Cognitive assessment in behavioral medicine

This article suggests conceptual and procedural limits on a strict operant approach to assessment in behavioral medicine. Several areas of concern to physicians and psychologists are discussed, highlighting the potential role of cognitive assessment methods. These areas include: pain, placebo, and expectancy effects, coping strategies, compliance/noncompliance with medical recommendations, self-regulatory disorders, and the broad domains of prediction and prevention. It is concluded that methods of gauging potentially important perceptual, evaluational, motivational, or stylistic mediators of health, illness, and response to medical treatment should be validated and included among the tools of the clinical assessor in behavioral medicine.