A Tale of Two Therapies: Comparisin of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies

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Behavioral therapy

Introduction

Behavioral therapy is also known as behavioral modification . It is a psychological method based on the principle that one can change the badly adjusted , maladaptive , observable , specific and self destructive behavior , through learning new and more suitable behaviors (Skinner ,

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The origin of this theory can be traced back to the school of behaviorism which indicates that one can scientifically study psychological matters through observation of overt behavior without necessarily involving interior psychological states . Skinners theory

of behaviorism accepted and supported that internal state could be part of a certain kind of behavior without necessarily being the main cause however , he declared that through environmental manipulation , one could improve on them . The behavioral theorists include Hans Eysenck , Joseph Wolpe , Harry Solomon , Ogden Lindsley and B .F Skinner and they all had different ways of looking at behavioral problems . Eysenck 's perspective saw behavioral problem as connection between one 's behavior , the environment and personality characteristics . For the sake of this study I will focus on B .F skinner 's behavioral theory (Skinner ,

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Origin of behavioral therapy

Edward Thorndike did experiments to discover the ability of dogs and cats to solve problems . He constructed wooden crates and he would cage the animals each in their own crate . The animals would escape from the crates . Though initially he just wanted to show that dogs and cats achievement could be controlled , he realized that he could measure the intelligence of these animals...