Israel Goldiamond, PhD
Jarl Dyrud, MD
In the early 1960s, Israel Goldiamond, PhD, Jarl Dyrud, MD (a psychoanalyst), and Miles Miller, MD (a social psychiatrist), conducted a detailed analysis of therapeutic sessions. Their focus was on understanding how verbal behavior within these sessions could influence behaviors outside of them. To achieve this, they developed a multi-year study, using these sessions as a sort of operant chamber, to investigate the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship and processes.
What Emerged….
Goldiamond developed a constructional versus a pathological approach that incorporated a nonlinear analysis, and interventions that included systemic as well as topical interventions. Each of these concepts is discussed below. Click on this link to view Goldiamond’s seminal article Toward a constructional approach to social problems: ethical and constitutional issues raised by applied behavior analysis.
Constructional vs Pathological
A pathological approach “…considers the problem in terms of a pathology which, however it was established or developed, is to be eliminated or overcome.” Goldiamond, 1975, p. 68
A constructional approach is “An orientation whose solution to problems is the construction of repertories (or their reinstatement or transfer to new situations) rather than the elimination of repertoires.” Goldiamond, 1974
The therapeutic task in this approach is to help construct new ways of helping people get what they are after that are accompanied by satisfaction rather than distress. Check out this page for more information The Constructional Approach
Nonlinear Analysis
In a nonlinear analysis, the objective is not only to look for the maintaining consequences of identified disturbing patters of behavior but also the costs and benefits of doing something else. In considering the current presenting problem as sensible when compared to the costs and benefits of the currently available patterns, behaviors can be developed to provide the same or greater benefits at less cost of the client. A nonlinear analysis, on asks some key questions: When is the problem not a problem? and What behavior the absence of which is that problem? Stated otherwise, what behaviors need to be established that provide the same effect at less cost? Check out this page for more information and resources: NCA
Systemic and Topical
The goal of a nonlinear contingency analysis and the constructional approach is help individuals produce lasting, meaningful change in their lives. In practice, systemic interventions are often more effective for long-term change, as they address the root causes of behavioral patterns rather than just their surface-level manifestations.
• Topical interventions address behavior directly, focusing on modifying specific behaviors or their immediate contingencies.
• Systemic interventions operate at a larger scale, changing the broader conditions that shape and sustain behavior over time.
Drs. Layng, Andronis, and Rosales-Ruiz continue the work of Dr. Goldiamond through dissemination and mentorship.
Left to right, Dr. T. V. Joe Layng, Dr. Israel Goldiamond, Dr. Paul Andronis
Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz
The Constructional Approach to Behavior Analysis 