Covert Conditioning: A Learning-Theory Perspective on Imagery

Abstract

In recent years there has been a trend in behavioral psychology toward the speculation and development of procedures that manipulate imagery to modify behavior. This is a dramatic departure from the tenets of conventional behaviorism, which held that mentalistic concepts had no place in the scientific study of psychology (Watson, 1919, p. viii). However, Wolpe legitimatized the investigation of covert processes within a behavioristic framework with systematic desensitization (1958). Since then a number of investigators who label themselves behavior therapists have developed techniques to modify behavior involving the manipulation of imagery events. These investigators have somewhat different conceptual models. Some label themselves as cognitive behavior modifiers (Meichenbaum, 1974; Lazarus, 1971; Mahoney, 1974; Goldfried and Davison, 1976). In this model, cognitions (such as talking to oneself, problem-solving, or imagery) are conceptualized as mediators of behaviors, and faulty cognitive patterns are assumed to be at least partly responsible for aberrant affect and behavior. In the cognitive model therapeutic improvement depends upon the alteration of such patterns.