Psychological Theories Of Behavior Research Articles

The National Endoscopy Database (NED) Automated Performance Reports to Improve Quality Outcomes Trial (APRIQOT) randomized controlled trial design.

Background and study aims Colonoscopists with low polyp detection have higher post colonoscopy colorectal cancer incidence and mortality rates. The United Kingdom’s National Endoscopy Database (NED) automatically captures patient level data in real time and provides endoscopy key performance indicators (KPI) at a national, endoscopy center, and individual level. Using an electronic behavior change intervention, the primary objective of this study is to assess if automated feedback of endoscopist and endoscopy center-level optimal procedure-adjusted detection KPI (opadKPI) improves polyp detection performance. Methods This multicenter, prospective, cluster-randomized controlled trial is randomizing NHS endoscopy centres to either intervention or control. The intervention is targeted at independent colonoscopists and each center’s endoscopy lead. The intervention reports are evidence-based from endoscopist qualitative interviews and informed by psychological theories of behavior. NED automatically creates monthly reports providing an opadKPI, using mean number of polyps, and an action plan. The primary outcome is opadKPI comparing endoscopists in intervention and control centers at 9 months. Secondary outcomes include other KPI and proximal detection measures at 9 and 12 months. A nested histological validation study will correlate opadKPI to adenoma detection rate at the center level. A cost-effectiveness and budget impact analysis will be undertaken. Conclusion If the intervention is efficacious and cost-effective, we will showcase the potential of this learning health system, which can be implemented at local and national levels to improve colonoscopy quality, and demonstrate that an automated system that collects, analyses, and disseminates real-time clinical data can deliver evidence- and theory-informed feedback.

Validation of the Bipolar Disorder Etiology Scale Based on Psychological Behaviorism Theory and Factors Related to the Onset of Bipolar Disorder

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to identify psychosocial factors related to the onset of bipolar I disorder (BD). To do so, the Bipolar Disorder Etiology Scale (BDES), based on psychological behaviorism, was developed and validated. Using the BDES, common factors related to both major depressive disorder (MDD) and BD and specific factors related only to BD were investigated.MethodThe BDES, which measures 17 factors based on psychological behaviorism hypotheses, was developed and validated. This scale was administered to 113 non-clinical control subjects, 30 subjects with MDD, and 32 people with BD. ANOVA and post hoc analyses were conducted. Subscales on which MDD and BD groups scored higher than controls were classified as common factors, while those on which the BD group scored higher than MDD and control groups were classified as specific factors.ResultsThe BDES has acceptable reliability and validity. Twelve common factors influence both MDD and BD and one specific factor influences only BD. Common factors include the following: learning grandiose self-labeling, learning dangerous behavior, reinforcing impulsive behavior, exposure to irritability, punishment of negative emotional expression, lack of support, sleep problems, antidepressant problems, positive arousal to threat, lack of social skills, and pursuit of short-term pleasure. The specific factor is manic emotional response.ConclusionsManic emotional response was identified as a specific factor related to the onset of BD, while parents’ grandiose labeling is a candidate for a specific factor. Many factors are related to the onset of both MDD and BD.

Child Pornography Offending Seen Through Three Theoretical Lenses

Understanding the complex issues surrounding child pornography offending is still in its infancy, and questions regarding the etiological underpinnings of sexually deviant interests and behaviors for these offenders remain both salient and unanswered. This article considers these questions through the lenses of three psychological theories of behavior: (1) social learning theory, (2) courtship disorder theory, and (3) behavioral economics. The development and maintenance of child pornography offending, as well as the potential for off-line escalation of those behaviors, from each theoretical perspective is discussed and the implications for theoretically grounded clinical practice is explored.

Women and vulnerability to depression: some personality and clinical factors.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of sex differences and personality in vulnerability to depression. Sex differences in personality and some clinical variables are described. We also assess the value of the variables that revealed significant sex differences as predictors of vulnerability to depression. In a group of adult participants (N = 112), 50% males and 50% females (mean age = 41.30; SD = 15.09; range 17-67), we studied sex differences in the three-factor personality model, using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Form A (EPQ-A; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975), and in the Five-Factor Personality Model, with the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI; Costa & McCrae, 1985). The following clinical scales were used: the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979), the Schizotypy Questionnaire (STQ; Claridge & Broks, 1984; Spanish version, Carrillo & Rojo, 1999), the THARL Scales (Dua, 1989, 1990; Spanish version, Dua & Carrillo, 1994) and the Adjustment Inventory (Bell, 1937; Spanish version, Cerdá, 1980). Subsequently, simple linear regression analysis, with BDI scores as criterion, were performed to estimate the value of the variables as predictors of vulnerability to depression. The results indicate that a series of personality variables cause women to be more vulnerable to depression than men and that these variables could be explained by a negative emotion main factor. Results are discussed within the framework of the psychological behaviorism theory of depression.

The psychological behaviorism theory of pain and the placebo: its principles and results of research application.

The psychological behaviorism theory of pain unifies biological, behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral theories of pain and facilitates development of a common vocabulary for pain research across disciplines. Pain investigation proceeds in seven interacting realms: basic biology, conditioned learning, language cognition, personality differences, pain behavior, the social environment, and emotions. Because pain is an emotional response, examining the bidirectional impact of emotion is pivotal to understanding pain. Emotion influences each of the other areas of interest and causes the impact of each factor to amplify or diminish in an additive fashion. Research based on this theory of pain has revealed the ameliorating impact on pain of (1) improving mood by engaging in pleasant sexual fantasies, (2) reducing anxiety, and (3) reducing anger through various techniques. Application of the theory to therapy improved the results of treatment of osteoarthritic pain. The psychological behaviorism theory of the placebo considers the placebo a stimulus conditioned to elicit a positive emotional response. This response is most powerful if it is elicited by conditioned language. Research based on this theory of the placebo that pain is ameliorated by a placebo suggestion and augmented by a nocebo suggestion and that pain sensitivity and pain anxiety increase susceptibility to a placebo.

Psychological Behaviorism Theory of Pain: Has its Time Come?

Psychological Behaviorism Theory of Pain: Has its Time Come?

How Can Sociological Theory Help Our Understanding of Addictions?

Those who work in the addiction field usually use the pharmacologicalor medical model, psychological theories of behavior, or operatewithin the confines of a criminal justice perspective. Contributionsfrom the field of sociology are limited to use of the methods of sociologicalinvestigations, primarily population surveys, which, typically,are used to identify groups at-risk for specific types of drug use.Surveys have identified illicit drug use as, predominantly, a problemof young males, whereas prescription drug use is predominantly aproblem of middle-aged and older women in industrialized countries. Experts in addiction have accused sociologists who study addictionof being "atheoretical." Paradoxically, in the sociology field, themost highly cited article is Merton’s theory of addiction. Thisarticle will examine the contributions of sociological theory to ourunderstanding of addiction, including social definitions of "theproblem of addiction" and mechanisms to account for individualdrug use within a social context that defines it as problematic.

The psychological behaviorism theory of pain: A basis for unity

Pain is complex and is thus studied on various levels, ranging from the biological to the social. A theory of pain, such as the psychological behaviorism theory of pain, must have multiple levels if it is to be general and unified. The present theory of pain begins on (1) the basic biological level of study and advances level by level through (2) the study of how pain can be learned, (3) the manner in which pain effects “pain” behaviors, (4) the way that cognition effects pain, (5) the principles by which emotions and emotional states play their roles, (6) how personality variables work their effects, as well as (7) the way in which the social environment affects the individual with pain. The principles of the later levels are derived from the earlier levels. Since the principles and concepts that are developed are empirically defined, the result is a heuristic theory that has empirical implications for both basic and treatment studies, as has been shown.

Personality theory, abnormal psychology, and psychological measurement. A psychological behaviorism.

Behaviorism, because it has not had a theory of personality, has been separated from the rest of psychology, unable in large part to draw from or contribute to it. Traditional psychology has not had a theory of personality that says what personality is, how it comes about, or how it functions. An antagonism has resulted that weakens rather than complements each tradition. Psychological behaviorism presents a new type of theory of personality. Derived from experimentation, it is constructed from basic theories of emotion, language, and sensory-motor behavior. It says personality is composed of learned basic behavioral repertoires (BBRs) that affect behavior. Personality measurement instruments are analyzed in terms of the BBRs, beginning the behaviorization of this field and calling for much additional research. These multilevel developments are then basic in psychological behaviorism's theory of abnormal behavior and of clinical treatment. The approach opens many new avenues of empirical and theoretical work.

A note on cost in economic psychology

Cost and value are central in economic explanations of behavior. Three general dimensions in cost can be distinguished: outlay versus opportunity, private versus social, and objective versus subjective. On the basis of these dimensions, a number of conceptions of costs are described. Non-monetary from monetary costs are distinguished. It is argued that social psychology, in particular attitude theory, has largely neglected cost, and that much can be gained from including the concept into social psychological theories of behavior. Implications of distinguishing different cost conceptions and types for research on social behavior are formulated.

Functional Fixity in Accounting Research: Perspective and New Data

While few, if any, early accounting studies were based on psychological theories of behavior, Birnberg and Nath [1967] conjectured that the functional fixation hypothesis proposed by Ijiri, Jaedicke, and Knight [1966] could lie at the heart of studies concerning alternative accounting techniques (e.g., LIFO and FIFO). From that point, until Ashton's recent paper at the 1976 Empirical Research Conference, only one study (Dopuch and Ronen [1973]) attempted to deal explicitly with the phenomenon. Their results confirmed the earlier conjectures. In this paper, we will reexamine the underpinnings of the functional fixity problem and offer some additional evidence concerning the existence of a fixity phenomenon. A final section will outline the implication for future research.

The Second Code

Most researchers regard a crime or a delinquent act as being some specific thing done by some specific person, called the offender. But exactly what it is that he does that distinguishes him from the non-offender is difficult to observe or define precisely. So this paper starts from the simpler position that certain people are reported to the police, charged, tried, sen tenced, and punished and others are not; and the law under which we actually live is simply those sets of circumstances of which accusation, trial, etc., are likely consequences. This is the law that society makes by its actions and not just by its paper enactments. We call this empirical law the "second code"; knowledge of it is more basic to criminology than are legal categories or sociological or psychological theories of behavior defined by some researcher or some law-maker as deviant or anti-social or criminal. The process of accusation, trial, etc., is seen as beginning with a complaint (either to or by the police). This interaction between an observer and the police is triggered off by another interaction between one or more offenders, victims and observers, and this larger interaction is our main focus of study. (Some of the roles in this interaction may be combined in one person, and not all the roles are defined until after the event.) The require ments of such a study are discussed; in particular, it should be approached from as simple a viewpoint as possible, aiming first at a natural history of these interactions rather than a theoretical model. Any such theoretical model is at present likely to be inappropriate since the facts which it should explain are not themselves yet known in any detail.