behaviors and other symptoms characteristic of patients with BPD. We also present theoretical consistencies between BATD and the well-established intervention of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993), which may allow for their practical integration, and conclude with a case study that illustrates the assimilation of these strategies in the treatment of a patient with BPD.

Adult↗

Using the picture exchange communication system (PECS) with children with autism: assessment of PECS acquisition, speech, social-communicative behavior, and problem behavior.

The picture exchange communication system (PECS) is an augmentative communication system frequently used with children with autism (Bondy & Frost, 1994; Siegel, 2000; Yamall, 2000). Despite its common clinical use, no well-controlled empirical investigations have been conducted to test the effectiveness of PECS. Using a multiple baseline design, the present study examined the acquisition of PECS with 3 children with autism. In addition, the study examined the effects of PECS training on the emergence of speech in play and academic settings. Ancillary measures of social-communicative behaviors and problem behaviors were recorded. Results indicated that all 3 children met the learning criterion for PECS and showed concomitant increases in verbal speech. Ancillary gains were associated with increases in social-communicative behaviors and decreases in problem behaviors. The results are discussed in terms of the provision of empirical support for PECS as well as the concomitant positive side effects of its use.

Autistic Disorder↗

The AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale--School Edition, Part Two: Test-retest reliability and parent-teacher agreement in a behavior disordered sample.

Test-retest reliability and parent-teacher agreement were estimated for Part Two of the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale--School Edition. Test-retest reliability was based on a subgroup of 20 students selected randomly from the total sample of 66; these were 7 students classified as Behavior Disordered, 7 students referred for behavior problems but not classified, and 6 students not referred or classified. Parent-teacher agreement was investigated for a subgroup of 25 students classified as Behavior Disordered. Test-retest reliability of .83 was significant, while parent-teacher agreement coefficients were nonsignificant. Such results are consistent with previous research using similar instruments. The implications are discussed and suggestions for research are presented.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Mating behavior, boar-to-boar behavior during rearing and soundness of boars penned individually or in groups from 6 to 27 weeks of age.

Individual and group-reared boars were compared in two experiments, for treatment effects on mating behavior, growth rate, feed consumption and feed/gain. Soundness also was evaluated in one experiment. Boar-to-boar behaviors were studied in group-penned boars. In Exp. 1, boars were either reared in a group of five or individually from 12 to 27 wk of age, or group-penned from 12 to 19 wk and individually from 1-9 wk. In Exp. 2, boars were either penned individually from 6 to 27 wk, group-penned (eight/pen) from 6 to 27 wk, grouped from 6 to 12 wk and then penned individually, or individually penned from 6 to 12 wk and then group-penned. Beginning at 29 wk of age, boars were tested every 2 wk for mating behavior in the presence of an estrous gilt. Four mating tests were conducted in Exp. 1 and five tests in Exp. 2. Individually penned boars grew faster from 6 to 12 wk old in Exp. 2, but no other treatment effects on growth rate were observed. Treatment had very little effect on mating test behaviors, but individual penning markedly reduced leg soundness. Sheath sniffing first appeared at 16 to 18 wk of age in group-penned boars and was followed closely by anal sniffing. Side nosing increased between 20 and 23 wk. Mounting activity from 12 to 27 wk old was correlated with mating test score in Exp. 1 (.76; P less than .01) and Exp. 2 (.55; P less than .05).

Animals↗