Deployment Psychology Blog

Staff Perspective: From Lab Rats to Life Hacks - What Mice, Pigeons, and Psych Nerds Taught Us About Habits

By Kelly Chrestman  on 02.07.2025 10:02 am
Dr Kelly Chrestman

Before we dive into the world of trendy self-help books and motivational countdowns, let’s pay our respects to the ancestors of behavioral science. Thorndike (1911) showed us that actions followed by rewards get repeated, basically, the first “treat-for-trick” system. Hull (1943) tried to jazz things up with drive theory and equations, but it didn’t exactly go viral. Then B.F. Skinner (1953) stepped in and said, “Forget the feelings, just watch what happens after the behavior,” and psychology, education and advertising have never been the same.

Research Update: 26 June 2025

By Shirl Kennedy  on 26.06.2025 9:01 am
Research Update icon

The weekly Research Update contains the latest news, journal articles, and useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include:
● Prevalence of loneliness states among the US adult population: Findings from the 2022 HINTS-6.
● Location of Firearm Suicides in the United States, 2003-2021.
● Social Drivers of Health and Firearm Storage Practices.

Staff Perspective: Debunking Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Service Members - What People Still Get Wrong

By Adria Williams  on 25.06.2025 11:12 am

PTSD is one of the most misunderstood mental health conditions, especially among military service members. Despite growing awareness, myths persist—about who gets it, why it happens, and what it looks like. To help clear things up, here’s a fictional but realistic conversation between a service member and his behavioral health provider, designed to separate fact from fiction.

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