The position is presented that behavior modification is ready to expand its theoretical and professional base to one which can be described as behavioral ecology. At each level of operation, from individual therapy to broad social applications, behavioral change involves complex rearrangements in the systems surrounding the focal behavior. While symptom substitution in the psychodynamic sense may not be demonstrated, each therapeutic intervention produces a variety of effects both within the person and in his interpersonal network. At the broad social level, behavior modifiers who consider applications of their methods to such problems as population control also need to consider the complex systems effects in any decision to focus on a particular behavior.
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