Although considerable progress has been made in the understanding and treatment of a range of medical disorders, it had recently been pointed out that 85 percent of the population will be stricken by chronic disorders which may be accompanied by many years of suffering.
This volume deals with issues of both cure and risk in chronic illnesses which are among the group of disorders associated with the leading causes of death in the United States at this time -- Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, and cancer. A consideration of the role of brain and behavior in relation to the cure and prevention of these disorders is the central focus of the various chapters in this book. Several chapters discuss the neuropsychological aspects of chronic illnesses including the underlying pathophysiology of changes in the brain which may be associated with both behavioral and physical signs and symptoms in these disorders. Considerable evidence suggests that a range of psychosocial or behavioral factors, such as stressful life events and depression, are associated with increased morbidity or mortality. Complex neurobiological pathways involving the brain, neurotransmitter, and neuroendocrine systems have been implicated. Other chapters consider some of the links among brain, behavior and chronic illnesses, as well as psychological factors such as coping and depression in relation to chronic disorders.
The three leading risk factors known to be associated with both chronic illnesses and death -- diet, tobacco, and alcohol -- are all related to behavioral choices. Sexual behavior can be added to the list in terms of HIV infection and acquired immunodeficiency disease (AIDS). Several chapters deal specifically with a consideration of sexual behavior and HIV infection which clearly highlight the need for scientific knowledge in human sexuality if effective long term preventive measures are to be developed while waiting for a vaccine or cure.
The search for cures must continue to have the highest priority in the scientific and clinical struggle against disease. Nonetheless, the value of psychosocial interventions on the quality of life and mental states of seriously ill persons should not be underestimated.

Contents:
Anger Disorders: Basic Science and Practice Issues. Diagnosis of Anger Disorders. Measuring the Experience, Expression and Control of Anger. A Behaviour-Analytic View of Anger and Aggression. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Anger. Anger and Criminality. Evaluation of Treatment Strategies for Adult Anger Disorders. Developing the Therapeutic Alliance with Angry Clients. Ideal Treatment for Adults with Anger Disorders. Ideal Treatment Package for Children and Adolescents with Anger Disorders. Conclusions and a Look to the Future.

The number of, and interest in, quality of life studies has grown dramatically in the last decade. On an ever increasing basis, patients, clinicians, researchers, and health policy regulators are considering quality of life in assessing treatment alternatives. Unfortunately, most discussions of quality of life are narrow in scope -- applying to only one disease group. This unique book represents the concerted effort of experts in academia, federal government health care regulators, and pharmaceutical industry representatives to define the promise and the problems associated with quality of life studies. The issues covered range from cross cutting ones to those that are specific to particular illnesses.
Because quality of life takes into consideration such domains as mood, vocation, family, sexual functioning, social participation, and costs, this book will serve as an invaluable companion to readers with an interest in behavioral medicine research.

This volume deals with the visual perception of lightness, brightness, and transparency of surfaces, both under minimal laboratory conditions and in complex images typical of everyday life. Each chapter analyzes the challenging problem of how a pattern of light intensities on the retina is transformed into the visual experience of varying shades of grey, transparent surfaces, and light and shadow. One important theme which unifies the group of contributions is the recognition that the perception of surface lightness is rooted fundamentally in the encoding of relative intensities of light within the retinal image, not intensities per se. A second important unifying theme is an appreciation of the multiple dimensions of the visual experience of lightness, brightness, and transparency -- people do not perceive the lightness of surfaces by discarding information concerning the light illuminating those surfaces; rather, they perceive a pattern of illumination projected onto a pattern of surface greys.
The long-fascinating problems of surface lightness and color perception have become very active topics recently as a resurging interest within the visual perception community has coincided with an increasing appreciation of the centrality of these problems by the emerging machine vision community. The best of recent psychophysical work on lightness perception, as presented in this volume, will be of great interest to both of these communities. This book also marks a synthesis of old and new. A traditional, strongly Gestalt, approach that had fallen into neglect is updated in the light of new quantitative systematic methods and important later discoveries, such as the disappearance of stabilized retinal images. The book draws on such diverse approaches as Gestalt and ecological psychology, threshold psychophysics, and computational vision, advancing our understanding of the interrelations among surface color, illumination, perceived depth, shading, and transparency.

Aggression usually involves a sequence of behaviors, reflecting escalations and de-escalations in the form or intensity of the actions taken, which play out over time. This book provides a context in which social and biological research on the aggressive behaviors of human and non-human subjects, interacting in dyads or groups, can be compared and integrated. Implicit in this juxtaposition is the major question of whether general principles governing the dynamics of aggression within and between episodes may be discerned. Aggressive behavior is described at different levels of analysis in humans and a number of other animal species. Three basic views of aggression dynamics become apparent:
* The economic interpretation: Aggression will be escalated when it pays one of the combatants to do so or, more generally, when the potential benefits outweigh the risks. Decisions to escalate or de-escalate are part of a calculated "strategy," in one or another sense. This interpretation is formalized within game theoretic models as applied to animal conflicts and to international conflicts, within the chapters of this text.
* The psychological process interpretation: Emphasis is placed on psychological/physiological processes within the individual. The chapters stress the importance of acute emotional states of anger and aggressive arousal and argue the role of peripheral sympathetic activation, while proposing a central neural mechanism. Children escalating their tantrums, adult humans and animals of other species intensifying their interpersonal conflicts, national leaders going to a war footing all appear to suffer a narrowing of attention and progressive failure of cognitive function under the intensifying stress of conflict. Perhaps these changes in attention, sensory and cognitive functions, and risk taking reflect a "commitment to aggression" which is necessary for organisms to engage in potentially dangerous and painful encounters.
* The emergent process interpretation: Escalation emerges in a spontaneous and dynamic way as the actions of one participant elicit reactions from the other(s).

Blending academic theory with policy guidelines and practical suggestions, this book provides a review of current approaches to assessment and Intervention For Children With Emotional And Behavioural Difficulties. It incorporates a discussion of government guidelines on policy and provision with schools and LEAs and reviews a range of successful innovations in intervention. Specific areas are covered, including Exclusion, Integration And Emotional Abuse.; Five Recurring Themes permeate the whole book, these being: the effects of government legislation on all aspects of EBD assessment and provision; the recognition that children with EBD come from economically and socially disadvantaged families and the implication that this has for assessment and provision; the problems of agreeing on an acceptable definition of EBD; the fact that children labelled as EBD do not have an equal opportunity to assessment and provision; and the belief that schools can make a substantial contribution to the prevention of EBD.

Based upon lectures presented at an invitational colloquium in honor of Nico Frijda, this collection of essays represents a brief and up-to-date overview of the field of emotions, their significance and how they function. For most, emotions are simply what we feel, giving our lives affective value. Scientists approach emotions differently -- some considering the "feeling" aspect to be of little relevance to their research questions. Some investigators consider emotions from a phenomenological perspective, while others believe that the psychophysiological bases of the emotions are of prime importance, and still others observe and study animals in order to generate hypotheses about human emotions. Containing essays which represent each of these approaches, this book is in one sense a heterogenous collection. Nevertheless, the variety of approaches and interests come together, since these scholars are all operating from a more or less cognitive psychological orientation and use the same conceptual reference scheme. Written by experts in their own area, the essays reflect the richness of research in emotions. Whether these approaches and opinions can be harmonized into a single theory of emotions is a question which the future will have to answer.

This book brings together a group of scholars to share findings and insights on the effects of media on children and family. Their contributions reflect not only widely divergent political orientations and value systems, but also three distinct domains of inquiry into human motivation and behavior -- social scientific, psychodynamic (or psychoanalytical), and clinical practice. Each of these three domains is privy to important evidence and insights that need to transcend epistemological and methodological boundaries if understanding of the subject is to improve dramatically. In keeping with this notion, the editors asked the authors to go beyond a summary of findings, and lend additional distinction to the book by applying the "binoculars" of their particular perspective and offering suggestions as to the implications of their findings.
One of the goals of the conference that resulted in this book was consensus building in the area of media and family. From examining the findings and insights of a diverse group of scholars, it seems that consensus building in several areas is a distinct possibility. Addressing the concerns of educators about the influence of the mass media of communication -- entertainment programs in particular -- on children and the welfare of the nuclear family, this volume projects directions for superior programming, especially for educational television. The influence of sex and violence on children and adults is given much attention, and the development of moral judgment and sexual expectations, among other things, is explored. The critical analysis of media effects includes examination of positive contributions of the media, such as the search for missing children and exemplary educational programs.

This book presents a new approach to understanding the family unit and how and why it functions as it does. The approach focuses on the cognitions of family members and how these, in turn, shape individuals' behavior and the functioning of the family system.
The use of the cognitive-behavioral perspective in family science has gained a quick and broad acceptance among social scientists and practitioners during the past decade. One reason for its success is that the basics of the approach are easy to learn and apply. Specifically, the approach maintains that a person who believes that he or she is a failure will -- because of this cognition -- act in certain self-defeating ways and have various self-deprecating feelings.
The wide acceptance of the cognitive-behavioral approach rests on more than its simplicity: the approach has repeatedly proven itself in the laboratory and in the clinic. The knowledge readers of this volume will gain about the cognitive-behavioral approach provides them with tools that they can use to better understand not only the family interactions, but the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals -- including themselves -- in the family setting.

This edited collection of articles addresses aspects of medical care in which human error is associated with unanticipated adverse outcomes. For the purposes of this book, human error encompasses mismanagement of medical care due to:
* inadequacies or ambiguity in the design of a medical device or institutional setting for the delivery of medical care;
* inappropriate responses to antagonistic environmental conditions such as crowding and excessive clutter in institutional settings, extremes in weather, or lack of power and water in a home or field setting;
* cognitive errors of omission and commission precipitated by inadequate information and/or situational factors -- stress, fatigue, excessive cognitive workload.
The first to address the subject of human error in medicine, this book considers the topic from a problem oriented, systems perspective; that is, human error is considered not as the source of the problem, but as a flag indicating that a problem exists. The focus is on the identification of the factors within the system in which an error occurs that contribute to the problem of human error. As those factors are identified, efforts to alleviate them can be instituted and reduce the likelihood of error in medical care.
Human error occurs in all aspects of human activity and can have particularly grave consequences when it occurs in medicine. Nearly everyone at some point in life will be the recipient of medical care and has the possibility of experiencing the consequences of medical error. The consideration of human error in medicine is important because of the number of people that are affected, the problems incurred by such error, and the societal impact of such problems. The cost of those consequences to the individuals involved in medical error, both in the health care providers' concern and the patients' emotional and physical pain, the cost of care to alleviate the consequences of the error, and the cost to society in dollars and in lost personal contributions, mandates consideration of ways to reduce the likelihood of human error in medicine.
The chapters were written by leaders in a variety of fields, including psychology, medicine, engineering, cognitive science, human factors, gerontology, and nursing. Their experience was gained through actual hands-on provision of medical care and/or research into factors contributing to error in such care. Because of the experience of the chapter authors, their systematic consideration of the issues in this book affords the reader an insightful, applied approach to human error in medicine -- an approach fortified by academic discipline.

The area of animal counting has historically been the subject of a long and colorful debate, but only more recently have systematic, more rigorous experimental efforts to evaluate numerical abilities in animals been undertaken. This volume contains chapters from investigators in a range of disciplines with interests in comparative cognition. The studies described characterize the emergence of number-related abilities in rats, pigeons, chimpanzees, and humans, bringing together -- for the first time in one volume -- the rich diversity of cognitive capabilities demonstrated throughout many species. The data and theoretical perspectives shared will likely serve to provoke much thought and discussion among comparative psychologists and fuel new research and interest in the field of animal cognition.

This book is intended to accomplish several goals. First, it is designed to provide a broad overview of the major areas of application of theory and research relating to nonverbal behavior. Second, individual chapters emphasize how the applications have been drawn from underlying theories and empirical bases, thereby making the link between theory, research, and applications apparent. Finally, the volume links individual chapter contributions, demonstrating how theoretical progress over the last few decades has led to important applied advances.
The contributors to this book consider a wide variety of settings and topics. Their common thread, however, is a shared conviction that an understanding of nonverbal behavior can bring about an improvement in the human condition. Each of the authors has made suggestions regarding future directions for both research and practice -- and their ideas offer real promise.

- Presents an authoritative overview of ACT principles and research - Emphasizes the intentional development of 6 core behavioral processes: Values, committed action, acceptance, defusion, self-as-content, and present moment awareness - Written by leading experts in the field, drawing on decades of research to develop their theories and clinical programmes

Looks at the history and origins of celibacy, discusses its role in the priesthood, and considers the psychological aspects of celibacy.

This volume examines the nature of human error -- its causes and origins, its classifications, and the extent to which it is possible to predict and prevent errors and their impact. One of the first texts to deal with this topic in detail, it draws into a single cohesive account contributions from experts in a range of disciplines including psychology, philosophy, and engineering. Offering an insightful discussion of fundamental and necessary questions about the nature and source of human error, the book draws significant conclusions and identifies areas worthy of further exploration. This volume will be of interest to all who are concerned with the impact human error has on both the individual and society.

The ninth volume in this highly acclaimed series discusses the computational and clinical approaches to pattern recognition and concept formation regarding: visual and spatial processing models; computational models, templates and hierarchical models. An ideal reference for students and professionals in experimental psychology and behavioral analysis.

A comprehensive set of readings examining the full range of concerns in the field of deviant behaviour. All the selections are relatively recent and have not appeared in other anthologies.

This book assists parents, teachers, and counselors in training children so that home and school will be happy and efficient, organized but pleasant -- with adults satisfied with their children and children growing up to be respectful, responsible, and resourceful. It provides solutions and emphasizes practicality.

Based on a conference held at the University of Umea, Sweden, these papers discuss the scientific status of the field of aversive learning from historical, affective, clinical, neurobiological, cognitive, neuroethological, and conceptual perspectives. Aversion, Avoidance, Anxiety carries readers through the history of the field's development, looks at the current state of progress, and discusses future research and therapeutic possibilities. The editors provide introductions to each chapter containing both timely information and background data to help readers systhesize and assimilate the information.

Primatology, Ethics and Trauma offers an analytical re-examination of the research conducted into the linguistic abilities of the Oklahoma chimpanzees, uncovering the historical reality of the research. It has been 50 years since the first language experiments on chimpanzees. Robert Ingersoll was one of the researchers from 1975 to 1983. He is well known for being one of the main carers and best friend of the chimpanzee, Nim Chimpsky, but there were other chimpanzees in the University of Oklahoma's Institute for Primate Studies, including Washoe, Moja, Kelly, Booee, and Onan, who were taught sign language in the quest to discover whether language is learned or innate in humans. Antonina Anna Scarna's expertise in language acquisition and neuroscience offers a vehicle for critical evaluation of those studies. Ingersoll and Scarna investigate how this research failed to address the emotional needs of the animals. Research into trauma has made scientific advances since those studies. It is time to consider the research from a different perspective, examining the neglect and cruelty that was inflicted on those animals in the name of psychological science. This book re-examines those cases, addressing directly the suffering and traumatic experiences endured by the captive chimpanzees, in particular the female chimpanzee, Washoe, and her resultant inability to be a competent mother. The book discusses the unethical nature of the studies in the context of recent research on trauma and offers a specific and direct psychological message, proposing to finally close the door on the language side of these chimpanzee studies. This book is a novel and groundbreaking account. It will be of interest to lay readers and academics alike. Those working as research, experimental, and clinical psychologists will find this book of interest, as will psychotherapists, linguists, anthropologists, historians of science and primatologists, as well as those involved in primate sanctuary and conservation.

This book provides insight into the complex nature of socialization and development by exploring the interrelations among such topics as play, diet, social cognition, self-concept, friendship, family, and school. This book also examines the contributions and impact of intrapersonal and interpersonal integration on a child's psychological development from early to middle childhood levels.

This seventh volume, divided into four parts, addresses the biological determinates of reinforcement and memory. Covers topics in electrical brain stimulation, drugs and reinforcement, and cellular mechanisms.

This important volume applies hypnotic principles to the specific challenges of behavioral medicine. Drawing from extensive clinical evidence and experience, the authors describe how hypnobehavioral techniques can help in the treatment of psychophysiological disorders.

First Published in 1986. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.