Great potential power has been claimed for the methods of behavior modification and control.(1) Behavior therapies, especially systematic desensitization, derive most of their power and effect from non-specific, placebo effects; (2) In a non-coercive situation such as verbal conditioning, the S must be both aware of and cooperate with the experimenter's intention. Thus, the S has the ultimate control. (3) I n a coercive situation, for example, token economies and "brainwashing," behavior technologies do little beyond refining the control that is already delegated to the behaviorist and there is little generalization. These results indicate that behavior modification techniques do not now nor potentially provide psychologists with a new powerful method of control. Concerns about the possibility of creating a Skinnerian utopia with subtle behavioristic totalitarian control and the attendant ethical problems of control are largely unfounded.The investigation of recent research in this area found:
C H A P T E R O N EI n the last two decades, psychology has witnessed a meteoric rise in the prestige and influence of the application of behavior theory. Behaviorism appears to be on the way to domination of applied psychology similar to its past domination of the experimental area. The success of these methods has resulted in a rapid expansion of behavior modification methods of treatment, in an increasing concern with the ethics of the control of behavior, and even in an interest in designs for a utopian society.The major support for this behavioristic ferment in psychology is the apparent power that behavioral methods have in controlling human actions. Such behavior control power has implications related to three major areas of concern for psychoogists: therapy, ethics and social control.The implications related to therapy have been extensively examined by Ullman and Krasner(lZ7). The apparent power of behavioral methods is their primary argument for the exclusive acceptance of behavior modification replacing the more traditional insight therapies. In fact, they stress that even the slight power that insight therapy may have is derived from the unrealized use of behavior modification principles. It should also be pointed out that Ullman and Krasner utilize the apparent power of behavior control to support the scientific status of behavior modification methods. They believe that since the ability to control is one means of verifying a scientific principle, the apparent power of behavioral methods supports the scientific status of behavioral methods.A renewed interest in ethics is also related to the belief in the power of behavior methods. Krasner summarized this problem a decade ago. He says, "If we see him (psychologist) as one who is in a position to change or modify others' behavior, .
