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The difference of addictive behavior of freebase nicotine and nicotine salts in mice base on an aerosol self-administration model

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Hao Zhang, Shulei Han, Lei Fan, Guanglin Liu, Yuan Zhang, Huan Chen, Hongwei Hou, Qingyuan Hu, The difference of addictive behavior of freebase nicotine and nicotine salts in mice base on an aerosol self-administration model, Nicotine & Tobacco Research , 2024;, ntae150, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntae150

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The distinctions in the biological impacts of distinct forms of nicotine have become a prominent subject of current research. However, relatively little research has been done on the addictive effects of different forms of nicotine.

The aerosol self-administration device was briefly characterized by determining aerosol concentration, particle size, and distributional diffusion of the aerosol. And the aerosol self-administration model was constructed at 1, 5, and 10 mg/mL of nicotine to select the appropriate nicotine concentration. Subsequently, the model was used to explore the differences in aerosol self-administration behavior of freebase nicotine and nicotine salts and the behavioral differences after withdrawal.

We successfully constructed mouse aerosol self-administration models at 1, 5, and 10 mg/mL nicotine concentrations. In the study of the difference in addictive behaviors between freebase nicotine and nicotine salts, mice with freebase nicotine and different nicotine salts showed varying degrees of drug-seeking behavior, with nicotine benzoate showing the strongest reinforcement. During the withdrawal phase, nicotine salts mice showed more robust anxiety-like behaviors.

These results confirm the successful development and stability of the nicotine aerosol self-administration model. Furthermore, they demonstrated that nicotine salts enhance drug-seeking behavior to a greater extent than freebase nicotine, with nicotine benzoate exhibiting the most significant effects.

In this study, an aerosol self-administered model of mice was constructed, which can be used not only for comparing the effects of freebase nicotine and nicotine salts on the behavior, but also for other addictive drugs, such as fentanyl and cannabis. In addition, this study shows that nicotine salts may be more addictive compared to freebase nicotine, which is a reference for the future use of nicotine salts in tobacco products such as e-cigarettes.

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To treat obesity in children, task force favors behavioral therapy over drugs like Wegovy

By Elizabeth Cooney June 18, 2024

A national advisory organization has come down on the side of behavioral interventions, not obesity medications, to help children 6 and older with high BMI improve their health, wading into the debate over prescribing the blockbusters for kids before their long-term consequences are better understood.

On Tuesday, the United States Preventive Services Task Force issued recommendations encouraging clinicians to provide or refer children and adolescents 6 years or older with a high body mass index to comprehensive, intensive behavioral interventions. That counters last year’s recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics to consider obesity drugs for kids 12 and older whose weight tops growth charts, along with encouraging better nutrition, physical activity, and behavioral therapy from age 6 on up. 

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The USPSTF called evidence on the benefits of pharmacotherapy “inadequate” due to the small number of studies and limited data on long-term treatment harms, asserting that at least two years of follow-up are needed to gauge the long-term outcomes of drug therapy. That assessment would go beyond BMI to include metabolic health and psychosocial functioning, among other impacts. 

Wanda Nicholson, task force chair and senior associate dean of diversity and inclusion at the George Washington University School of Public Health, said the evidence is clear to support high-intensity behavioral interventions to help children and adolescents lose weight and gain better quality of life. It’s less than clear for the four drugs discussed in the task force’s analysis of current research, she said. The drugs are semaglutide (sold as Wegovy for weight loss/Ozempic for diabetes), liraglutide (Saxenda/Victoza), orlistat (Xenical, Alli), and phentermine/topiramate (Qsymia).

Related: For a 9-year-old patient at a Los Angeles obesity clinic, barriers to health are everywhere

“We believe we need more evidence to be able to make a recommendation for or against medications in children and adolescents,” she told STAT. “While there were trials evaluating the effectiveness of FDA-approved medications, there was a limited number of trials per medication from our review. And in addition, there was limited evidence on weight loss maintenance after medications were discontinued in children.” 

In both children and adults, weight can be quickly regained after treatment stops. 

A child’s BMI — a measure many view as flawed — is considered high if it’s at or above the 95th percentile for age or sex. Nearly 20% of U.S. children fall into that category. The prevalence of high BMI rises with age and is higher among Hispanic/Latino, Native American/Alaska Native, and non-Hispanic Black children and adolescents and among children from lower-income families. The dissonance between the USPSTF’s and the AAP’s positions does not address criticism voiced last year over whether the focus on weight instead of health is misplaced.

The groups agree on recommending intensive behavioral interventions for children 6 and up.

“I do want to emphasize again that we do have proven ways that clinicians can help children and adolescents to achieve a healthy weight and to remain healthy , ” Nicholson said.

The mission of the USPSTF, a nongovernmental agency funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, is to weigh medical evidence and advise how to solve health problems. The current recommendations carry a grade B, and the group reviews its guidance every five years. Grade B recommendations carry influence because a provision in the Affordable Care Act says patients should pay no out-of-pocket expenses for preventive services recommended by the USPSTF with a grade of A or B. 

To make healthy and sustainable changes, patients on obesity medication do need support to change their eating habits and to cope with potential side effects, Sarah Armstrong, professor of pediatrics at Duke University, said. Chair of the AAP’s section on obesity, she is a co-author of the clinical practice guidelines that came out last year, and she co-wrote an editorial appearing Tuesday in JAMA with the task force statement. 

To understand why AAP and USPSTF diverge on drug therapy, she suggests looking at the purposes the two groups serve. 

“The USPSTF really focuses on interventions clinicians can initiate for long-term prevention of chronic disease. That’s literally what the ‘P’ stands for in USPSTF,” she told STAT. “We’re looking at the here and now: What do we need to treat obesity? Yes, we are looking at the same body of evidence. But we are looking at it through two different lenses.” 

Related: ‘That scares me’: New childhood obesity guidelines still face a long road to consensus

Pediatricians are seeing the complications of obesity every day, sometimes treating 10-year-olds with obesity who already have hypertension, diabetes, or liver disease, Armstrong said, so the evidence that pediatricians need is different.

Amanda Staiano, an associate professor of pediatric obesity and health behavior at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center of Louisiana State University, told STAT that both groups’ guidelines say intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment should be offered to all children and adolescents with obesity. She also served on AAP’s clinical practice guideline authorship committee.

“The AAP explicitly states that drugs should not be a monotherapy,” Staiano said.  “They are an adjunct to be used in combination with intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment.” 

Finding such programs can prove difficult .

Staiano studies intensive health behavior and lifestyle obesity treatment programs that include telehealth behavioral and lifestyle counseling and can incorporate apps, wearables, AI chatbots, and games to meet families where they are. She hears some but not all families say they’re excited to have more treatment options available. She’s also seen many adolescents improve their health with medication, including weight loss, better heart and metabolic health measured by lab values, and better quality of life. 

More evidence on new and powerful GLP-1 drugs will likely emerge over the next few years and inform more specific guidance for nutrition and physical activity recommendations, Armstrong said, among them questions on how to maintain muscle mass . “What we do in the meantime is we strongly recommend very close clinical monitoring for children who are on these medications so that we can make these recommendations and change things in real time.”

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Staiano acknowledges rapid change in obesity medicine as medications become more available. “I expect the next task force convening will have much more evidence to inform a recommendation,” she wrote. “We also need longer term follow-up for studies. Many of these drugs will likely involve long-term administration for patients to keep the weight from returning.” 

USPSTF guidance from 2017 focused on screening before intervention, but the new statement instead moves directly to behavioral methods to promote a healthy weight while stopping short of suggesting GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy. It’s a recognition that screening has become a routine part of primary care.

Those intensive behavioral interventions, intended to help children achieve a healthy weight while improving their quality of life, entail 26 or more hours over one year with a health professional. That might mean physical activity, support for weight-related behavior change, and information about healthy eating.

Behavioral treatments and drug therapies can and should coexist, Armstrong said. In her 20 years at Duke, she’s seen an evolution from dispensing advice on diet and exercise in printed handouts to engaging children and families in cooking classes to prepare more nutritious meals or playing games with peers to amp up active hours. Ensuring families have access to those approaches can be a challenge.

“Just like any chronic disease, which obesity most certainly is, there are a number of treatments that are available and that have to be tailored to the individual,” she said. “Think of adolescent depression. We would never say, ‘Oh, should we do therapy or medication,’ and pit them against each other somehow. We do them together.”

Samar Mahamud Hafida, an adult endocrinologist and weight management specialist at Boston Medical Center who directs the transition clinic for teens and adolescents with obesity and diabetes, also compared obesity to other diseases for which drug treatment is standard and side effects are managed.

“Why is this such a specific and special issue to just weight loss medication? That can happen with antibiotics, that can happen with vaccines, that can happen with chemotherapy,” she said. “Everything has a side effect, everything. That doesn’t mean we should give up and say, ‘No way, we’re not going to do this.’ It means that the clinicians need to know how to navigate, how to mitigate that.”

About half of the teenagers with obesity she sees in her clinic come after asking their doctors about obesity drugs. “This is a generation now that understands that it’s not my fault,” she said. Most of the other referrals come from parents, while the fewest come from clinicians, typically after diabetes or liver problems have worsened.

“A government entity is telling clinicians that there’s not enough evidence to give them. What do you think is going to happen? It’s going to get even worse,” Hafida said about obesity. “This is the time where we can influence long-term outcomes. I just find it appalling, really just terrible.” 

Related: Black voices, Black bodies: Life in the age of Ozempic

Experts agree that children with obesity have a serious disease for which there are available treatments — but not which ones.

“We know from lots of evidence what untreated obesity looks like over time. So we need to act now,” Armstrong said. “Viewing obesity as a disease means you wouldn’t wait for that long-term data because we have treatments that work right now.”

Doctors writing another editorial, published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open , see some daylight in the USPSTF recommendations, quoting this passage: “Clinicians should understand the evidence but individualize decision-making to the specific patient or situation.” That doesn’t prohibit health care practitioners from prescribing obesity medications, Roohi Kharofa, Nancy Crimmins, and Amy Shah of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center argue. 

“The time to prevent and intervene on childhood obesity is now,” they write. While the need to start with intensive lifestyle therapy is clear, they add, for many patients, that alone may not be enough to prevent serious outcomes. “In these instances, pharmacotherapy and/or bariatric surgery may need to be considered to improve health outcomes in youth with obesity.”

Nicholson said both AAP and her task force support screening and favor intervention, noting that surgery is outside the USPSTF’s scope. “The task force is calling for more research on benefits and harms of medications in children and adolescents, and we look forward to being able to identify the evidence and being able to update our recommendations.”

STAT’s coverage of chronic health issues is supported by a grant from  Bloomberg Philanthropies . Our financial supporters  are not involved in any decisions about our journalism.

About the Author Reprints

Elizabeth cooney.

Cardiovascular Disease Reporter

Elizabeth Cooney is a cardiovascular disease reporter at STAT, covering heart, stroke, and metabolic conditions.

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Build a Corporate Culture That Works

There’s a widespread understanding that managing corporate culture is key to business success. Yet few companies articulate their culture in such a way that the words become an organizational reality that molds employee behavior as intended.

All too often a culture is described as a set of anodyne norms, principles, or values, which do not offer decision-makers guidance on how to make difficult choices when faced with conflicting but equally defensible courses of action.

The trick to making a desired culture come alive is to debate and articulate it using dilemmas. If you identify the tough dilemmas your employees routinely face and clearly state how they should be resolved—“In this company, when we come across this dilemma, we turn left”—then your desired culture will take root and influence the behavior of the team.

To develop a culture that works, follow six rules: Ground your culture in the dilemmas you are likely to confront, dilemma-test your values, communicate your values in colorful terms, hire people who fit, let culture drive strategy, and know when to pull back from a value statement.

Start by thinking about the dilemmas your people will face.

Idea in Brief

The problem.

There’s a widespread understanding that managing corporate culture is key to business success. Yet few companies articulate their corporate culture in such a way that the words become an organizational reality that molds employee behavior as intended.

What Usually Happens

How to fix it.

Follow six rules: Ground your culture in the dilemmas you are likely to confront, dilemma-test your values, communicate your values in colorful terms, hire people who fit, let culture drive strategy, and know when to pull back from a value.

At the beginning of my career, I worked for the health-care-software specialist HBOC. One day, a woman from human resources came into the cafeteria with a roll of tape and began sticking posters on the walls. They proclaimed in royal blue the company’s values: “Transparency, Respect, Integrity, Honesty.” The next day we received wallet-sized plastic cards with the same words and were asked to memorize them so that we could incorporate them into our actions. The following year, when management was indicted on 17 counts of conspiracy and fraud, we learned what the company’s values really were.

• EM Erin Meyer is a professor at INSEAD, where she directs the executive education program Leading Across Borders and Cultures. She is the author of The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business (PublicAffairs, 2014) and coauthor (with Reed Hastings) of No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention (Penguin, 2020). ErinMeyerINSEAD

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State of the Consumer 2024: What’s now and what’s next

If you think you know consumer behavior, think again. Middle-income consumers are feeling the squeeze and worrying about inflation but aren’t holding back on splurges. Rather than sticking to tight budgets in retirement, aging consumers are splurging too. Speaking of older shoppers, it turns out that the brand loyalty they’ve long been known for is a thing of the past. And young consumers in Asia and the Middle East are more likely than those in Western markets to switch to higher-priced brands.

These are just some of the large-scale shifts taking place in the global consumer landscape. Consumers have continued to defy expectations and behave in atypical ways , keeping consumer goods manufacturers and retailers on their toes. More than ever, companies that cultivate a detailed, up-to-date understanding of today’s and tomorrow’s consumers—who they are, what they want, and where and how they shop—will be best positioned to succeed.

You’re invited

Join us for a discussion of our report, Rescuing the decade: A dual agenda for the consumer goods industry , on June 26 at 10:00 a.m. ET | 4:00 p.m. CET.

In this article, we draw on our ConsumerWise  research to delve into nine trends shaping the global consumer sector and four imperatives to help consumer businesses move from “now” to “next.”

Nine trends defining the global consumer market

To forecast where the global consumer landscape is heading, we surveyed more than 15,000 consumers in 18 markets that together make up 90 percent of global GDP. Their answers revealed surprising nuances about demographic groups, seemingly contradictory consumer behaviors, and categories poised for growth.

Who is the future consumer?

Consumers no longer fit into traditional archetypes. Some of the most influential consumers of tomorrow are currently underserved.

1. Young people in emerging markets. By 2030, 75 percent of consumers in emerging markets will be between the ages of 15 and 34. Our data indicates these consumers may be optimistic about the economy and willing to spend.

Among this group, young consumers aged 18 to 24 in Asian and Middle Eastern nations, such as India and Saudi Arabia, will be particularly important to consumer businesses, given their pent-up demand and willingness to spend. These consumers indicate a strong desire to spend on premium products, so much so that they are up to two times more likely to trade up—meaning opt for higher-priced brands and retailers—than young consumers in advanced economies. They are also up to three times more optimistic about their respective economies (Exhibit 1). This optimism could translate into higher levels of future consumption. It’s worth noting that young consumers in Latin America are actually less likely to trade up than young consumers in other emerging economies.

2. Retired and ready to spend. Longer life expectancies and declining birth rates, particularly in advanced economies, are pushing the global population of people older than 65 to increase at a quicker rate than the population of people younger than that age. 1 “Ageing,” United Nations, accessed May 29, 2024. Yet for all the data relating to aging populations, older consumers are often misunderstood.

Despite the financial constraints that may accompany retirement, aging consumers across all income levels are willing to spend on discretionary items. In experiential categories such as travel, older consumers’ intent to splurge is even higher than that of millennials, who have historically been big travel spenders. High-income baby boomer and Silent Generation consumers (those whose household incomes exceed $100,000) are a sizable cohort in the United States, making up 30 percent of the market—and they’re more likely to spend on discretionary purchases, such as home improvement and gardening, compared with lower-income consumers their age.

In emerging markets, it’s not just younger consumers who are ready to spend but their parents, too. Wealthy aging consumers in emerging markets are more optimistic, expect to spend more on discretionary items, and plan on treating themselves more than wealthy aging consumers in advanced markets. In one of the starkest examples, 42 percent of wealthy aging consumers in emerging markets 2 Forty-two percent of consumers in Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia. said they expect to spend more on entertainment, compared with 7 percent of comparable consumers in Europe 3 Throughout this article, we will refer to “Europe” to indicate France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. and 11 percent in the United States. We see a similar willingness to spend in categories such as home improvement, airline flights, and hotel stays. Consumer businesses that market exclusively to younger consumers are thus missing out; they ignore wealthy aging consumers at their own risk.

3. The squeezed-but-splurging middle. We expect that cost-of-living increases in advanced economies will continue to put pressure on middle-income consumers. While conventional wisdom would suggest that these consumers will clamp down on discretionary spending as a result, our data reveals something different: instead, middle-income consumers in Europe and the United States say they plan to splurge on discretionary items at a rate that is comparable with that of high-income consumers.

This intent to splurge appears across various categories, including experience-based categories such as travel and dining out, as well as groceries and discretionary goods. Middle-income consumers might typically be expected to delay purchases during economically challenging times, but our research shows that they’re only slightly more inclined to delay purchases than wealthier consumers. They’re also not much more likely to trade down than higher-income consumers.

What will consumers want?

What consumers want is changing too. Weakened brand loyalty, affordability over sustainability, and heightened interest in wellness products and services reflect the preferences and priorities of consumers across ages and geographies.

4. Brand exploration. When they couldn’t find exactly what they needed because of pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, roughly half of consumers  switched products or brands. That behavioral change has proved quite sticky: consumers continue to be open to exploring alternatives, and brand loyalty is fading across demographic groups.

In advanced markets, over a third of consumers have tried different brands, and approximately 40 percent have switched retailers in search of better prices and discounts (Exhibit 2). Inflation and economic uncertainty are almost certainly inducing this behavior.

This weakening of brand loyalty is not limited to a specific age group. In the past, older consumers remained consistently loyal to their preferred brands, but today, they’re just as likely to embrace new brands and retailers. In Europe and the United States, Gen Zers and millennials are only slightly more likely than older consumers to trade down to lower-priced brands and retailers.

One beneficiary of this rampant downtrading is private labels. Thirty-six percent of consumers plan to purchase private-label products more frequently, and 60 percent believe private brands offer equal or better quality.

5. Sustainability: Value upstages values. In recent years, young consumers in our survey data said they prioritized sustainability considerations when making purchases. It wasn’t all talk: in the United States, sales of products with sustainability-related claims  outpaced sales of products without such claims.

While young consumers still say they care about sustainability, they are now making clear trade-offs in the face of economic uncertainty and inflation. In Europe and the United States, fewer Gen Zers and millennials ranked sustainability claims as an important purchasing factor at the beginning of 2024 than in 2023 (Exhibit 3).

Younger consumers aren’t just deprioritizing sustainability in their purchase decisions; they’ve also become less willing to pay a premium for sustainable products. In Europe and the United States, the percentage of young consumers willing to pay a premium for products with sustainability claims declined by up to four percentage points across product categories. Among these consumers, only a very small percentage were willing to pay a premium for personal care and apparel products with sustainability claims.

6. The worldwide wellness wave. We estimate the global wellness market to be worth more than $1.8 trillion , growing 5 to 10 percent annually. 4 “ The trends defining the $1.8 trillion global wellness market in 2024 ,” McKinsey, January 16, 2024. In advanced economies, health and wellness products and services have been in high demand over the past several years. Today, these categories are also growing quickly in emerging markets, and in some cases, growth in intent to spend on health and wellness products in emerging markets is outpacing growth in advanced markets.

In emerging markets such as China, India, and the Middle East, the percentage of consumers who intend to increase their spending on wellness products and services is two to three times higher than in advanced markets such as Canada and the United States (Exhibit 4).

It’s not only Gen Zers and millennials who are propelling growth in this space, but also Gen Xers and baby boomers. To be sure, regional variations appear. According to our research, for example, 63 percent of baby boomers in China intend to spend more on fitness in the near future, while only 4 percent of the same cohort in India plan to do so.

Weight management products and services, in particular, could help induce growth in the wellness sector over the next several years.

By 2035, just over half of the world’s population is projected to be overweight or obese. At the same time, the availability of weight management drugs is expected to grow as more health plans approve coverage, doctors are able to prescribe them for more uses, and doses are made available in pill form. Adoption of these drugs, compared with other weight management solutions (such as dieting or exercise), will depend on cultural norms and beliefs, too. Less than 30 percent of Chinese and UK consumers consider weight loss drugs to be very effective . 5 “ The trends defining the $1.8 trillion global wellness market in 2024 ,” McKinsey, January 16, 2024.

7. Wellness for women. Investments in women’s wellness are also growing . Consumers in both advanced and emerging markets are indicating a greater interest in spending on women’s wellness products and services, as well as on adjacent personal-care categories. We estimate that closing the women’s health gap could be worth $1 trillion annually  by 2040. 6 Kweilin Ellingrud, Lucy Pérez, Anouk Petersen, and Valentina Sartori, Closing the women’s health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies , McKinsey Health Institute, January 17, 2024.

A higher percentage of women in emerging markets (48 percent), in fact, indicate an intent to splurge on beauty and personal-care products and fitness, compared with women in advanced markets (27 percent). And young women are especially interested in wellness: Gen Z women across both emerging and advanced markets said they expect to spend more on personal-care goods and services, compared with Gen Xers and baby boomers. As innovation in women’s health continues to push the sector forward, we expect spending to increase as well.

Where will consumers shop?

Knowing what consumers want means little if businesses do not meet consumers where they are. Global migration patterns—both to and from major urban hubs—are changing where consumers spend their time and money in the physical world, while growth in social commerce accounts for new movement in the digital world.

8. The new urban hot spots. In both advanced and emerging markets, people are moving to seek out new opportunities and a better quality of life. In advanced markets like the United States, consumers are moving away from larger cities in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast to “secondary cities,” or those with populations between 50,000 and 500,000 people. Two-thirds of the fastest-growing US cities are in the South and West. In these cities, the cost of living is lower than in larger cities, and remote work opportunities are plentiful. Millennials, Gen Xers, and boomers are propelling this trend.

Just because US consumers are moving to scaled-down versions of metropolises does not mean they are curtailing their spending: just as many consumers in secondary cities say they plan to splurge as do consumers in the largest American cities. Meanwhile, 1.3 times more consumers in secondary cities say they plan to splurge, compared with US consumers in rural areas.

Emerging markets will continue to see urban-population growth in both megacities and secondary cities as consumers move in search of better economic opportunities and improved well-being. By 2035, for example, 43 percent of the Indian population may reside in urban areas, up from 35 percent in 2018. In China, the percentage of middle-class households is expected to increase in both tier-one and tier-two cities as well as in tier-three and tier-four cities by 2030. And by 2040, there will be 537 million people in African urban centers, making the African urban population the largest in the world.

9. Social commerce takes flight. For several years, China has led the world in the adoption of social commerce, in which consumers browse and buy directly through social media and content creation platforms. Today, social-commerce markets in both China and India continue to mature, while those in other emerging-market countries—such as Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—are close behind (Exhibit 5). Consumers in these countries consistently spend more on purchases made through social media platforms, compared with consumers in Europe and the United States.

Attempts to grow the social-commerce market  in the West have had limited success. Companies simply may have been too early to embrace this opportunity. We expect social commerce in the United States to expand to $145 billion by 2027, up from $67 billion today. 7 “ Social commerce: The future of how consumers interact with brands ,” McKinsey, October 19, 2022. Gen Zers and millennials are propelling this growth: they make purchases on social media four times more often than older generations do. More than a third of Gen Z and millennial survey respondents said they had made a purchase on social media in the prior three months.

Four imperatives to win the consumer of the future

In light of these nine forward-looking themes, what should consumer companies do? The most successful ones will be those that act on four imperatives:

Build microtargeting capabilities

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QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm, helps companies transform using the power of technology, technical expertise, and industry experts. With thousands of practitioners at QuantumBlack (data engineers, data scientists, product managers, designers, and software engineers) and McKinsey (industry and domain experts), we are working to solve the world’s most important AI challenges. QuantumBlack Labs is our center of technology development and client innovation, which has been driving cutting-edge advancements and developments in AI through locations across the globe.

Rather than putting consumers in predefined—and often outdated—boxes, companies should focus on microtargeting to build a richer understanding of consumer preferences. This involves taking a “smart reach” approach , whereby consumer businesses use their consumer data to target specific microsegments of consumers who may demonstrate particular shopping behaviors or preferences. Generative AI can help consumer businesses reach these microsegments  at scale by increasing creative output and automating marketing outreach. Through microtargeting, companies can engage high-potential consumer groups—for example, younger people in emerging markets or wealthy aging individuals—and provide personalized experiences that build brand love and loyalty and propel future purchases.

Invest in wellness

A rise in both consumer interest and purchasing power presents tremendous opportunities in the $1.8 trillion global-consumer-wellness space. Consumer goods leaders have a chance to reevaluate their product development road maps and consider whether they have more opportunities to introduce personalized-wellness products to priority consumer groups. Consumers across the globe want data- and science-backed health and wellness solutions. Best-in-class companies should evaluate opportunities to lean into these offerings and other wellness growth areas (such as women’s health and healthy aging).

Propel the social–digital experience

Companies should take steps to engage with consumers on social media and other digital platforms. This involves identifying the right channels and platforms, creating attractive content, and tailoring strategies to meet evolving consumer needs. This is especially important as industry lines blur (for example, as consumer companies enter the healthcare space and vice versa) and as ecosystems (networks or partnerships that cut across different industries)  become more important.

We see innovative, international companies testing new approaches to social commerce to connect with consumers on a local level. Some are mobilizing local key opinion leaders to precisely target consumers and create viral digital campaigns that resonate with them. Social media and private chats through platforms such as WeChat help to continually engage consumers.

Offer premium products where they matter

Offering premium products in relevant categories can help improve brand loyalty. Consumer brands should identify which categories are ripe for this, such as experiential travel—where splurge activity is common even across middle-income and aging consumers. Conversely, some categories are more suitable for value plays based on trade-down behavior or frequent brand exploration. Integrating loyalty and pricing strategies , instituting pricing tiers, and tailoring product assortments at the local and channel levels are ways that consumer businesses can provide value to consumers, while also managing economic pressures.

In this consumer landscape—one in which standards, complexity, and stakes are all higher—leaders should understand the new nuances that define who the “next” shoppers are, what they care about, and how they shop. These insights, which should then inform strategic category and channel investments, can lead to long-term, profitable growth and sustained competitive advantage.

The authors wish to thank Cait Pearson, Heather Gouinlock, and Keir Sullivan for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Alexandra Mondalek, an editor in the New York office.

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Current Diversification of Behaviorism

Affiliation.

• 1 Positive Behavior Supports Corporation, 1645 Ala Wai Blvd, Apt 508, Honolulu, HI 96815 USA.
• PMID: 32440649
• PMCID: PMC7198672
• DOI: 10.1007/s40614-019-00207-0

Over the last few decades, behaviorism as a philosophy of the science of psychology, especially in the field of behavior analysis and related areas, has diversified to the point that scholars from inside and outside the field are often confused about what exactly behaviorism is. The aim of this study is to analyze how such diversification of behaviorism has arisen over time and what factors might have contributed to it using evolutionary biology's concept of adaptive radiation as an analogical process. Diversification of behaviorism has occurred in many areas over time as behaviorism has extended its field of practice. Although some characteristics of behaviorism remained, other characteristics were modified. One such characteristic that went through extensive modification is the agent-free approach to the analysis of behavior: the agent problem. This approach has met criticism from inside and outside the field and has been under a strong selective pressure. The present article discusses how the agent problem in a different niche has shaped behaviorism into new forms that we see today.

Keywords: Agent problem; Behavior analysis; Behaviorism; Radical behaviorism.

© Association for Behavior Analysis International 2019.

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Problems of Teaching the Behaviorist Perspective in the Cognitive Revolution

This article offers some personal reflections on the difficulty of teaching the behaviorist perspective in the psychology classroom. The problems focus on the inadequacy of introductory textbooks—which mischaracterize behaviorism, only present the most extreme behaviorist positions, make no mention of the neobehaviorist perspective, fail to discuss that there is no accepted criteria for determining what type of behavior is cognitive, and provide a definition of cognition that is, not only inconsistent across texts, but so broad as to overshadow the behaviorist contributions. Suggestions are provided for instructors on how to present to their students an accurate portrayal of behaviorism.

1. Introduction

What is cognition? A look through any introductory textbook and most cognitive texts gives the student an impression that cognition is practically all of psychology. They will see sections on, for example, Cultural Cognition, Analytical Cognition, Holistic Cognition, Neonatal Cognition, Cognition in the Mini-Brain, Cognitive Architecture, and one of my personal favorites, Unconscious Cognition.

This article offers some personal reflections on the problems associated with teaching principles of behaviorism within the cognitive revolution. I hope to lend a voice to educators such as myself who are dissatisfied, and perhaps even saddened, by a revolution that neglects some of the greatest contributors to the analysis of behavior; by a revolution that misrepresents the behaviorist position in textbooks; by a revolution where traditional behavioral issues are being tossed aside and all but forgotten by a new generation of students [ 1 , 2 ]. It is this dissatisfaction that has led to the publication of this special issue on “What is Cognition?”

I shall briefly comment on several issues that have concerned me as a teacher of psychology. Students are never told, for example, about the wide variety of behaviorist positions, are presented with definitions of cognition that are so broad that they are meaningless at best, and at worst, overshadow the behaviorist contribution to psychology, and are not told that there are no general criteria to determine whether a process is cognitive. The issues voiced in this paper are not unique to me. They have been expressed by many individuals including Frederick Adams [ 3 ], Abraham Amsel [ 4 ], Howard Cromwell [ 5 ], James Grice [ 6 ], Vickie Lee [ 7 ], Jay Moore [ 8 , 9 ], Geir Overskeid [ 10 ], Jaak Panksepp [ 5 ] and Thom Verhave [ 11 , 12 ].

To provide the reader with a context for my comments I teach a course on the psychology of learning in a department where I am probably the only behaviorist—at least the only one proud to say so. In my 18 years of teaching both the undergraduate and graduate courses on learning, I am often shocked by how little colleagues and students know about behaviorism apart from the catch-phrases and stereotypes associated with attacks on John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. Behaviorists are often considered by colleagues as out of touch, anti-intellectual, old fashioned, and one of my personal favorites—simple minded. The cognitivists, on the other hand, are cutting edge, forward thinking, insightful, and entering new frontiers.

Over the course of a semester, my students are surprised to learn that the behaviorist approach is still vital and has much to recommend it as a scientific enterprise. They are surprised that the behaviorist perspective can provide a framework to study complex human behavior; they are surprised to learn that the behaviorist perspective is more than rats in mazes and pigeons pecking disks, and they become disillusioned with a psychology that fails to teach them viable alternatives to the prevailing cognitive zeitgeist.

The issues, accompanying citations, and teaching exercises presented in this article have been useful as a basis for a dialog in both my undergraduate and graduate courses when behaviorism and cognitivism are discussed. This article will also be of some value to readers of this special issue who may begin to see behaviorism in a more positive light and lead them to a more accurate portrayal of behaviorism in their own classroom environments.

2. What Behaviorism are We Talking about?

When discussing behaviorism in the classroom, students (and faculty) are often surprised that there are several different types of behaviorism. Students must learn that when a professor attacks behaviorism they must ask the professor at least three questions: (1) “What form of behaviorism are you talking about?” (2) “If behaviorists focus on observable behaviors what do cognitivists focus on—unobservable behavior?” and (3) “If behaviorists do not reference mental processes, how do you explain the contributions of Hull, Tolman, and Miller and their use of intervening variables?”

No serious social scientist questions the inaccuracy and racism of lumping Mexicans, Spaniards, and Puerto Ricans into the general category of “Hispanic” or Arapahos, Choctaws, Poncas, or Pawnees into the general category of “Native Americans.” The use of such categories precludes serious comparative analysis, prohibits an understanding of nuances among differing theoretical positions, and leads to the grossest forms of generalization. Yet these same social scientists feel free to lump together the various behaviorist perspectives. Behaviorism has never been a unitary psychological perspective and proponents differ significantly in terms of methodology and theoretical outlook [ 8 , 9 ]. In introductory textbooks, and textbooks devoted to cognition, typically only two types of behaviorism are mentioned those of John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner.

I would encourage the reader to examine Behaviorism: A battle line [ 13 ] and to compare its outlook toward behaviorism with their own. This book is noteworthy for several reasons. First, unlike the vast majority of contemporary introductory and cognitive texts, it clearly acknowledges the existence of several different types of behaviorism. In addition to the behaviorism of Watson, there is the behaviorism associated with, for example, John Dewey, Walter B. Pillsbury, Edward L. Thorndike, Edward C. Tolman, Howard C. Warren, and Robert M. Yerkes [ 14 ]. Readers interested in offering their students some of the history associated with very early forms of behaviorism should assign Roback [ 15 ] and Verhave [ 11 ]. Verhave’s work is especially interesting because it highlights the contribution of a little known American Professor of Physiology Joseph R. Buchanan. Buchanan’s book The philosophy of human nature [ 16 ] contains several laws of association that found their way into formal behaviorist approaches. Students will also benefit on reading some of the early philosophical contributions to behaviorism by, for example, Gottfried W. Leibniz who was not as anti-associationist as many believe [ 12 ], Plato [ 17 ], and Francis Hutcheson [ 18 ].

Second, it is interesting to note that all the contributors in Behaviorism: A battle line warns that behaviorism as taught in universities and across the United States is a dangerous enterprise and must be stopped. McDougall [ 19 ] relates a story describing the reaction of a teacher to the spread of behaviorism in the classroom as “…wherever he goes, he finds Behaviorism rampant in the schools, and that, because he cannot accept it, he finds himself regarded by his colleagues as hopelessly out-of-date” ([ 19 ], p. 48). My the times have certainly changed! It is now unchecked cognitivism that is rampaging through our universities and colleges and producing a class of students who know next to nothing about a still vital and vibrant conception of psychology.

Third, there is the vilification of behaviorism. Each chapter of Behaviorism: A battle line is full of malicious comments directed at Watson in particular and behaviorism in general. Many of these comments have a modern ring to them that I am sure the reader will recognize. These comments were ridiculous then as they are over 80 years later. Behaviorism is called a cult, absurd, nonsense, grim, unethical, and poison. It is suggested that an acceptance of behaviorism increases anti-social and criminal behavior, that behaviorism leads to moral decay and, is at the same time a religious cult yet anti-religious, amoral and suppresses artistic expression. This tone is very similar to how democrats portray republicans. As Coffin [ 20 ] wrote “So Behaviorism appears as a pathetic figure circling around in the backwash of the widening swiftly flowing stream of science.” ([ 20 ], p. 255). For those readers interested in another entertaining early book critical of behaviorism see The Religion Called Behaviorism [ 21 ].

Given such criticism it is remarkable that behaviorism became the dominant form of psychology in the United States for several decades. It is also remarkable that those few still working within the behaviorist perspective continue to make substantial contributions way beyond the small number of contemporary practitioners. To paraphrase Winston Churchill: Never in the field of social science was so much owed by so many to so few.

That various types of behaviorisms exist is an important point often overlooked in the classroom and in textbooks. When professors discuss behaviorism in the classroom they must inform their students that there are several different perspectives just as there are different perspectives to cognitive psychology such as information processing. This is not done. As Amsel [ 4 ] aptly points out, usually the only behaviorist positions students are exposed to are those of Watson and Skinner. Even here, when discussing their views, textbook authors focus on the extreme positions. For example, Watson’s early work [ 22 , 23 ] is very different in perspective from his later position after he was forced to leave academia [ 24 ].

When considering Watson’s extreme positions, authors often mischaracterize it. Consider just a few of the many examples that can be found in Behaviorism: A battle line many of which students and faculty believe and repeat to the present day.

1. Some texts claim that Watson was “…prepared to produce from any human infants given over wholly to his tender mercies a corresponding number of human beings of any desired type, geniuses of the first water, mathematicians, musicians, artists, scientists, statesmen, executives, anything, in fact (other than theologians or metaphysicians), according to specifications given.” ([ 18 ], p. 47).

This statement borders on the outrages and is often used to discredit the entire behaviorist approach. Watson’s full quote on which McDougall’s (see also [ 25 ], p. 294) is based, contains several lines that are typically and conveniently left out. These lines are: “I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary, and they have been doing it for thousands of years” ([ 24 ], p. 104). When this line is included, Watson’s meaning becomes clear.

2. “Since such states or attitudes as love, hate, fear, courage, pain, hope, loyalty, and aspiration, cannot so be recorded, they are regarded by the Behaviorist as of no consequence.” ([ 26 ], p. 63).

This is not true of Watson (see [ 27 ]—“A schematic outline of the emotions”) and it is certainly not true of the group of behaviorists known as neobehaviorists. As but three examples of literally 100s that I can select from, consider the work of O. H. Mower on fear and hope [ 28 , 29 ], Amsel’s work on frustration [ 30 ] and Neil Miller’s work on conflict [ 31 ].

3. The type of behavior that Watson studied is characterized as “Muscular reactions and glandular secretions” ([ 32 ], p. 90).

4. “Extreme Behaviorism denies all mental life, including conscious, purposive experience…” ([ 33 ], p. 213).

5. Heredity unquestionably plays a role in our physical and mental make-up ([ 34 ], p. 279).

6. “All human behavior is a matter of stimulus and response” ([ 25 ], p. 294).

Even the most causal reader of the original source material by Watson knows that statements 3, 4, 5, and 6 are demonstrably false as characterized by cognitivists. It is vitally important for students to understand the time period and the state of psychology during Watson’s era. Watson [ 22 , 23 ] advocated observation, verbal reports, psychological tests, statistical training, laboratory training, acknowledges the importance of emotions (specifically commenting on fear, rage, love), instinctive responses, and the importance of heredity. In the opening chapter to his Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist [ 23 ] he suggested that the training of psychology students include the study of physiology, chemistry, and zoology (read Chapter 1—Problems and Scope of Psychology, especially the section on Preparation for Psychology).

As Cohen notes [ 35 ], Watson’s perspective is characterized by an attempt to catalog behavior, to make observations under laboratory and field conditions, to study developmental influences, to conduct controlled and repeatable experiments in an attempt to understand human nature. He was one of the first to study development, human sexual behavior, behavior modification, and imprinting. This is a behaviorism not of the “glandular squint” as portrayed in textbooks and by cognitivists but a dynamic approach that has impacted many fields including behavior therapy and industry. It has earned the right to be properly discussed in textbooks used to train the next generation of psychology professionals.

The portrayal of Skinner’s version of behaviorism (known sometimes as radical behaviorism) is also given “short shrift” in textbooks and classroom discussions. Perhaps the most entertaining example of this can be found in a collection of his seminal papers with commentary [ 36 ]. What is unique about this volume of collected papers is that he is given the opportunity to respond to the commentaries. His commentaries on the commentaries are interesting because he spends a large portion of his time correcting the inaccuracies the commentators have on his positions. It is well worth reading and incorporating his comments into student reading lists. Moore [ 8 ] also describes errors in communicating Skinner’s view of cognitive or mental events.

In between the so-called extremes of Watson and Skinner’s approaches to behaviorism is an entire group of behaviorists that are shamefully neglected in introductory and cognitive texts. This type of behaviorism is known as neobehaviorism. Neobehaviorism is an approach to theorizing arguably begun by Clark Hull that makes extensive use of intervening variables. The Hullian approach is also known as molecular behaviorism in contrast to the molar behaviorism of Tolman, the contiguity approach of Edwin R. Guthrie, and the radical behaviorism approach of Skinner. All the various behaviorist approaches (even the behaviorism of the “Watsonian Type”) regularly consider what are now called cognitive processes [ 8 ].

It is important to note that not all neobehaviorists would feel comfortable being labeled a behaviorist. In his chapter on “Behavioristics”, Edwin G. Boring [ 37 ] discusses that Clark Hull and his collaborators would be “puzzled if called behaviorists.” Nevertheless, categories are important and the work of Hull and his colleagues clearly fall into the general category of behaviorism and neobehaviorism in particular.

The neobehaviorists represent some of the most significant figures in the history of psychology and I dare say that few readers of this article have ever heard of them, or their contributions, other than in the context of an historical curiosity. In addition to Hull, Abram Amsel, Neal E. Miller, O. H. Mower, and Kenneth W. Spence, for example, have made many contributions in areas that are now co-opted by cognitivists, many of whom apparently do not even know the history of their own research area. If the reader would like to amuse him or herself during the evaluation of a job candidate’s seminar, simply ask the candidate to describe the behaviorist contribution to the research area that they are supposedly experts on. The response will most often be “never heard of any contribution” and many of your colleagues will think you just asked a trick question.

Even a shallow look at the Psychological Review papers of Clark Hull reveals a real concern with tackling issues such as “Knowledge and purpose as habit mechanisms”, Goal attraction and directing ideas conceived as habit phenomena”, “The mechanisms of the assembly of behavior segments in novel combinations suitable for problem solution”, “Mind, mechanism, and adaptive behavior”, “The problem of intervening variables in molar behavior theory.” These and other topics related to Hull’s Psychological Review papers are conveniently collected with commentary in the edited volume of Amsel and Rashotte [ 38 ]. At least some of these papers and their commentaries should be assigned to students (and mentioned in introductory and cognitive texts) if students are really to be given a legitimate opportunity to understand what the behaviorist approach has to offer the cognitive one. Webster and Coleman [ 39 ] offer some insights why the influence of Hull’s theory declined.

Hull is certainly not alone in investigating issues that are considered cognitive. The psychological literature from the 1920s through the 1960s literally overflows with behaviorists tacking problems now thought to have originated with contemporary cognitivists. One nice example was reported by the “Connectionist Behaviorist” E. L. Thorndike on learning without awareness (known now as “unconscious cognition!”) [ 40 ]. His volume of collected papers is still will worth a look [ 41 ].

Other examples include the “Contiguous Behaviorist” E. R. Guthrie’s [ 42 ] The psychology of human conflict (for some interesting extensions of Gurthrie see [ 43 ] and the work of Haraway [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ], the “Purposive Behaviorist” E. C. Tolman’s Purposive behavior in animals and men [ 48 ] and see his Collected papers in psychology [ 49 ].

The neobehaviorist Neal E. Miller’s work with John Dollard on the application of behaviorist principles to Freudian theory [ 50 ] is especially exciting and worth reading. Miller’s efforts represent a fine example of the vitality and scope of behaviorism—a behaviorism that students never experience. A glance through his volume of collected papers [ 51 ] reveals to the student richness in subject area and methodology that they never thought possible for a psychological perspective that is considered “absurd, nonsense, grim, unethical, and poison.” Miller’s collected papers are full of interesting experiments on what is now considered cognitive topics—all of them conducted within a behaviorist perspective. His experiments include work on “Theory and experiment relating psychoanalytic displacement to stimulus-response generalization”, “Learning resistance to pain and fear: effects of overlearning, exposure, and rewarded exposure in context”, and “Failure to find a learned drive based on hunger; evidence for learning motivated by “exploration” [ 51 ].

Another example of the behaviorist interest in complex human processes is in the seldom cited work of Arthur W. and Carolyn K. Staats. Staats and Staats [ 52 ] cogently demonstrate the richness and vitality of applying the behaviorist approach to complex human behavior. They examine a host of what are now considered cognitive topics. These topics include child development, personality, language, and motivation. Of course, they are not the only behaviorists who attempt to tackle the intricacies of human behavior and are part of the tradition of Watson, Hull, Miller, Tolman, Guthrie, Mower, and Skinner among others.

Attempts at reconciliation of the cognitive and behaviorist positions are also not mentioned in textbooks. The positions are portrayed as one having replaced the other. This is unfortunate because it further suggests to students that the behaviorist position is outdated and has little to recommend it. A paper by Denny [ 53 ] is especially useful in this regard. Denny shows that by modifying the definitions of stimulus and response, cognitive and behaviorist approaches can be reconciled. This attempt is similar to the efforts of MacCorquodale and Meehl [ 54 ] that endeavored to reconcile Hull’s theory with the cognitive behaviorism of Tolman. In doing so, they revealed many points of agreement. Miller [ 55 ] has also shown that modifying some neobehaviorist concepts can help psychologists better understand motivation and conflict. These papers should be assigned to students to get them to think critically about how the behaviorist and cognitivist perspectives can be combined.

In addition to presenting the view that the cognitivist position has supplanted the behaviorist position without mentioning attempts to reconcile the two perspectives, textbooks for introductory or cognitive psychology have never in my experience given the student the sense of the excitement and discovery associated with the efforts of behaviorists. The period from the 1920s through the early 1960s is one of the most exciting times in the history of behaviorism, indeed in the history of psychology. This time period is characterized by laboratories working to replicate and extend findings, developing new experimental designs in the area of, for example, latent learning, successive negative contrast, and avoidance learning, creating new apparatus and techniques, and testing the limits of differing conceptualizations of animal and human conduct. I am sure that I am not voicing the popular opinion but it is a real intellectual tragedy, and I would further say intellectually dishonest, that students are not exposed to an accurate account of the behaviorist perspectives in introductory and cognitive classes. This work will never be brought to the attention of a new generation of students if their own faculty do not know of its existence and journals refuse to allow authors to cite the relevant historical literature.

3. Definitions of Cognition in Textbooks

In addition to problems faced by professors who must battle inaccurate and often outrageous portrayals of the behaviorist perspectives, is the definition of cognition. The definition of cognition in textbooks is an important issue for those of use who are behaviorists. Cognition definitions are so broad that they seemly cover every aspect of psychology even those areas that were traditional first developed and stimulated by behaviorists.

Students rely on textbooks as one of the most important sources of information and the glossary, in particular, helps identify and highlight important terms that the author considers important [ 2 , 56 , 57 ]. I urge the reader to visit your bookshelves and look at the glossary of your introductory psychology or cognitive textbooks plus the preliminary comments related to the definition of cognition and the behaviorist approach. What you will find are definitions of cognition that cover the entire spectrum of psychology and therefore are essentially meaningless while the definitions of the behavioral perspective are consistent although sometimes wrong when they exclude “ inner events.” As another exercise, use the thesaurus function on your word professor. If it is like mine, there are various entries for the word “behavior” such as performance, deeds, and actions. If you type in “cognition” there are no entries.

There is a real need to offer a universally accepted definition of cognition that can be compared to other perspective approaches to psychology. Without a precise definition of cognition, or at least the cognitive perspective, students are left with the impression that there are no serious alternatives to the cognitive model. Those readers, who teach psychology courses from the behaviorist perspective like me, find it difficult to provide students with materials that adequately and fairly present alternative perspectives. This is a serious issue because it affects the training of the next generation of students.

To document the inconsistencies in definitions of cognition, I took the opportunity to examine eight recent introductory psychology texts. What I found confirms the lack of consistency in the definition of cognition. In contrast to definitions of behaviorism, there is no consensus on what cognitive psychology is and the definitions are designed to cover almost every area of psychology. This is in contrast to definitions of behaviorism that all stress the focus on observables. None of the definitions of cognition mention that a cognitive psychologist does not see a “cognition” or “cognit” they, like the behaviorists only see observables.

The lack of consistency in cognitive definitions is not a surprise given the history of the field. In what is erroneously considered the first textbook in cognitive psychology (see T.V. Moore’s Cognitive Psychology, [ 58 ]; Knapp, [ 59 ]). Neisser [ 60 ] defines cognitive psychology as “all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used.” Moreover, as Amsel [ 4 ] noted, the founding editor of the journal Cognitive Psychology when asked to define this field replied that it is “What I like.” At best such a reply precludes any meaningful discussion on what is and what is not cognition and worse disrespects alternative approaches and leads to an influx of such terms as cultural cognition, analytical cognition, holistic cognitive, neonatal cognition, and cognition in the mini-brain.

Ciccarelli and White [ 61 ] do not define cognition in the glossary but they do define, cognitive dissonance, cognitive arousal theory, cognitive-behavior therapy, cognitive-meditational theory, cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychologists, cognitive therapy and cognitive universalism. Behaviorism is defined as “The science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only.” There is no mention of the existence of various behaviorist perspectives such as neobehaviorism, nor are the problems we investigate such as learning and problem solving mentioned. Yet in the preliminary comments, the cognitive perspective is defined as “Modern perspective that focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving and learning.” The reader can only assume that by using the word “modern” the authors of the text believe that the behaviorist approach is antiquated.

Gray [ 62 ] also does not define cognition in the glossary but defines cognitive-behavior therapy, cognitive dissonance, and cognitive therapy. Behaviorism is defined, but the definition includes the statement that …”behavior should be understood in terms of its relationship to observable events in the environment rather than in terms of hypothetical events within the individual.” Given my earlier comments on the various types of behaviorisms I hope the reader is aware how uniformed this statement is. When you examine introductory texts for their treatment of behaviorism, you will see that they are wrong to characterize behaviorism this way without mentioning that there are several behaviorist approaches. This statement may or may not be true of the radical behaviorism advocated by B. F. Skinner but it is certainly not true of the neobehaviorists such as Hull and Tolman. In the preliminary comments, cognition is defined as: “The term cognition refers to information in the mind—that is, to information that is somehow stored and activated by the workings of the brain.” The definition of cognition offered by Gray is different than that offered by Ciccarelli and White [ 61 ].

Yet a third definition of cognition is presented by Huffman [ 63 ]. In the glossary, she defines cognition as “Mental activities involved in acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using knowledge.” Definitions are offered for cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive dissonance, cognitive map, cognitive perspective, cognitive restructuring, cognitive-social theory, cognitive therapy. Behaviorism is not defined. Astonishingly, Clark Hull is listed in a table entry (Table 1.2, page 15) as representing the cognitive perspective! This is simply ridiculous. One would have thought that Tolman would have been a better choice. For those readers who have never heard of Hull or Tolman—both were neobehaviorists.

A fourth definition is proposed by Myers [ 64 ]. He defines cognition in the glossary as: “All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communication.” Although behavior is not defined, there is a definition of “Cognitive learning” as: “The acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.” No examples are provided of “Non-cognitive learning.” No definition is offered for the word behavior or the behaviorist perspective. Behaviorism is defined as: “The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).” Cleary, the second part of this definition is incorrect. There is some information on the behavioral perspective in the introductory chapter but presents only generalizations such as the focus on “how we learn observable responses” ([ 64 ], p. 9).

Schacter, Gilbert, and Wegner [ 65 ] offer a fifth definition. Although cognition is not specifically defined, the glossary contains an entry for cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychology is “The scientific study of mental processes, including perception, thought, memory, and reasoning.” Other related entries are: cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive development, cognitive dissonance, cognitive maps, cognitive restructuring, cognitive therapy, and cognitive unconscious. Behaviorism is defined as “An approach that advocates that psychologists restrict themselves to the scientific study of objectively observable behavior.” In the introductory section of the text, Watson and Skinner are discussed. For both individuals only their extreme views are presented. Hull and Spence are mentioned not for their contributions as neobehaviorists but for their views on homeostasis. Edward Tolman is also mentioned in a section on “cognitive elements of operant conditioning.”

A sixth definition is proposed by Wade and Tavris [ 66 ]. Although once again there is no definition in the glossary for cognition, they define the cognitive perspective as: “A psychological approach that emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem solving, and other areas of behavior.” Other related entries are cognitive dissonance, cognitive schema, and cognitive therapy. It is interesting to note that there is an entry for cognitive ethology, which is defined as “The study of cognitive processes in non-human animals.” Historically, the study of “cognitive processes” is the comparative psychological perspective. Behaviorism is defined as: “An approach to psychology that emphasizes the study of observable behavior and the role of the environment as a determinant of behavior.”

The textbook offered by Wood, Wood and Boyd [ 67 ] provides yet another definition—our seventh. Here, cognition is defined in the glossary as: “The mental processes that are involved in acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using information and that includes sensation, perception, imagery, concept formation, reasoning, decision making, problem solving, and language.” Other terms defined are cognitive dissonance, cognitive map, cognitive processes, cognitive therapies, and cognitive therapy. Cognitive psychology is defined as “The school of psychology that sees humans as active participants in their environment; studies mental processes such as memory, problem solving, reasoning, decision making, perception, language, and other forms of cognition.” Behaviorism is defined as “The school of psychology that views observable, measurable behavior as the appropriate subject matter for psychology and emphasizes the key role of environment as a determinant of behavior.” In comparing the definitions of cognitive psychology and behaviorism one gets the impression that behaviorism only study “inactive participants.”

Our eighth definition of cognition can be found in the Zimbardo, Johnson and McCann [ 68 ]. Although not defined in the glossary, the cognitive perspective is defined as “Another of the main psychological viewpoints distinguished by an emphasis on mental processes, such as learning, memory, perception, and thinking, as forms of information processing.” Other cognitive terms in the glossary are cognitive appraisal, cognitive development, cognitive dissonance, cognitive map, cognitive neuroscience, cognitive restructuring, cognitive therapy, and cognitive-behavior therapy. The behavioral perspective is defined as “A psychological viewpoint that finds the source of our actions in environmental stimuli rather than in inner mental processes.” Once again, the referent that behaviorists do not look at “inner mental processes” is wrong.

I also searched the glossaries and preliminary comments of cognitive texts; the results where the same. I would have expected that in an advanced text the quality and rigor of the definitions would have improved—they did not. Consider the text by Ashcraft and Radvansky [ 69 ] who define cognition as “the collection of mental processes and activities used in perceiving, remembering, thinking, and understanding, as well as the act of using those processes.” Reed [ 70 ] does not have cognition defined in the glossary but does define cognitive psychology as “The scientific study of cognition.” In the introductory comments cognitive psychology is defined as “The science of how the mind is organized to produce intelligent thought and how it is realized in the brain.”

One way to estimate the effect that such a variety of definitions have on students is to simply ask them. I asked approximately 70 upper division psychology students to define cognition. The answers were wide ranging and there was no consensus. Representative samples include “The ability to associate and synthesize multiple learned behaviors,” “Mental processes that occur in an organism,” “The ability for an individual to think clearly and have the ability to decipher right from wrong, or myth from reality,” “Mental processes that help solve problems, perform tasks, remember things, and help you function in everyday life,” “The process of thought, attention, memory,” “The process of thinking,” “Internal schemas which include thoughts, feelings, and desires,” “The ability to understand and perform mental abilities and produce constructs,” “Mental processes of the mind through thoughts, feelings, emotions,” “To functionally process thoughts within the mind,” “Mental thought process,” and “The ability to grasp and understand conceptual events.”

4. Additional Problems with the Cognitive Perspective not Addressed in Introductory Textbooks

In addition to definitional issues and issues related to the mischaracterization of behaviorism, textbooks fail to inform the student of the many problems associated with cognitive psychology. All that seems to be presented are problems associated with behaviorism as an antiquated perspective incapable of contributing to a “science of the mind.” Consider, for example, that textbooks have little or no discussion of the criteria that makes a process cognitive! One would think that this would be a major issue presented to students—it is not. Students are not told that there are no generally accepted criteria used to decide whether a process is cognitive. Rather they are told that learning, perception, thinking, problem solving, concept formation, etc . are examples of cognitive behavior assuming that all such instances must be cognitive. Adams and colleagues have done some excellent work on this issue and propose criteria [ 3 , 71 ]. This work should be included in textbooks and student reading lists.

Overskeid [ 10 ] points out further problems with the cognitive perspective. These include, in contrast to popular belief, a narrow research focus, being forced into an almost mystical position on the lack of a physical substrate for mental events, little to no interest in the functional analysis of behavior, and little effort directed toward the study of the influence of motivation and emotion on behavior. The lack of interest in drive on the part of the cognitivists was pointed out over 20 years ago by Amsel [ 4 ].

Cromwell and Panksepp [ 5 ] echo Amsel’s and Overskeid’s concern about the lack of attention to the motivational and affective in cognitive research. They warn the reader, as others have, that the area of behavioral neuroscience may be in danger by the overuse and misuse of the term cognition. These problems and concerns must be brought to the attention of students if they are to be properly trained in psychology and contribute to psychology as a science.

James Grice [ 6 , 72 ] points out several serious flaws with respect to data analysis and research designs associated with some aspects of cognitive research. His criticisms continue what now amounts to a chorus of concern of psychological research practices such as failure to encourage replication of results, reliance on group data, scaling issues, and an over-dependence on null hypothesis significance testing. Grice proposes a new method called Observation Oriented Modeling (OOM). OOM has a number of advantages over traditional null hypothesis testing including a reliance on replication, use of distribution free methods, and freedom from estimating abstract population parameters from a sample. Perhaps most importantly, observations are treated as primary and the attributes under investigation are not assumed to be structured as continuous quantities. OOM is now being used in the natural sciences [ 72 ] and should find its way into the analysis of cognitive data.

5. Conclusions

This article highlights some of the challenges associated with teaching the behaviorist perspective in the classroom. It is also no easy task. Introductory and cognitive textbook authors must do a better job of incorporating the behaviorist perspective into their texts and bring to the attention of students the many flaws associated with the cognitive perspective. It would also be helpful to correct fundamental errors associated with explaining operant conditioning principles to students [ 73 ]. Teachers of psychology must also do a better job of accurately discussing the behaviorist and cognitivist positions.

One way textbook writers can better incorporate the behaviorist position is to have a behaviorist look at the relevant sections. This is also no easy task. All the classical neobehaviorists are deceased and many who call themselves behaviorists have become seduced by the cognitive revolution. Publishers should also have the courage to seek out authors who can write an introductory text, or at the very minimum, contribute supplemental or ancillary materials from the behaviorist perspective.

A reading list will also be helpful to students. Many of the articles and books cited in this paper can serve as the basis for such a list. Original source material by Watson, Hull, Tolman, Spence, Miller and Skinner should certainly be included. Students will also find fascinating the opinions of Adams, Cromwell, Grice, Overskeid and Panksepp. For professors, I would recommend the little books by Amsel [ 4 ] and Lee [ 7 ]; these books nicely summarize many of the issues discussed in this paper.

Texts and reading lists are not enough. Students must be provided hands-on inquiry based activities designed for the behaviorist perspective. One activity I have found especially useful is an application of the scholastic method made popular by Peter Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, and Albertus Magnus. In my version, students are given research articles on a particular topic. The topic is approach from both a behaviorist and cognitivist perspective. Terms are defined and a real attempt is made to identify inconsistencies in definitions, experimental design, data analysis, and interpretation. It is not a debate, but an honest attempt to reconcile the two positions. An excellent example is the work of MacCorquodale and Meehl [ 54 ] that compared the work of Hull and Tolman. Another example is the work of Greaves [ 74 ] that attempts to find common ground between phenomenology and behaviorism. A third example that I have found useful is for students to consider the use of animals in behavioral research. What do animals have to tell us about human behavior? Muckler [ 75 ] is a good article to assign, as is the work of Watson, if the topic of animals in psychology is to be approached scholastically. Before scholastic exercises are attempted, I would encourage the reader to assign a paper on the educational philosophy of Dorothy Sayers [ 76 ].

Another exercise I have found useful is for students to turn behaviorists into official U.S. Postage stamps. These stamps can include bar codes or QR codes to enable anyone to connect to a website highlighting the individual [ 77 ]. They are easy to make and the students enjoy the project. I have used this project in my history of psychology class to make official postage stamps of various behaviorists.

A further exercise I have found useful is for students to keep a log of instances of conditioning that influence their behavior. This approach uses the form of introspection utilized by Oswald Külpe known as systematic experimental introspection. At first students are surprised that introspection can be used from a behaviorist perspective. As they gain more experience with the technique, many see the advantages in analyzing their own behavior in terms of conditioning principles. Students interpret instances of their behavior in terms of such principles as stimulus intensity, habituation, generalization, history of reinforcement, schedule effects, classical conditioning, etc . One way to get them started is to ask students to find instances in literature that can be explained by conditioning principles. Some issues of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior contain pertinent illustrations and there is a nice example from the dynastic period in Chinese history [ 78 ].

In addition to the use of scholasticism, stamps, and systematic experimental introspection, students can condition animals in the classroom and be given the opportunity to interpret the results from both the cognitive and behaviorist perspectives. My laboratory has published many papers on conditioning demonstrations suitable for the classroom [ 79 , 80 ]. These demonstrations use inexpensive material and often focus on invertebrate animals. Students quickly see the dangers associated with using cognitive terms to explain the learning of the headless roach, the paramecium, the planarian, the fruit fly, and the honey bee in terms of representations and expectations. Alfred Binet has published a little known book called The psychic life of micro-organisms: A study in experimental psychology [ 81 ] that is a very interesting read. Frankly, it is alarming to see how the cognitive perspective has infiltrated the invertebrate conditioning literature without any consideration of the various behaviorist positions.

Avoidance behavior of invertebrates is an excellent example. The key question in avoidance is: how can the absence of an aversive event be reinforcing? The answer is that it must be “expected.” The data obtained with invertebrates suggests that it is not the absence of an expected aversive event that is reinforcing, it is that fact that is paired in a manner readily explained with basic conditioning principles. Consider honey bee avoidance. Bees trained to fly of a target in response to a cue signaling shock will readily learn to do so after a few cue-shock pairings. However, when the bee leaves the target prior to the delivery of the shock, the shock is no longer paired with the cue. Such a situation represents extinction and the bee begins to stay on the target. This is a straightforward application of Pavlovian principles [ 82 ]. Moreover, several studies have shown in earthworm and crab that the pairing of a cue with an aversive stimulus gives the same performance as a group of animals that are able to avoid the aversive event by responding to the cue. A cognitive account must predict superior performance in the avoidance groups. Furthermore, a cognitive account of avoidance behavior requires that animals first trained on an avoidance schedule will produce poor performance when their avoidance response no longer is effective ( i.e ., extinction). Rather than produce poor performance the invertebrates continue to respond to the cue [ 83 , 84 ]. In another experiment testing the cognitive interpretation of some aspects of honey bee behavior, it was shown that honey bees will only learn to associate a cue with a feeding when the cue is the presentation of a stimulus. When the cue is the absence of a stimulus, conditioning does not occur [ 85 ].

In summary, textbooks authors and faculty must do a better job of presenting the various behaviorist approaches to theory construction. Writers should not fear textbook publishers and journal editors who insist that only “modern” citations ( i.e ., less than 25 years old) be used. Such insistence will further detach the student from a body of literature, and a scientific perspective, that still has much to recommend it—and must be fought. Ancillary materials that are already in the literature should be used to help the student evaluate the behaviorist and cognitive perspectives. Many of us harp on the importance of instilling critical thinking skills in our students yet all of us have run across students and professional researchers that believe cognition can be studied in a snail, tick, planarian, etc . without ever defining what cognition is and not presenting criteria on what is and what is not an instance of cognitive behavior.

Behaviorists also must do a better job of re-asserting our positions not only in the classroom and in print, but also to our colleagues. The behaviorist position is worth fighting for. If not, I fear that as Coffin [ 20 ] wrote “So Behaviorism appears as a pathetic figure circling around in the backwash of the widening swiftly flowing stream of science.” ([ 20 ], p. 255).

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my appreciation to Aaron Place, Chris Varnon, David Craig, and Erika Brown for looking at earlier drafts of this manuscript. Thanks are also due to an anonymous reviewer who brought to my attention the work of Cromwell and Panksepp and Boring’s view that not all behaviorists would consider themselves so. Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by NSF grants DBI 0552717 and OISE 1043057.

Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice

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Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice is a multidisciplinary journal committed to increasing the communication between the subdisciplines within behavior analysis and psychology, and bringing up-to-date information on current developments within the field.

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Joel E. Ringdahl University of Georgia, United States

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Shawn P. Gilroy, PhD NCSP BCBA-D LP Louisiana State University, United States

Kaitlin Gould, PhD, BCBA-D The College of St. Rose, United States

John Guercio, PhD, BCBA-D Benchmark Human Services, United States

Louis Hagopian, PhD Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States

Thomas S. Higbee, Ph.D., BCBA-D Utah State University,   United States

Joshua Jessel Queens College,   City University of New York,   United States

P. Raymond Joslyn, PhD West Virginia University, United States

Michael E. Kelley, PhD, BCBA-D, LP University of Scranton, United States

Carolynn S. Kohn, PhD University of the Pacific, United States

Michael P. Kranak, PhD, BCBA-D Oakland University Center for Autism, United States

Joseph M. Lambert, PhD, BCBA-D Vanderbilt University, United States

Robert LaRue, PhD Rutgers University, United States

Anita Li, PhD University of Massachusetts Lowell, United States

Joanna Lomas Mevers, PhD, BCBA-D Marcus Autism Center, United States

Odessa Luna, BCBA-D, PhD St. Cloud State University, United States

David B. McAdam, PhD University of Rochester, United States

Jennifer McComas, PhD University of Minnesota, United States

Brandon E. McCord, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA West Tennessee Community Homes, United States

Heather M. McGee, PhD Western Michigan University, United States

Raymond G. Miltenberger, PhD University of South Florida, United States

Daniel R. Mitteer, PhD, BCBA-D Children's Specialized Hospital and Rutgers University Center for Autism Research, Education, and Services, United States

Samuel L. Morris, PhD, BCBA Louisiana State University, United States

Matthew Normand, Ph.D., BCBA-D University of the Pacific, United States

Matthew J. O’Brien, PhD, BCBA-D University of Iowa, United States

Yaniz Padilla Dalmau, PhD, BCBA-D Seattle Children’s Hospital, United States

Steven W. Payne, PhD, BCBA-D University of Nevada, Las Vegas, United States

Sacha T. Pence, PhD Western Michigan University, United States

Christopher A. Podlesnik, PhD, BCBA-D University of Florida, United States

Shawn Quigley, PhD, BCBA-D, CDE Melmark, United States

Allie E. Rader, PhD, BCBA-D May Institute, United States

Mark P. Reilly, PhD Central Michigan University, United States

Patrick W. Romani, PhD, BCBA-D University of Colorado School of Medicine, United States

Griffin Wesley Rooker, PhD, BCBA Mount St. Mary's University, United States

Valdeep Saini, PhD Brock University, Canada

Mindy Scheithauer, PhD, BCBA-D Emory University School of Medicine and Marcus Autism Center, United States

Daniel B. Shabani, PhD, BCBA-D Shabani Institute, United States

M. Alice Shillingsburg, PhD, BCBA-D University of Nebraska Medical Center, United States

Sarah Slocum Freeman, PhD, BCBA-D Emory University and Marcus Autism Center, United States

Julie M. Slowiak, PhD, BCBA-D University of Minnesota Duluth, United States

William E. Sullivan, PhD SUNY Upstate Medical University, United States

Jessica Torelli, PhD, BCBA-D University of Georgia, United States

Kristina K. Vargo, BCBA-D, LBA Sam Houston State University, United States

Jason Vladescu, PhD   Caldwell University, United States

Valerie M. Volkert, PhD, BCBA-D Emory University School of Medicine, United States

Timothy  R. Vollmer, PhD University of Florida, United States

Mary Jane Weiss, PhD, BCBA-D, LABA Endicott College, United States

Benjamin N. Witts, PhD, BCBA-D, IBA St. Cloud State University, United States

David  A. Wilder, PhD, BCBA-D Florida Institute of Technology, United States

Kara Wunderlich, PhD, BCBA-D Rollins College, United States

Karla A. Zabala-Snow, PhD, BCBA-D Emory University/Marcus Autism Center, United States

Amanda Zangrillo, PsyD, BCBA-D University of Nebraska Medical Center, United States

Abstracting and indexing services providing coverage of Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice

Special issue of APA’s journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 21, No. 3, August 2021. This special issue highlights works that offer new or innovative perspectives on the role behavior analysis plays in growing this area of research and practice via (a) informing health and fitness behavior change; (b) designing and evaluating interventions to support health-behavior change or improve fitness and sport performance; and (c) identifying opportunities and recommendations to advance research and inform practice in the areas of health, sport, and fitness.

Special issue of the APA journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 18, No. 1, February 2018. Themes of the articles include addressing difficulties associated with neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and the use of stimulus preference assessment procedures.

Special issue of the APA journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 16, No. 4, November 2016. Articles discuss behavioral pharmacology's contributions to understanding the behavioral effects of drugs of abuse and other substances, the variables that modulate those effects, and the mechanisms through which they are produced, and offer novel and important suggestions for advancing the discipline.

Special issue of the APA journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 17, No. 3, August 2017. The articles in this issue address behavior analysis in education in three domains: replicating procedures established in controlled evaluations in classrooms, expanding access to behavioral intervention, and evaluating variations of procedures designed for school use.

Special issue of the APA journal Behavioral Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 15, No. 1, February 2015. Includes articles about operant discrimination learning, class size effects, game research, and behavior research using animals.

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• February 2022
• Teacher Education and Special Education The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children

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• 26 Mar 2024
• Research & Ideas

How Humans Outshine AI in Adapting to Change

Could artificial intelligence systems eventually perform surgeries or fly planes? First, AI will have to learn to navigate shifting conditions as well as people do. Julian De Freitas and colleagues pit humans against machines in a video game to study AI's current limits and mine insights for the real world.

• 21 Nov 2023

Employee Negativity Is Like Wildfire. Manage It Before It Spreads.

One overwhelmed person's gripes can quickly escalate into collective distress. Research by Amit Goldenberg gives managers reasons to pay close attention to teams' emotions. He offers advice to help groups reframe negative experiences.

• 06 Nov 2023

Did You Hear What I Said? How to Listen Better

People who seem like they're paying attention often aren't—even when they're smiling and nodding toward the speaker. Research by Alison Wood Brooks, Hanne Collins, and colleagues reveals just how prone the mind is to wandering, and sheds light on ways to stay tuned in to the conversation.

• 10 Oct 2023

In Empowering Black Voters, Did a Landmark Law Stir White Angst?

The Voting Rights Act dramatically increased Black participation in US elections—until worried white Americans mobilized in response. Research by Marco Tabellini illustrates the power of a political backlash.

• 03 Oct 2023
• What Do You Think?

Do Leaders Learn More From Success or Failure?

There's so much to learn from failure, potentially more than success, argues Amy Edmondson in a new book. James Heskett asks whether the study of leadership should involve more emphasis on learning from failure? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 05 Jul 2023

What Kind of Leader Are You? How Three Action Orientations Can Help You Meet the Moment

Executives who confront new challenges with old formulas often fail. The best leaders tailor their approach, recalibrating their "action orientation" to address the problem at hand, says Ryan Raffaelli. He details three action orientations and how leaders can harness them.

• 03 Mar 2023

When Showing Know-How Backfires for Women Managers

Women managers might think they need to roll up their sleeves and work alongside their teams to show their mettle. But research by Alexandra Feldberg shows how this strategy can work against them. How can employers provide more support?

• 19 Dec 2022

What Motivates People to Give Generously—and Why We Sometimes Don't

Some people donate to get that warm-and-fuzzy feeling. Others do it to avoid being asked again. Christine Exley and Julian Zlatev delve into the psychology and economics of charity to explain why people give.

• 10 Nov 2022

Too Nice to Lead? Unpacking the Gender Stereotype That Holds Women Back

People mistakenly assume that women managers are more generous and fair when it comes to giving money, says research by Christine Exley. Could that misperception prevent companies from shrinking the gender pay gap?

• 04 Oct 2022

Have Managers Underestimated the Need for Face-to-Face Contact?

COVID-19 made remote work and instant delivery mainstays of life for many people, but will the need for community erode these concepts after the pandemic ends? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 14 Jul 2022

When the Rubber Meets the Road, Most Commuters Text and Email While Driving

Laws and grim warnings have done little to deter distracted driving. Commuters routinely use their time behind the wheel to catch up on emails, says research by Raffaella Sadun, Thomaz Teodorovicz, and colleagues. What will it take to make roads safer?

• 15 Sep 2021

Don't Bring Me Down: Probing Why People Tune Out Bad News

People often go out of their way to avoid unpleasant information, but not always for the reasons you might expect. Research by Christine Exley and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 13 Jul 2021

Outrage Spreads Faster on Twitter: Evidence from 44 News Outlets

When it comes to social sharing, doom-and-gloom tweets beat sunshine and rainbows, says research by Amit Goldenberg. Is it time to send in the positivity police? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 09 Jun 2021

How Tennis, Golf, and White Anxiety Block Racial Integration

White people often take steps to avoid interacting with people of other races, whether it's at home, work, or even on a golf course, says research by Jon Jachimowicz. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 08 Jun 2021

Tell Me What to Do: When Bad News Is a Big Relief

Why would anyone hope for the worst? Research by Serena Hagerty and colleague sheds light on just how far people will go to dodge a tough decision. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 16 Feb 2021
• Working Paper Summaries

Information Avoidance and Image Concerns

People avoid information that might compel them to behave more generously. While many people avoid information due to concerns about their self-image, there is a substantial role for other reasons, such as inattention and confusion.

• 06 Jan 2021

Unexpected Exercise Advice for the Super Busy: Ditch the Rigid Routine

Itching to get off the COVID couch? New research by John Beshears bucks conventional wisdom about what it takes to make exercise a habit. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 01 Jul 2020

Scaling Up Behavioral Science Interventions in Online Education

Online courses can lack support structures that are often bundled with traditional higher education. Short pre-course interventions can have short-term benefits, but more innovation throughout the course is needed to have sustained impact on student success.

• 19 May 2020

Global Behaviors and Perceptions at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

An online survey of more than 110,000 people in 175 countries conducted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic found that most respondents believe that their governments and fellow citizens are not doing enough, which heightens their worries and depression levels. Decisive actions and strong leadership from policymakers change how people perceive their governments and other citizens, and in turn improve their mental health.

• 14 May 2019

Ethics Bots and Other Ways to Move Your Code of Business Conduct Beyond Puffery

Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics allow companies to create more effective codes of business conduct, says Eugene Soltes. But technology isn't the only solution. Open for comment; 0 Comments.