Leonard Green

Behavioral Medicine’s Roots in Behaviorism: Concepts and Applications

Behaviorism has a key role in the history of behavioral medicine, both through the development of models of biological and behavioral interaction, such as in the foundational work of Neil Miller, and through applied science, such as in the development of behavior therapy which led to much of the work of behavioral medicine in risk reduction and disease management. Focusing on operant psychology, the chapter counters views of behaviorism as looking only at “stimuli and responses” by articulating relationships among complex aspects of past experience and behaviors, emphasizing models of choice and behavioral economics. It extends those models to diverse behavioral medicine challenges, including cigarette smoking and “self-control.” It then describes the development of teleological behaviorism that emphasizes patterns of behavior and the patterns of consequences that influence them. It explores how this teleological perspective may provide new insights regarding obesity and weight loss. It closes with consideration of broad convergence between behavioral and ecological approaches with their shared emphases on contexts and how an ecological behaviorism might guide future work in behavioral medicine and public health.