Notes on the development of health psychology and behavioral medicine in the United States

J Health Psychol. 2018 Mar;23(3):492-505. doi: 10.1177/1359105318755156.

Abstract

A "standard" historiographical overview of the development of health psychology in the United States, alongside behavioral medicine, first summarizes previous disciplinary and professional histories. A "historicist" approach follows, focussing on a collective biographical summary of accumulated contributions of one cohort (1967-1971) at State University of New York at Stony Brook. Foundational developments of the two areas are highlighted, contextualized within their socio-political context, as are innovative cross-boundary collaboration on "precursor" studies from the 1960s and 1970s, before the official disciplines emerged. Research pathways are traced from social psychology to health psychology and from clinical psychology to behavioral medicine.

Keywords: Stony Brook; United States; behavioral medicine; collective biography; critical health psychology; critical history; health psychology; historiography.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Autobiographies as Topic
  • Behavioral Medicine / education
  • Behavioral Medicine / history*
  • Behavioral Medicine / methods
  • Historiography
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Psychology, Social / history
  • Psychology, Social / methods
  • United States