The paradigm of theoretical behaviorism which rests on the premise of a passive organism is discussed. It is argued that the learning-theory movement promoted scientific understanding of the active organism which, in an ideological sense, it tended to deny. (MS)

Explored relation between self-efficacy ratings and smoking behavior among 36 people who were trying to quit smoking on their own. Self-efficacy ratings were significantly related to the outcome of self-monitored high-risk situations, with subjects reporting higher self-efficacy ratings after situations in which they did not smoke as opposed to…

Studied 47 women treated for early gynecologic cancer, 18 women treated for benign gynecologic disease, and 57 gynecologically healthy women. Found that frequency of intercourse declined for women treated for disease, whether malignant or benign. Diminution of sexual excitement was pronounced for women with disease; more severe and distressing for…

Examines some of the effective ingredients of change in multimodal counseling with children: personal relationships; emotions; guidance of actions, behaviors, and consequences; imagery; health; learning; and need to know. (ABL)

This study tested the effects of post-session wheel running on within-session changes in operant responding. Lever-pressing by six rats was reinforced by a food pellet under a continuous reinforcement (CRF) schedule in 30-min sessions. Two different flavored food pellets were used as reinforcers. In the wheel conditions, 30-min operant-sessions…

This article reviews 10 techniques used to identify opinion leaders to promote behavior change. Opinion leaders can act as gatekeepers for interventions, help change social norms, and accelerate behavior change. Few studies document the manner in which opinion leaders are identified, recruited, and trained to promote health. The authors categorize…

Because learned associations are quickly renewed following extinction, the extinction process must include processes other than unlearning. However, reinforcement learning models, such as the temporal difference reinforcement learning (TDRL) model, treat extinction as an unlearning of associated value and are thus unable to capture renewal. TDRL…

Two studies investigated 3- to 6-year-olds' and adults' (N= 128) knowledge about emotions and behaviors caused by thinking about the future because of the past. Participants listened to stories featuring characters that experienced negative events, and then, many days later, felt worried or changed their behaviors upon seeing an entity associated…

Each day, thousands of children are caught for violation of tobacco purchase, use, and possession (PUP) laws. Little is known about their impact on violators; we do not know how the youth who are caught perceive these consequences or the effects they have on their tobacco use. Moreover, many communities are beginning to use brief tobacco education…

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) has implemented a program, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC), to help establish local community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities for children to: (1) meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects; (2) offer students a broad array of…

Training has increasingly turned into an important NGO tool for rural development in Asia and Africa. Such a use has made it essential to assess the impact of these training sessions. Again a good portion of these sessions are offered through cascades. There has been skepticism on the effectiveness of this mechanism. In response to the above need…

The following article examines how behavioral interventions used in the general education classroom effect students with autism. The number of students with autism has increased significantly in the past 10 years. Teachers are now faced with providing instruction in inclusive settings within the general education classroom environment. Teachers…

I use a randomized experiment to test whether information can change sexual behavior among teenagers in Kenya. Providing information on the relative risk of HIV infection by partner's age led to a 28% decrease in teen pregnancy, an objective proxy for the incidence of unprotected sex. Self-reported sexual behavior data suggests substitution away…

Objective: To document children's views on healthy eating, perceptions of healthy and unhealthy foods and health consequences of consuming unhealthy foods. Design: Baseline data from a three-year longitudinal study. Setting A purposive sample of 307 school children aged 7 to 15 years were recruited from three schools representing various…

This nonexperimental study used mixed-effects regression models to examine relations among supervisor adherence to a clinical supervision protocol, therapist adherence, and changes in the behavior and functioning of youths with serious antisocial behavior treated with an empirically supported treatment (i.e., multisystemic therapy [MST]) 1 year…