Behavior Therapy with Children II

The field of behavior modification encompasses an astonishingly wide and varied spectrum of concepts about and approaches to education, clinical problems, social programming, and rehabilitation efforts. A conceptually and technologically rich medium, it has been nourished by the psychology laboratory, the school, and the psychiatric clinic. It is an area with diffuse boundaries surrounding a highly active center, within which apparently solid landmarks have already been worn away by the dissolving action of corrective self-criticism--immeasurably aided by the catalysts stirred in by the field's many critics. The activity continues, the dynamic field boils, and the medium enriches itself.

There appears to be a tendency, particularly among new behavior therapists, to limit their focus too narrowly to the client's systems of overt behavior. In this project, psychological therapy begins with a personal, interactive social situation in which the generally expected human response of interest, sympathy, and support, is the minimum condition. Graziano maintains that these clinical sensitivity skills must be preserved in behavior therapy and enhance its important contribution to advancing the therapeutic endeavor.

Anthony M. Graziano is professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo. He has published a number of articles in journals on subjects such as teaching machine programs, behavior therapy with children, diagnostic testing, the history of psychology, and evaluations of the contemporary mental health professions. He has been on the editorial board of Behavior Modification and on the board of directors for the Eastern Psychological Association.