Annual review of behavior therapy: Theory and practice

R e v i e w s o f School Psychological Materials

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Franks, C. M., & Wilson, G. T. (Eds.). Annual review of behavior, therapy: Theory and practice, Vol. IV. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1976. Pp. v. + 914; $27.50, hard cover. Following the lead of previous volumes of the Annual Review of Behavior Therapy (1973, 1974, 1975), the 1976 edition of the Review carries through the original aim of est~lilh, ing a tradition of continuity in the behavior therapy literature, suggesting areas of needed re~,Kch and outlining progress or lack of progress made over the past year. Unlike previous volumes, the 1976 Review is truly on an annual basis. The articles were selected from those appe~ing in journals from January through December 1975, with the inclusion of November and December 1974 to insure continuity. The Commentaries extend six months to the summer of 1976. The Review is organized into 10 sections: (a) Ethics, Law, and Models of Man; (b) Systemntie Desensitization, Flooding, Symbolic and Participant Modeling, Cognitive Restructuring, mad Assertion Training; (c) Biofeedback and Other Strategies in Self- Management; (d) Assessment, Measurement, and Methodology; (e) Addictive Behaviors: Obesity, Cigarette Smoking, Alcoholism, and Drug Addiction; (f) Behavior Modification in the Home and Classroom; (g) Behavior Modification in Institutional Settings; (h) Behavior Modification and the Extended Society: Industry and Community; (i) Behavior Therapy and its Rivals; and (j) Clinical Issues, Innovations, and Case Studies. Section l. Of ever increasing concern to behavioral psychologists are ethical and legal issues, accountability, certification, licensing, and training. Section 1 should be of extreme interest to individuals concerned with professional issues in psychology. Bandura's Presidential Address to the American Psychological Association puts in perspective social learning theory as a model for behavior therapy. Thereafter, the section is heavily weighted with a concern for human rights in both philosophical and applied therapeutic settings. Davison and Stuart's article is both an implicit affirmation of Bandura's main thesis and a position paper for behavior therapy with reference to human rights. The potential of behavior modification both for helping and for abuse is described in the article by Seiber, Hiller, Keith, and Taylor. The final two papers focus on legal regulation of applied behavior analysis in mental institutions and prisons. The Commentary is excellent for both researcher/scholar and student. It provides one of the best of available overviews of this area and should be high priority reading. Section 2. Since its introduction, Wolpe's systematic desensitization procedure has undergone continual modification with alternative strategies being developed for its use. Section 2 focuses on diverse therapeutic strategies within behavior therapy which are now available to the practitioner in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Nevertheless, the articles reviewed in this section suggest that much more detailed and sophisticated research is needed to understand the complex variables operating in systematic desensitization, flooding, modeling, cognitive restructuring, and assertion training. Section 3. One of the best indicators of an active area of research is the formation of a new journal devoted specifically to research on the particular topic. The new journal, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, is witness to this in the self-control area. Section 3 provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of this controversial area. This is perhaps one of the most important sections of the book in light of the fact that the cognitive orientation is becoming pervasive throughout behavior therapy research and practice. Section 4. The Commentary in Section 4 begins by offering some critical views on the relative merits of single subject and between-group designs. Thereafter, the discussion is organized around the four reprinted papers which make up the section. The authors provide only a very limited discussion of the design issues and this is perhaps one of the few limitations of the Review. Unfortunately, the excellent 1976 volume by Hersen and Barlow on clinical research methodology was not yet published when the Review went to press. Nevertheless, Franks and Wilson suggest that single subject and between-groups designs do not have to be an either-or issue in behavior therapy research. Thereafter, the authors provide a substantive review of assessment considerations. The literature reviewed in the Commentary provides an excellent overview of assessment approaches and blends with a growing body of literature in this area. Section 5. Much like the self-control area, the expansion of behavior therapy into the control of obesity, cigarette smoking, alcoholism, and drug addiction has led to a new journal, Addictive Behaviors. The papers reproduced in Section 5 suggest that behavior therapy has indeed a contribution to make to this area although the work here is still in its infancy and presents a challenge to beha,~ior therapy intervention. Section 6. The home and classroom have always been high priority intervention areas. This section focuses on behavior modification with children with special reference to (a) problems such as hyperactivity, learning disabilities, and seizure disorders; (b) language training in nonverbal psychotic and retarded children; (c) the generalization and maintenance of classroom treat-

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ment effects; (d) theoretical and ethical issues involved in the use of behavioral methods in the schools; (e) the role of mediators in behavior change programs; and (f) behavioral interventions with families of predelinquent and delinquent children. The section is particularly relevant for school psychologists. Section 7. This section is primarily concerned with the application of behavior modification in institutions, such as mental hospitals, residential homes for the severely retarded and elderly, and correctional facilities. Application of behavioral procedures in these settings again focuses attention on the ethical and legal implications of such treatment procedures. This section continues the consistent theme of concern for ethical and legal issues running throughout the behavior therapy literature. Section 8. Because both the quantity and quality of the use of behavior modification in industry and the community has been so limited, there is still much room for research in this area. This section should prompt school psychologists to consider interventions that could effectively alter the structure and organization of behavioral patterns in school systems. Section 8 suggests that a technology for this endeavor is evolving. Section 9. A comparison of behavior therapy with other therapeutic strategies has been a consuming concern to scholars but research in the area has been difficult. Section 9 provides an excellent backdrop for more refined methodological criteria in comparative outcome studies. The paper by Sloane, Cristol, Yorkston, and Whipple represents an impressive attempt to deal with a controlled investigation of psychotherapy. This and other discussion in Section 9 provide important leads for future work. Section 10. The final section of the Review nicely illustrates how contemporary sophistication in behavior therapy, particularly in methodology, brings with it certain disadvantages as well as advantages. With the exception of the first two papers and Kelman's commentary on the controversial Levendusky and Pankratz pain study, all reports are case studies. While case study research is sometimes characterized by uncontrolled variables and may be difficult to replicate, the section nevertheless provides a wealth of information for future research on a variety of problems such as treatment of pain, Raynaud's Disease, functional aphonia, and suicide. In summary, the Review represents an important scholarly work in psychology. Particularly impressive is the quality of the Commentary sections, which is a testament to the scholarship of the editors. In fact, it is the feature that sets the Review aside from the large number of reviews in psychology and other areas of the social sciences which fail to take a critical perspective on the field. There is possibly no better overview on the developing nature of behavior therapy available. The psychologist searching for this will be impressed by the evolving and changing focus of modern behavior therapy. Thomas R. Kratochwill The University of Arizona Tuscon, AZ 85724 Anthony A. Cancelli The University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85724

Glaser, Robert. Adaptive education: Individual diversity and learning. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977. Pp. iv + 181, soft cover. Since the days of the one-room schoolhouse, American educators have been concerned with the match between students' capabilities on the one hand and instructional strategies on the other. In recent years these concerns have become even more important as state and federal courts have mandated that all children are entitled to an "equal education." The determination of equality of education and the methods by which educators and psychologists can insure that all children receive a fair and equitable education are the focus of Robert Glaser's most recent book. Glaser attempts to deal with these longstanding problems by carefully reviewing historical events which have shaped our educational systems into not developing instructional strategies that match student skills. Interestingly, Glaser points his finger at two psychological institutions, associationistic learning theory and the psychometric movement, as the two villians whose prescriptions for teachers resulted in nonindividualized instructional strategies. Glaser maintains that associationistic learning theorists painted a narrow picture of the role of children in the learning process. Children, and adults for that matter, were viewed as passive organisms who evidenced little control over what they acquired in the learning process. According to Glaser, this view of the learner encouraged teachers to lecture to and engage students in rote learning