To address this issue, NIAAA led the way at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in shifting the focus of behavioral treatment research to identifying the mechanisms of behavior change rather than encouraging more comparisons of different psychotherapy approaches (Willenbring 2007).
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that includes a specific therapeutic process, "psychological flexibility," and focuses on behavior change rather than symptom reduction.
Laws et al. observed that physicians are more likely to take action when they set their goals in terms of the process of change rather than in terms of behavioral targets, and when they evaluate the results of their work at the population level rather than the individual level [ 24].
Efforts to combat obesity could be more effective if they prioritized 'external' environmental change rather than attempting to manipulate 'internal' biology through pharmaceutical or behavioral means.
In contrast, this motivational approach facilitates behavioral change through an interactive process in two stages, creating internal motivation and reinforcing the commitment to change, rather than through reasoning, providing information, advice or encouragement, or through obligation.
It is a lifestyle change, rather than an education change".
In vivo optogenetic studies in awake, behaving animals commonly use light stimulation to elicit and measure behavioral or complex physiological changes rather than a change in membrane potential or firing rate of the manipulated neuron (Adamantidis et al., 2007; Aponte et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2012; Shabel et al., 2012; Tan et al., 2012; van Zessen et al., 2012).
In addition, a deterministic rather than probabilistic reversal contingency allowed us to focus on rapid (inferential) changes in behavioral set rather than gradual acquisition of learned contingencies (in order to minimize reinforcement learning about actions).
Since spontaneous wake occurred at night and sleep deprivation during the day, sleep and wake genes as defined here reflect changes due to behavioral state rather than circadian factors or exposure to light.
Referred to as the Flynn effect (Flynn 1987), Dickens and Flynn (2001) posit several pathways by which changes in environmental or behavioral factors, rather than in genetic factors, could cause scores on cognitive tests to increase over time.
