Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Behavior Analyst logoLink to The Behavior Analyst
. 2003 Fall;26(2):235–252. doi: 10.1007/BF03392079

Behavior analysis and the growth of behavioral pharmacology

Victor G Laties
PMCID: PMC2731461  PMID: 22478405

Abstract

Psychologists, particularly those influenced by the work of B. F. Skinner, played a major part in the development of behavioral pharmacology in the 1950s and 1960s. Revolutionary changes in pharmacology and psychiatry, including the discovery of powerful therapeutic agents such as chlorpromazine and reserpine, had produced a surge of interest in drug research. Pharmaceutical companies began hiring psychologists with operant conditioning backgrounds so as to compete successfully in the search for new drugs. Psychologists, most of whom were skilled in the behavior-analytic approach, started to assume prominent positions as authors and editors for the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics as its emphasis on behavior increased. This also proved true with the other publications founded to deal with the popularity of behavioral pharmacology. Especially important were contributions by B. F. Skinner, Peter B. Dews, and Joseph V. Brady.

Keywords: behavioral pharmacology, history, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, B. F. Skinner, Joseph V. Brady, Peter B. Dews

Full text

PDF
238

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BRADY J. V. Assessment of drug effects on emotional behavior. Science. 1956 Jun 8;123(3206):1033–1034. doi: 10.1126/science.123.3206.1033. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. BRADY J. V., HUNT H. F. A further demonstration of the effects of electro-convulsive shock on a conditioned emotional response. J Comp Physiol Psychol. 1951 Apr;44(2):204–209. doi: 10.1037/h0060588. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Barrett J. E., Sanger D. J. Behavioral pharmacology in the era of neuroscience. J Exp Anal Behav. 1991 Sep;56(2):167–169. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1991.56-167. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Barrett J. E., Sanger D. J. Behavioral pharmacology in the era of neuroscience. J Exp Anal Behav. 1991 Sep;56(2):167–169. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1991.56-167. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Barrett James E. The emergence of behavioral pharmacology. Mol Interv. 2002 Dec;2(8):470–475. doi: 10.1124/mi.2.8.470. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Blackman D. E. Behavioral pharmacology in Britain: a brief historical review. J Exp Anal Behav. 1991 Sep;56(2):407–413. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1991.56-407. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Brady J. V. Behavior analysis applications and interdisciplinary research strategies. Am Psychol. 1993 Apr;48(4):435–440. doi: 10.1037//0003-066x.48.4.435. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Branch M. N. Rate dependency, behavioral mechanisms, and behavioral pharmacology. J Exp Anal Behav. 1984 Nov;42(3):511–522. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1984.42-511. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. DEWS P. B. Analysis of effects of psychopharmacological agents in behavioral terms. Fed Proc. 1958 Dec;17(4):1024–1030. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. DEWS P. B. Modification by drugs of performance on simple schedules of positive reinforcement. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1956 Nov 2;65(4):268–281. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1956.tb49639.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. DEWS P. B. Studies on behavior. I. Differential sensitivity to pentobarbital of pecking performance in pigeons depending on the schedule of reward. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1955 Apr;113(4):393–401. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. DEWS P. B. Studies on behavior. IV. Stimulant actions of methamphetamine. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1958 Jan;122(1):137–147. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Dews P. B. An outsider on the inside. J Exp Anal Behav. 1987 Nov;48(3):459–462. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1987.48-459. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Dews P. B. Origins and future of behavioral pharmacology. Life Sci. 1978 Apr 3;22(13-15):1115–1121. doi: 10.1016/0024-3205(78)90080-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Dewsbury Donald A. Conflicting approaches: operant psychology arrives at a primate laboratory. Behav Anal. 2003 Fall;26(2):253–265. doi: 10.1007/BF03392080. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. FERSTER C. B. Stimulus control of food- and shock-maintained behavior. Science. 1954 Aug 13;120(3111):269–270. doi: 10.1126/science.120.3111.269. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. GOODNOW R. E., BEECHER H. K., BRAZIER M. A. B., MOSTELLER K., TAGIURI R. Physiological performance following a hypnotic dose of a barbiturate. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1951 May;102(1):55–61. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. HUNT H. F., BRADY J. V. Some effects of electro-convulsive shock on a conditioned emotional response ("anxiety"). J Comp Physiol Psychol. 1951 Feb;44(1):88–98. doi: 10.1037/h0059967. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Hemby S. E., Co C., Dworkin S. I., Smith J. E. Synergistic elevations in nucleus accumbens extracellular dopamine concentrations during self-administration of cocaine/heroin combinations (Speedball) in rats. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1999 Jan;288(1):274–280. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Jarvik M. Conversation with Murray Jarvik. Addiction. 2001 Sep;96(9):1241–1252. doi: 10.1080/09652140120070292. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Kelleher R. T., Morse W. H. The Yerkes connection. J Exp Anal Behav. 1987 Nov;48(3):456–457. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1987.48-456. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. LINDSLEY O. R. Operant conditioning methods applied to research in chronic schizophrenia. Psychiatr Res Rep Am Psychiatr Assoc. 1956 Jun;5:118-39; discussion, 140-53. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Laties V. G. I. V. Zavadskii and the beginnings of behavioral pharmacology: an historical note and translation. J Exp Anal Behav. 1979 Nov;32(3):463–472. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1979.32-463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Laties V. G. Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior: The first thirty years (1957-1987). J Exp Anal Behav. 1987 Nov;48(3):495–512. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1987.48-495. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. PAYNE R. B., MOORE E. W. The effects of some analeptic and depressant drugs upon tracking behavior. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1955 Dec;115(4):480–484. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Pennypacker H. S., Hench L. L. Making behavioral technology transferable. Behav Anal. 1997 Fall;20(2):97–108. doi: 10.1007/BF03392767. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Richelle M. N. Behavioral pharmacology in continental Europe. a personal account of its origin and development. J Exp Anal Behav. 1991 Sep;56(2):415–423. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1991.56-415. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Rutherford Alexandra. Skinner boxes for psychotics: operant conditioning at Metropolitan State Hospital. Behav Anal. 2003 Fall;26(2):267–279. doi: 10.1007/BF03392081. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. SIDMAN M. Avoidance conditioning with brief shock and no exteroceptive warning signal. Science. 1953 Aug 7;118(3058):157–158. doi: 10.1126/science.118.3058.157. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. SIDMAN M., BRADY J. V., BOREN J. J., CONRAD D. G., SCHULMAN A. Reward schedules and behavior maintained by intracranial self-stimulation. Science. 1955 Oct 28;122(3174):830–831. doi: 10.1126/science.122.3174.830. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. SIDMAN M. Technique for assessing the effects of drugs on timing behavior. Science. 1955 Nov 11;122(3176):925–925. doi: 10.1126/science.122.3176.925. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Saville Bryan K., Epting L. Kimberly, Buskist William. Selected publication trends in JEAB: Implications for the vitality of the experimental analysis of behavior. Behav Anal. 2002 Spring;25(1):45–55. doi: 10.1007/BF03392044. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Young A. M., McMullen W. J., Makhay M. M., Goushaw P. J. Behavioral contingencies modulate tolerance to discriminative stimulus effects of morphine. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1996 Jun;125(3):220–230. doi: 10.1007/BF02247332. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Behavior Analyst are provided here courtesy of Association for Behavior Analysis International

RESOURCES