Holland J G
J Appl Behav Anal. 1978 Spring;11(1):163-74. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1978.11-163.
The form frequently taken by behavior-modification programs is analyzed in terms of the parent science, Behaviorism. Whereas Behaviorism assumes that behavior is the result of contingencies, and that lasting behavior change involves changing the contingencies that give rise to and support the behavior, most behavior-modification programs merely arrange special contingencies in a special environment to eliminate the "problem" behavior. Even when the problem behavior is as widespread as alcoholism and crime, behavior modifiers focus on "fixing" the alcoholic and the criminal, not on changing the societal contingencies that prevail outside the therapeutic environment and continue to produce alcoholics and criminals. The contingencies that shape this method of dealing with behavioral problems are also analyzed, and this analysis leads to a criticism of the current social structure as a behavior control system. Although applied behaviorists have frequently focused on fixing individuals, the science of Behaviorism provides the means to analyze the structures, the system, and the forms of societal control that produce the "problems".
行为修正计划常见的形式是依据其母学科行为主义来分析的。行为主义假定行为是偶发事件的结果，且持久的行为改变涉及改变引发并维持该行为的偶发事件，然而大多数行为修正计划仅仅是在特殊环境中安排特殊的偶发事件以消除“问题”行为。即便问题行为像酗酒和犯罪一样普遍，行为修正者关注的是“矫正”酗酒者和罪犯，而非改变治疗环境之外普遍存在且持续产生酗酒者和罪犯的社会偶发事件。塑造这种处理行为问题方法的偶发事件也得到了分析，这种分析引发了对当前作为行为控制系统的社会结构的批判。尽管应用行为学家常常专注于矫正个体，但行为主义科学提供了分析产生“问题”的社会控制的结构、系统和形式的方法。
