Behavior modification is not cognitive?and other myths: A reply to Ledwidge

Abstract

This rebuttal argues that (1)Ledwidge's description of behavior therapy is false and that behavior therapy, as he defines it, does not exist; the main difference between behavioral and cognitive techniques lies in the kind and degree of emphasis on cognitive activity; (2)methodological behaviorism ultimately reduces to and implicitly assumes the doctrine of metaphysical behaviorism; (3)the research cited by Ledwidge was irrelevant to his thesis; and (4)there is no such thing as direct behavior change. It is also argued that behavior change is not the essence of therapy. It is concluded that behavior therapists do not fully grasp the implications of the fact that man is a conceptual being.