A unifying theoretical framework for clinical psychology

Abstract

Clinical psychology lacks a theoretical framework through which to interpret and apply research findings. This comment explains the theoretical framework of ethology, a discipline that is extinct in the United States. The ethologists Lorenz and Tinbergen developed behavioral systems theory as a means to place the proximal causes of behaviors within the context of adaptive goals. This comment asserts that there are four adaptive goals that motivate human social behavior: Attachment/affiliation, caregiving, dominance and sex. Tinbergen developed the four questions of ethology as a complete explanation for behavior. The articles in this volume are discussed in terms of behavioral systems theory and the four questions of ethology.