"behavioral psychology" is an oxymoron.

[docjp]

The phrase "behavioral psychology" is an oxymoron in that the term "Psychology" uses the prefix "psyche", which is defined as "Self, Soul and MIND", which are all Esoteric dimensions of Man.  The ancient Greeks who gave the world "Psychology" were Gnostics, and were familiar with Eastern mysticism, and the Esoteric dimensions of Man, and their offering of Psychology was a Western re-structuring of Eastern mysticism focused on the study of the MIND and Spiritual dimensions of Man.... from a Western mystical perspective.

B.F. Skinner was quite ignorant of the Esoteric dimensions of Man, and from his own words, as quoted by Richard Evans  [B.F. Skinner: The Man and His Ideas, Dutton, 1968] it is apparent to a competent therapist that he was quite frightened of the Esoteric dimensions within himself.  His offering of "behaviorism" was a projection of the primary defense mechanism of his own MIND.  I speak of this in my book:  Death of Psychology That Nobody Noticed, Publish America, 2007.

Open to discuss this of course.

Peace

[duldej]

behaviorism is like cognitive psychology in that either one is historical, rather like existentialism in philosophy is historical now and not currently discussed.

in terms of licenses, applied behavioral therapy is taking the place of marriage and family therapy, so far as I see it because it's effective in ways that people can appreciate in cases with autistic kids, from what I gather, but probably soon with other persons.

my professor in college worked with bf skinner on a professional basis, so I felt obligated to comment.

in terms of philology or etymology of words, I guess that's good, that they're different. 

practically I can figure that behaviorism is inimical to psychology, and I know that my former professor thought little about sigmund freud and psychoanalysis that is largely mental and related to the mind, but not body-related like behaviorism is.

I'm partial to existentialists like rd lang, carl rogers, and confrontational therapists because they've incorporated thought and reality so that it's got to add-up not just in your mind but in your life where there's got to be a nexus.

psychology so far as I'm concerned is the study of the mind and behaviorism is a school of psychology that figures out what a person is by what he does, and behavioral therapy is fixing that person's mind over time because he's picked-up new good habits.

have you read any descartes?  descartes is responsible for the big trick of the pineal gland that's supposedly the seat of the soul and that nexus that joins mind and body, and that's so conveniently located in your skull, I think in your limbic system centers.

behavioral psychology doesn't survive your critique, in a vacuum, I think, but granted the passing of time in a human being's life and that is hard to account for in the dark, you've got to maybe take a leap of faith that there's something that keeps your brain and mind similar.

why not call it your behavior?  everybody else does.

[docjp]

The physical brain is a muscle with special attributes, or electrical circuitry that enables a person to "think".  But the brain is limited to either that which is physical, or that which is an abstract word, term or concept standing for some Esoteric [non-physical phenomena].

The MIND is composed of a higher level and a lower level. The higher is the vibrational energy of the Causal region of Creation, and it also provides ones Soul with a Causal body.  The lower MIND is composed of the energy of the Astral region of Creation, and it provide ones Soul an Astral body.
Within the MIND are MINDLines, which house the bits of dissociated Apapsyche that serve as trauma, taken on at the time of ones birth in this life.  Each MINDLine has two poles:  One is Yin, or female out-going energy, and the other is the Yan, or male in-going energy.  All ones Karma are stored on these MINDLines.
To equate the brain and the MIND is to mistake the nature and status of the MIND.  The MIND remains with ones Soul throughout the Souls exploration of Creation.  The brain is grown for each lifetime ones Soul experiences... thus, a new personality and psychology is created by the MIND for each new lifetime one experiences.
http://about-psychology.com/apapsyche.html

Perace

[shotintheart]

Would you accept the term cognitive-behavioral psychology as more useful?