BEHAVIOR-THERAPY AND THE EXPERIMENTAL-ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR - CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN-BEHAVIOR AND RADICAL BEHAVIORAL PHILOSOPHY

It has been argued that clinical psychologists, including clinical beh avior therapists, are not aware of or knowledgeable about advances bei ng made in basic behavioral research (Marks, Behavioral Psychotherapy, 9, 137-154, 1981). The present paper addresses the arguments advanced by clinical and experimental psychologists that behavior therapy and cognitive-behavior therapy are moving away from their respective ties to the experimental operant laboratory. It is argued that there are ma ny areas of mutual interest between basic behavioral and clinical rese arch and application. Several major research programs of operant psych ology are analyzed in order to demonstrate conclusively that advances in basic behavioral studies have relevance for application by clinical psychologists. Progress in the experimental fields of the quantitativ e law of effect (the matching law), operant/classical interactions, in cluding behavioral momentum, modeling and verbal and rule-governed beh avior are analyzed. Applications of these basic behavioral principles to clinical settings are also illustrated. It is concluded that the ex perimental analysis of behavior can add much to the continuing develop ment of a scientifically-based clinical psychology, and that mutual in terest research in both sub-disciplines of psychology will lead to a g reater understanding of the causes and conditions of human behavior, a s well as direct the ability of clinical psychologists to effect meani ngful behavioral change.