HISTORY OF BEHAVIOURAL FAMILY THERAPY

Early discoveries in the study of environmental influences on    behaviour patterns or responses are attributed, in part,to the well-known works of Pavlov, Thorndike, Clark Hull, and J. B. Watson. At  least two experimental paradigms, currently labeled “classical” and    “operant” conditioning, were to emerge and survive in the field of  human and animal learning. The recent proliferation of operant  conditioning (behaviour modification) has been widelyinfluenced by B. F. Skinner and his associates, and has been mostsystematically   applied to families by G. R. Patterson (1975). Elements of the classical-conditioning model are more readily apparent in the work of Joseph Wolpe, which is concerned with the deconditioning of maladaptive anxiety neurosis in individuals.  Direct application of  Wolpe’s  approach has not been fully explored in relation to family interaction.  Adherents of the approach, which emphasizes vicarious or observational learning, are best represented by the currently      popular social psychology of Albert Bandura. While…