ABSTRACT
Clinicians interested in the experimental and conceptual bases for clinical theory and practice have noted the importance of learning theory for psychotherapy. A wider influence of the applications of learning theory to psychotherapy has been seen in the contributions of J. Dollard and N. E. Miller, O. H. Mowrer, and E. J. Shoben. In essence, the theoretical and experimental work of Dollard and Miller, and of Shoben—as well as the stimulating volume by G. R. Pascal—emphasize in relating psychotherapy to behaviour theory one of several choices of learning theory variables—the stimulus variables. The purpose in revisiting learning theory in relation to psychotherapy and behaviour change is to suggest that the emphasis on stimulus variables may not be as promising as an emphasis on response variables. The chapter reviews the presumptive value of stimulus-centered learning theory to psychotherapy and behaviour change. The newer psychotherapies have at least one important element in common: teaching the organism new ways of responding.
