Murray Sidman’s Legacy and the Scientist’s Behavior

Murray Sidman passed away in May 2019 at age 96, leaving a prolific legacy behind. He was one of the stars that more powerfully shone in the behavioral science universe, illuminating with his work the paths that would be followed by many other scientists. We are seldom aware of the details characterizing a scientific trajectory like his. My aim with this paper is to honor Sidman’s enormous scientific legacy by describing some of the conditions under which he accomplished the things he did, in an effort to provide some insight into his contributions. First, this paper briefly outlines the most relevant elements in his experimental and conceptual track of record. Second, it focuses on his way of doing science, his Tactics. Then, it changes focus onto the scientific characteristics that Murray Sidman himself shared with us concerning who he was when he was doing research. The paper ends with a more personal point (AU)

Murray Sidman: A life of giving.

Murray Sidman's contributions to the science of behavior span many areas including avoidance behavior, coercion and its effects, stimulus control, errorless learning, programmed learning, stimulus equivalence, and single-subject methodology. He was also a great mentor to many and helped shape the discipline we now call behavior analysis. In this memoriam, we briefly highlight his scholarly legacy and share some personal anecdotes.

Psychosocial aspects of diabetes technology.

AIM: To identify key psychosocial research in the domain of diabetes technology. RESULTS: Four trajectories of psychosocial diabetes technology research are identified that characterize research over the past 25 years. Key evidence is reviewed on psychosocial outcomes of technology use as well as psychosocial barriers and facilitating conditions of diabetes technology uptake. Psychosocial interventions that address modifiable barriers and psychosocial factors have proven to be effective in improving glycaemic and self-reported outcomes in diabetes technology users. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial diabetes technology research is essential for designing interventions and education programmes targeting the person with diabetes to facilitate optimized outcomes associated with technology uptake. Psychosocial aspects of diabetes technology use and related research will be even more important in the future given the advent of systems for automated insulin delivery and the increasingly widespread digitalization of diabetes care.

Psychosocial aspects and contributions of behavioural science to medication-taking for adults with type 2 diabetes.

The aim of this narrative review was to determine the contribution of behavioural and psychosocial research to the field of medication-taking for adults with type 2 diabetes over the past 25 years. We review the behavioural and psychosocial literature relevant to adults with type 2 diabetes who are treated with oral antidiabetes agents, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and insulin. Delayed uptake of, omission of and non-persistence with medications are significant problems among adults with type 2 diabetes. At each stage of the course of diabetes, during which medication to lower blood glucose is initiated or intensified, ~50% of people take less medication than prescribed. Research aimed at increasing optimal medication-taking behaviour has targeted 'forgetfulness', developing interventions which aid medication-taking, such as reminder devices, with limited success. In parallel, investigation of beliefs about medication has provided insights into the perceived necessity of and concerns about medication and how these inform medication-taking decisions. Guidance is available for health professionals to facilitate shared decision-making, particularly with insulin therapy; however, interventions addressing medication beliefs are limited. Optimal medication-taking behaviour is essential to prevent hyperglycaemia in adults with type 2 diabetes. Evidence from the past 25 years has demonstrated the association between medication beliefs and medication-taking behaviour. Health professionals need to address medication concerns, and establish and demonstrate the utility of diabetes medication with the individual within the clinical consultation. There are interventions that may assist diabetes health professionals in the shared decision-making process, but further development and more robust evaluation of these tools and techniques is required.

Behaviour change in diabetes: behavioural science advancements to support the use of theory.

Behaviour is central to the management of diabetes, both for people living with diabetes and for healthcare professionals delivering evidence-based care. This review outlines the evolution of behavioural science and the application of theoretical models in diabetes care over the past 25 years. There has been a particular advancement in the development of tools and techniques to support researchers, healthcare professionals and policymakers in taking a theory-based approach, and to enhance the development, reporting and replication of successful interventions. Systematic guidance, theoretical frameworks and lists of behavioural techniques provide the tools to specify target behaviours, identify why ideal behaviours are not implemented, systematically develop theory-based interventions, describe intervention content using shared terminology, and evaluate their effects. Several examples from a range of diabetes-related behaviours (clinic attendance, self-monitoring of blood glucose, retinal screening, setting collaborative goals in diabetes) and populations (people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, healthcare professionals) illustrate the potential for these approaches to be widely translated into diabetes care. The behavioural science approaches outlined in this review give healthcare professionals, researchers and policymakers the tools to deliver care and design interventions with an evidence-based understanding of behaviour. The challenge for the next 25 years is to refine the tools to increase their use and advocate for the role of theoretical models and behavioural science in the commissioning, funding and delivery of diabetes care.

Sweet dreams or bitter nightmare: a narrative review of 25 years of research on the role of sleep in diabetes and the contributions of behavioural science.

The aim of this review was to provide an overview of developments, clinical implications and gaps in knowledge regarding the relationship between diabetes and sleep over the past 25 years, with special focus on contributions from the behavioural sciences. Multiple prospective observational and experimental studies have shown a link between suboptimal sleep and impaired glucose tolerance, decreased insulin sensitivity and the development of type 2 diabetes. While prevalence rates of suboptimal sleep vary widely according to definition, assessment and sample, suboptimal subjective sleep quality appears to be a common reality for one-third of people with type 1 diabetes and over half of people with type 2 diabetes. Both physiological and psychosocial factors may impair sleep in these groups. In turn, suboptimal sleep can negatively affect glycaemic outcomes directly or indirectly via suboptimal daytime functioning (energy, mood, cognition) and self-care behaviours. Technological devices supporting diabetes self-care may have both negative and positive effects. Diabetes and its treatment also affect the sleep of significant others. Research on the merits of interventions aimed at improving sleep for people with diabetes is in its infancy. Diabetes and sleep appear to be reciprocally related. Discussion of sleep deserves a central place in regular diabetes care. Multi-day, multi-method studies may shed more light on the complex relationship between sleep and diabetes at an individual level. Intervention studies are warranted to examine the potential of sleep interventions in improving outcomes for people with diabetes.

A note on a precursor of behavioral momentum.

This is a historical note on a precursor of the concept of behavioral momentum in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in particular, Charles B. description of it in terms of behavioral durability. The note is based largely on two email exchanges we had with John A. (Tony) Nevin, who offered insights on behavioral momentum as a term and a concept that are fit to be public on the occasion of this issue of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior in his honor. Nevin addressed graduate work at Columbia University, the Newtonian analogy, the term behavioral momentum, and precursors of his work that are now lost in history. Ferster's description, though, was more compellingly modern than the others and the one first based in research on human operant behavior.

Tony nevin: The embrace of translational work by a basic scientist.

Here I summarize John A. "Tony" Nevin's evolution as a translational author. All of his publications were classified by title and content as being primarily experimental analysis of behavior or translational. Translational works were subtyped as interpretative, descriptive research, or experimental research. During the first 20 years of his publication career, Tony published exclusively experimental analysis of behavior work. In 1982, he began a series of interpretative translational analyses on topics of significant social importance. These interpretative papers translated behavioral science into logical accounts of issues of war and peace, for example, and performed quantitative analyses of available data to show that social behavior, even at the level of the group or society, conforms to predictions based on established behavioral principles. Tony began experimental translational research in 1990, first to establish whether his analysis of behavioral momentum generalized to humans. Several experimental studies later addressed the persistence of clinically relevant behavior and treatment relapse. The objective descriptions of Tony's publication patterns are punctuated with anecdotes from our 32-year collaboration and friendship.

Prehistoria del TDAH: aditivos para un diagnóstico insostenible / No disponible

Para defender la validez diagnóstica del TDAH la literatura especializada emplea generalmente un argumento histórico, según el cual dicha validez resultaría indiscutible debido al hecho de que diversas fuentes médicas hablaban ya del TDAH hace varios siglos; esto demostraría que el TDAH no es una creación de nuestro tiempo. Sin embargo, al investigar esas mismas fuentes históricas, se puede comprobar lo injustificado de ese argumento, que contribuye aún más al descrédito de este constructo psiquiátrico tan controvertido. Se analizan en el presente artículo tres ‘hitos’ de la llamada historia o prehistoria del TDAH: Alexander Crichton, Heinrich Hoffmann y George F. Still. El TDAH, al contrario de lo que defiende la literatura dominante, es un invento moderno, y el uso de los argumentos históricos revela su mítica base teórica y una escasez de argumentos que debería ser muy alarmante, debido al número de niños diagnosticados y medicados de TDAH

In order to defend the diagnostic validity of ADHD, the specialized literature usually uses a historical argument, according to which its validity is unquestionable due to the fact that a number of medical sources have referred to ADHD for several hundred years. This proves that ADHD is not a contemporary creation. However, when investigating those same historical sources it is possible to prove that these arguments are unfounded, which contributes even more to undermine this highly controversial psychiatric construct. This paper analyzes the three classic ‘milestones’ of the so-called history or prehistory of ADHD: Alexander Crichton, Heinrich Hoffmann and George F. Still. Contrary to the claims of the dominant literature, ADHD is a modern invention, and the use of these historical arguments reveals its mythical theoretical basis and lack of supporting arguments, which should be a cause for serious concern, due to the number of children being diagnosed and medicated for ADHD

[Gerontological research in social and behavioral sciences in Germany since 1968 : Review, critical assessment and perspectives]. / Gerontologische Forschung im Bereich der Sozial- und Verhaltenswissenschaften in Deutschland seit 1968 : Rückblick, kritische Würdigung und Perspektiven.

This article addresses the development of German social and behavioral aging research during the last 50 years based on four propositions: (a) the development and unfolding of social and behavioral aging research in the 1960s and 1970s was tedious. (b) During the 1980s and 1990s the significance of social and behavioral aging research grew considerably. (c) The last 20 years brought increasing and strong recognition of social and behavioral aging research. (d) Currently, social and behavioral aging research in Germany follows high and internationally established standards, and findings are published in internationally recognized journals. In a resume and outlook the structural aspects, future research topics, funding dynamics, and issues of the application of social and behavioral aging science are discussed.

Pence, Putin, Mbeki and Their HIV/AIDS-Related Crimes Against Humanity: Call for Social Justice and Behavioral Science Advocacy.

Indiana, a large rural state in the Midwestern United States, suffered the worst North American HIV outbreak among injection drug users in years. The Indiana state government under former Governor and current US Vice President Mike Pence fueled the HIV outbreak by prohibiting needle/syringe exchange and failed to take substantive action once the outbreak was identified. This failure in public health policy parallels the HIV epidemics driven by oppressive drug laws in current day Russia and is reminiscent of the anti-science AIDS denialism of 1999-2007 South Africa. The argument that Russian President Putin and former South African President Mbeki should be held accountable for their AIDS policies as crimes against humanity can be extended to Vice President Pence. Social and behavioral scientists have a responsibility to inform the public of HIV prevention realities and to advocate for evidence-based public health policies to prevent future outbreaks of HIV infection.

MONKEYS, MIRRORS, AND ME: GORDON GALLUP AND THE STUDY OF SELF-RECOGNITION.

This article explores the work of psychologist Gordon Gallup, Jr., during the 1960s and 1970s on mirror self-recognition in animals. It shows how Gallup tried to integrate the mental "self-concept" into an otherwise strictly behaviorist paradigm. By making an argument from material culture, the article demonstrates how Gallup's adoption of a self-concept is best understood as a product of his sustained analysis of the workings of the mirror as a piece of experimental apparatus. In certain situations, the stimulus properties of the mirror changed dramatically, a shift that Gallup thought legitimated the positing of a self-concept. For this reason, Gallup supposed he could use a mirror to provide an operationalized concept of the self, that is, produce a definition that was compatible with behaviorist experimental norms. The article argues that behaviorism was more supple and productive than is often assumed, and contained resources that could align it with the "cognitive revolution" to which it is most often opposed.

Randall Sakai: A behavioral neuroscientist and neuroendocrinologist.

As a behavioral neuroscientist and neuroendocrinologist, Randall Sakai appreciated the extensive and complex interactions between the brain and the body as exemplified by his seminal studies on the regulation of salt appetite and the brain and body effects in the Visible Burrow System. He applied state-of-the-art methods to probe underlying mechanisms. Randall's view of science will live on in the influence he had on his many colleagues who were also his friends!

Cajal, psychologist of science

This paper presents abundant empirical evidence to support the view that Santiago Ramón y Cajal was a pioneer of the emerging Psychology of Science discipline. Narrative analysis of his autobiography (Recollections of my Life) and some of his unspecialized works (Advice for a Young Investigator, The World from an Eighty-Year-Old's Point of View, and Café Chats) revealed that the Spanish histologist's interest in the psychology of scientists was part and parcel of a high-level, intellectual self-regulation strategy he applied on his path to success. This research led him to document various psychological conclusions about scientists in writing, so as to encourage, guide, and facilitate the work of junior researchers. Current knowledge of the Psychology of Science has confirmed many of the Nobel laureate's observations about psychosocial aspects of scientists, scientific reasoning, and creativity (AU)

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