A Cognitive Theory of Behavior Change

Abstract

The student of psychotherapy is faced with a conundrum. Many therapists, espousing a wide variety of theories and techniques, claim to be therapeutically effective. In some instances their claims are empirically supported. Moreover, behavioral change results from nonprofessional contacts which persons encountered during the course of day-to-day life. The conundrum, then, is attempting to understand and explain the behavioral change process as it occurs in so many different contexts. What are the underlying mechanisms of change that are common to the various procedures and contexts in which change occurs?

The attempt to describe features common to all forms of psychotherapy requires consideration of a wide variety of patterned personal and social interactions. To keep our bearings in this exploration, a general conceptual framework is needed.... This is obviously a very big order, and to handle it adequately would require a complete theory of personality development and structure as related to social and cultural influences.

—Jerome Frank (1974, p. 24)