ABSTRACT
There is ample evidence that man can mould and structure the behavior of his fellowman according to some predetermined scheme; we need point only to such phenomena as “teaching meachines” (9), Chinese “thought reform,” Dale Carnegie’s ways of “making” friends, “hidden persuaders,” political propaganda, “subliminal advertisements” on TV screens, and, of course, the centuries-old techniques employed by women to make men see, feel, believe, and do what they want them to. The question is, “Can techniques for the manipulation of behavior, of demonstrated effectiveness in the rat laboratory, the market place, and the boudoir, be deliberately employed in the arts of counseling and psychotherapy?” It is my contention in the present paper that “behavioristic” approaches to counseling and psychotherapy, while rightly acknowledging a man’s susceptibility to manipulation by another, ignore the possibly deletrious impact of such manipulation on the whole man and, moreover, on the would-be manipulator himself—whereas the essential factor in the psychotherapeutic situation is a loving, honest and spontaneous relationship between the therapist and the patient.
