Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T01:27:13.918Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Skinner and the Rise of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Francisco Javier Labrador
Francisco Javier Labrador*
Affiliation:
University Complutense of Madrid
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Francisco Javier Labrador, Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Tratamiento, Campus Somosaguas, 28223, Madrid (Spain). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Skinner is, without a doubt, one of the most predominant figures in the development of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy. Skinners' work is essential to the development of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy. Beginning with the social need for efficient psychotherapy, and after having generated a solid theoretical body of behavioral laws, Skinner indicated and also developed the appropriate path towards efficient interventions for unadaptive behavior. He developed a new theory regarding abnormal behavior (psychopathology), as well as a procedural model for evaluation (diagnosis) and intervention: “The functional analysis of behavior”. His applications for this kind of work are pioneering and at the same time, he is the agglutinant figure of what we today call “Behavior Modification and/or Therapy”.

It is remarkable that a scientist could change the theories and practices of a discipline as radically as Skinner and his work did. His work, however, still has its limitations. The best way to acknowledge and pay tribute to Skinners' work is to overcome these limitations.

Skinner es sin duda una de las figuras determinates en el desarrollo de la Terapia y Modificación de la Conducta. La obra de Skinner resulta determinante en el desarrollo de la Modificación y Terapia de Conducta. Partiendo de la necesidad social de una psicoterapia eficaz, y después de haber generado un sólido cuerpo teórico de leyes del comportamiento, indica y también desarrolla el camino adecuado para la intervención eficaz sobre las conductas desadaptadas. Desarrolla una nueva formulación sobre las conductas anormales (psicopatología), así como un modelo de procedimiento para la evaluación (diagnóstico) y la intervención: “El análisis funcional de la conducta”. Suyos son también los aplicaciones pioneras de esta forma de proceder y asimismo es la figura aglutinante de esta forma de actuación que hoy denominamos “Modificación y/o Terapia de Conducta”.

Es impensable que un científico pueda cambiar de manera más radical el conocimiento y en las prácticas de una disciplina que lo que ha supuesto la obra de Skinner. No obstante su obra obviamente refleja limitaciones, por lo que el mejor reconocimiento y homenaje a la obra de Skinner será superar estas limitaciones.

Keywords

Skinnerbehavior modificationbehavior therapySkinnerModificación de la conductaterapia de conducta
Type
Complutense University Celebration of B.F. Skinner's Centennial (1904-2004)
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , November 2004 , pp. 178 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashen, B., & Poser, E. (Eds.). (1973). Adaptive learning: Behavior modification with children. New York: PergamonGoogle Scholar
Ayllon, T. (1963). Intensive treatment of psychotic behavior by stimulus satiation and food reinforcement. Behavior Research and Therapy, 1, 53–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayllon, T., & Azrin, N.H. (1965). The measurement and reinforcement of behavior of psychotics. Journal of the Experimental Analisis of Behavior, 8, 356–383.Google ScholarPubMed
Ayllon, T., & Azrin, N.H. (1968). The token economy. New York: Meredith Corporation.Google Scholar
Ayllon, T., Garbes, S., & Pisor, K. (1975). The elimination of discipline problems through a combined school-home motivational system. Behavior Therapy, 6, 616–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayllon, T., & Haughton, E. (1964). Modification of symptomatic verbal behavior of mental patients. Behavior Research and Therapy, 2, 87–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayllon, T., & Michael, J. (1959). The psychiatric nurse as a behavioral engineer. Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2, 323–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baer, D.M. (1962). Laboratory control of thumbsucking by withdrawal and re-presentation of reinforcement. Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 5, 525–528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barret, B.H. (1962). Reductions in rate of multiple tics by free operant conditioning methods. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 135, 187–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barret, B.H., & Lindsley, O.R. (1962). Deficits in acquisition of operant discrimination in institutionalized retarded children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 67, 424–436.Google Scholar
Bijou, S.W. (1955). A systematic approach to an experimental analysis of young children. Child Development, 26, 161–168.Google Scholar
Bijou, S.W. (1957). Pattern of reinforcement and resistance to extinction in young children. Child Development, 28, 47–54.Google ScholarPubMed
Bijou, S.W. (1959). Learning in children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 24, n 5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bijou, S.W. (1963). Theory and research in mental (development) retardation. Psychological Record, 13, 95–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bijou, S.W., & Baer, D.M. (1961). Child development. Vol.1. A systematic and empirical theory. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bijou, S.W., & Baer, D.M. (1965). Child development. Vol. 2. Universal stage of infancy. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.Google Scholar
Bijou, S.W., Birnbrauer, J.S., Kidder, J.D., & Tague, C. (1966). Programmed instruction as an approach to the teaching of reading, writing and arithmetic to retarded children. Psychological Records, 16, 505–522.Google Scholar
Birnbrauer, J.S., Bijou, S.W., Wolf, M.M., & Kidder, J.D. (1965). Programmed instructions in the classroom. In Ullman, L.P. & Krasner, L. (Eds.), Case studies in behavior modification (pp. 358–363). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Dollard, J., & Miller, N.E. (1950). Personality and psychotherapy: An analysis in terms of learning, thinking, and culture. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H.J. (1952). The effects of psychotherapy: An evaluation. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 16, 319–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H.J. (1957). The dynamics of anxiety and hysteria. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H.J. (1965). The effects of psychotherapy. International Journal of Psychiatry, 1: 99–178Google ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H.J. (1966). The effects of psychotherapy. New York: International Science Press.Google Scholar
Fester, C.B. (1953). The use of the free operant in the analysis of behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 50, 263–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fester, C.B., & DeMyer, M.K. (1961). The development of performances in autistic children in an automatically controlled environment. Journal of Chronic Disease, 13, 312–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flanagan, B., Goldiamond, I., & Azrin, N.H. (1958). The control of stuttering behavior through response-contingent consequences. Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1, 173–177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuller, P.R. (1949). Operant conditioning of a vegetative human organism. American Journal of Psychology, 62, 587–590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graziano, A.M. (1971). Behavior therapy with children. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Hersen, M., & Barlow, D.H. (1976). Single case experimental designs: Strategies for studying behavior change. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Kazdin, A.E. (1975). Behavior modification in applied settings. Homewood: Dorsey Press.Google Scholar
Kazdin, A.E. (1982). Single-case research design. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Keller, F.S., & Schoenfeld, W.N. (1950). Principles of psychology. New York: Appleton.Google Scholar
Krasner, L. (1955). The use of generalized reinforcers in psychotherapy research. Psychological Reports, 1, 19–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kratochwill, T.R., Mott, J.E., & Dodson, C.L. (1984). Case study and single-case research in clinical and applied psychology. In Bellack, A.S. & Hersen, M. (Eds.), Research methods in clinical psychology (pp 55–99). New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Lindsley, O.R. (1956). Operant conditioning methods applied to research in chronic schizophrenia. Psychiatric Research Reports, 5, 118–139.Google ScholarPubMed
Lindsley, O.R. (1963). Free-operant conditioning and psychotherapy. Current Psychiatric Therapy, 3, 47–56.Google ScholarPubMed
Mayor, J., & Labrador, F.J. (1984). Fundamentos teóricos y metodológicos de la modificación de conducta [Theroetical and methodological foundations of behavior modification]. In Mayor, J. & Labrador, F.J. (Eds.), Manual de modificación de conducta (pp. 9–92). Madrid: Alhambra.Google Scholar
O'Leary, K.D., & O'Leary, S.E. (1972). Classroom management. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Risley, T.R. (1970). Behavior modification. An experimental-therapeutic endeavor. In Hamerlynck, L.A., Davidson, O.P., & Acker, L.E. (Eds.), Behavior modification and ideal mental health services. University Calgary Press.Google Scholar
Sidman, M. (1960). Tactics of scientific research. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Skinner, B.F. (1938). The behavior of the organisms. New York: Appleton.Google Scholar
Skinner, B.F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: McMillanGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B.F. (1954). A new method for the experimental analysis of behavior of psychotic patients. Journal of Nervous Mental Disease, 120, 403–406.Google Scholar
Skinner, B.F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B.F. (1961). Cumulative Record (Enlarged Edition). N.York: Appleton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B.F. (1963). Behaviorism at fifty. Science, 140, 951–958.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skinner, B.F. (1974). About Behaviorism. New York, Alfred A. KnopfGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B.R., Solomon, H.C., & Lindsley, O.R. (1953). Studies in behavior therapy. Metropolitan State Hospital, Waltham, Massachusetts, Status Report I, 30th November.Google Scholar
Skinner, B.R., Solomon, H.C., Lindsley, O.R., Richards, M.E. (1954). Studies in behavior therapy. Metropolitan State Hospital, Waltham, Massachusetts, Status Report II, 31th May.Google Scholar
Staats, A.W., Finley, J.R., Minke, K.A., & Wolf, M.M. (1964). Reinforcement variables in the control of unit reading responses. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 7, 139–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Staats, A.W., Staats, C.K., Schutz, R.E., & Wolf, M.M. (1962). The conditioning of textual responses using “extrinsic” reinforcers. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 5, 33–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taffel, C. (1955). Anxiety and the conditioning of verbal behavior. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51, 496–501.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ulrich, R., Stacknik, T., & Mabry, J. (1966). Control of human behavior. Vol. 1. Glenview: Scott, Foresman and Company.Google Scholar
Ulrich, R., Stacknik, T., & Mabry, J. (1970). Control of human behavior. Vol. 2. Glenview: Scott, Foresman and Company.Google Scholar
Walker, H.M., & Buckley, N.K. (1974). Tokens reinforcements techniques. New York: Engelmann Becker.Google Scholar
Wilson, G.T., & O'Leary, K.D. (1980). Principles of behavior therapy. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Wolf, M.M., & Risley, T. (1971). Reinforcement: Applied research. In Glase, R. (Ed.), The nature of reinforcement. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Wolf, M.M., Risley, T., & Mees, H. (1964). Application of operant conditioning procedures to the behavior problems of an autistic child. Behavior Research and Therapy, 1, 305–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yates, A.J. (1970). Behavior therapy. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar