Although many of the pioneers of behavior analysis thought on a large scale and encouraged others to do so, most behavior analytic projects have remained small scale. The intent of this article is to urge the application of behavior analytic principles on a large scale. This article begins with a brief history of applied behavior analysis. It then…

This study examined partner violence before and after behavioral couples therapy (BCT) for 303 married or cohabiting male alcoholic patients and used a demographically matched nonalcoholic comparison sample. In the year before BCT, 60% of alcoholic patients had been violent toward their female partner, 5 times the comparison sample rate of 12%. In…

A social story is a short story that describes social situations in terms of relevant cues and often defines appropriate responses for children diagnosed with autism. Limited empirical evidence has been found to support the effectiveness of social story intervention. The authors of this article attempted to quantitatively and qualitatively…

The authors have found no study that addressed the influence of religious practices, biblical texts, and a spiritual environment on the dynamics of coping with crises often experienced by couples who are infertile and who transition into childlessness. Twenty-five couples from the greater New York area who were referred by religious leaders…

Methodological characteristics and outcomes of 14 controlled clinical investigations of integrated psychosocial and opioid-antagonist alcohol dependence treatment were evaluated. The 14 studies were identified through computerized bibliographic and manual literature searches. Clients receiving integrated psychosocial and opioid-antagonist…

This article introduces methods for increasing and improving play skills in children with autistic spectrum disorders. Behavioral techniques that are reviewed include discrete trial training, use of stereotyped behaviors to increase play skills, pivotal response training, reciprocal imitation training, differential reinforcement of appropriate…

For decades, scholars have worked to understand the precise manner in which messages affect attitudes and ultimately behaviors. The dominant paradigm suggests that there are two methods or routes to attitude change, one based on careful consideration of the messages and the other based on simple decision rules, often referred to as heuristics…

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of group cognitive-behavioral therapy (GCBT) and of sertraline in treatment-naive children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Method: Between 2000 and 2002, 40 subjects between 9 and 17 years old were randomized to receive GCBT (n = 20) or sertraline (n = 20). GCBT consisted of a…

The present study investigated the effects of personality disorders (PDs) and specific PD-related beliefs on the results of (cognitive-) behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders in a sample of 398 outpatients. The authors used a prospective design in which relationships between PD variables before treatment and outcome measures at posttest and…

The present study tested cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia in older adults with osteoarthritis, coronary artery disease, or pulmonary disease. Ninety-two participants (mean age = 69 years) were randomly assigned to classroom CBT or stress management and wellness (SMW) training, which served as a placebo condition. Compared with SMW,…

This review summarizes end-of-program quit rates from 6 controlled and 10 field-based Not on Tobacco (NOT) evaluations. Approximately 6,130 youth from 5 states and 489 schools participated. Intent-to-treat and compliant quit rates were calculated at 3 months postbaseline (end-of-program). Results from controlled evaluations revealed an aggregate…

In his work on the Theory of Modes, Beck (1996) suggested that there were flaws with his cognitive theory. He suggested that though there are shortcomings to his cognitive theory, there were not similar shortcomings to the practice of Cognitive Therapy. The author suggests that if there are shortcomings to cognitive theory the same shortcomings…

Classroom teachers know that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," therefore putting much time and energy into proactive strategies such as appropriate praising of desired behaviors or using proximity and precorrection to encourage behavior suitable for a good learning environment. Teachers also know that even after they use…

In honeybees, the proboscis extension response (PER) can be conditioned by associating an odor stimulus (CS) to a sucrose reward (US). Conditioned responses to the CS, which are acquired by most bees after a single CS-US pairing, disappear after repeated unrewarded presentations of the CS, a process called extinction. Extinction is usually thought…

We recently reported that fear extinction, a form of inhibitory learning, is selectively blocked by systemic administration of L-type voltage-gated calcium channel (LVGCC) antagonists, including nifedipine, in mice. We here replicate this finding and examine three reduced contingency effects after vehicle or nifedipine (40 mg/kg) administration.…