The foundation, achievements, and proliferation of behavior therapy have largely been fueled by the movement's foundation in behavioral principles and theories. Although behavioral accounts of the genesis and treatment of psychopathology differ in the extent to which they emphasize classical or operant conditioning, the mediation of cognitive factors, and the role of biological variables, Pavlov's discovery of conditioning principles was essential to the founding of behavior therapy in the 1950s, and continues to be central to modern behavior therapy. Pavlov's reliance on a physiological model of the nervous system, sensible in the context of an early science of neurology, has had an implication for behavior therapists interested in the study of personality types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA cultural analysis is given to the premise that clinical psychology is a discipline of theoretical fragmentation. It is argued that the discipline will achieve paradigmatic status as an applied science by reestablishing the link between behavioral theory and clinical applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe debate between mentalism/cognitivism and behaviorism is analyzed, and it is concluded that behaviorism is the philosophy more closely associated with psychology as a behavioral science, the cognitive approach being more closely aligned with biological science. Specific objections to mentalistic interpretations of behavioral phenomena are detailed, and examples from clinical psychology are used to show the importance of behavioral approaches in applied domains. It is argued that the relation between behavior theory and clinical psychology is critical to the continued advancement of applied psychology.
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