Disordered and Deviant Behavior: Learning Gone Awry

This book describes several programs of research into psychological disorder and deviance conducted by author Alfred B. Heilbrun, Jr. during his distinguished career as a university professor. Each program is guided by the assumption that disorder and deviance follow from faulty learning experiences that result in dysfunctional acquisition of behavior, and from ineffective efforts at resolution or compensations. Learning principles are applied to a range of abnormalities from mild character or personality problems to stress-related somatic disorders to the most serious of psychotic disabilities. The systematic studies in each program provide many new empirically based perspectives on disorder.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Acknowledgments Chapter 3 Section I: Stress, Coping, and Risk of Bodily Disorder: The Origins of Disordered Behavior; Stress and the Risk of Disorder: Some Preliminary Considerations; Stress and Body Vulnerability; Stress and the Risk of Bodily Disorder in Young Adults: Anor Chapter 4 Section II: Criminal Dangerousness and Violence: Criminal Dangerousness and Violence: Concept and Measurement; Criminal Dangerousness and Violence: Validation of the Two-factor Theory; Addressing Controversial Issues in Crime and Violence by the Dan Chapter 5 Section III: Schizophrenia as a Disordered Style of Behavior: Schizophrenia and the Challenge of Explanation; Validation of the Adaptive-style Theory: Schizophrenic-like Behaviors in Normals; Schizophrenic Hallucinations and Delusions: Further Valid Chapter 6 Section IV: Deviation from Traditional Gender-Role Expectations: The Dynamics of Male and Female Gender Roles; Parent Identification and Its Behavioral Consequences Chapter 7 Section V: Serious Exaggerations of Ordinary Behavior: Studies on Alcoholism and on Male Sexual Aggression: The Role of Self-Control Deficit in Alcoholism; Male Sexual Aggression Chapter 8 References Chapter 9 Author Index Chapter 10 Subject Index

About the Author :
Alfred B. Heilbrun, Jr. is Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus and Distinguished Emeritus Fellow at Emory University. Professor Heilbrun holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the State University of Iowa. He is also author of Criminal Dangerousness and the Risk of Violence (University Press of America, 1996) and Stress and the Risk of Psychological Disorder in College Women (University Press of America, 1997).

Review :
The author's skill in demonstrating how one research study builds on another is particularly evident in the section dealing with criminal dangerousness and violence, where he offers some especially good insights. Summing Up: RECOMMENDED. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. The systematic studies in each program provide many new empirically based perspectives on disorder.