Relational Frame Theory (RFT)

Following a ‘first wave’ of behavioral therapy, a ‘second-wave’ fusion of cognitive and behavioral therapy gained favor in the 1970s when basic behavior analytic research failed to adequately address clinically relevant issues related to symbolic meaning and language. These issues have now been largely resolved through subsequent research on stimulus equivalence and Relational Frame Theory, which have identified ways of influencing symbolic verbal behavior via the manipulation of accessible environmental variables rather than grounding causation in thoughts, feelings, and hypothetical mental mechanisms (e.g., schema) that cannot be directly manipulated. Given these advances, stopgap cognitive approaches can be abandoned in favor of the more coherent and singular functional contextual approach inherent in ‘third-wave’ interventions.

 

Relational Frame Theory (RFT) is a functional-analytic account of human language and cognition, including human psychopathology. The core premise of the theory is that language and cognition is composed of relational acts. Over the past 10 years, the theory has served to generate the development of a measure, known as the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure, which was designed initially to provide a metric of the strength or persistence of relational responding. Although the IRAP provides a measure of implicit attitudes, we argue that it is time to refocus on its original purpose: measuring the strength of relational framing. This refocusing has already started to generate a new conceptual framework, which potentially will lead to improved functional specificity for behavior therapy.

 

The current paper re-examines the concept of intelligence using Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and suggests a theoretical framework for the analysis of “intelligent” behaviors. We begin by introducing the practices of the standard measurement of intelligence, the intelligence quotient (IQ), and some key features of commonly used IQ tests. We outline a proposed framework, which we suggest provides a rationale for the construction of interventions to raise intelligence quotients as calculated by standardized IQ tests. Specifically, the current paper proposes that training skills in derived relational responding (DRR) by utilizing multiple exemplar training (MET) can accomplish this goal. 

The research investigated the contextual effects of mood on implicit measures of ‘wanting more’ as a proxy of materialism and investigated the basic verbal processes underpinning this behaviour. Sixty university students were recruited to participate. Participants were exposed to either a positive (n = 21), negative (n = 20) or neutral (n = 19) mood induction procedure; an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) examining biases towards wanting more or less; and questionnaires assessing life satisfaction (Satisfaction with Life Scale; SWLS), materialism (Material Values Scale; MVS), and positive and negative affect (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; PANAS). On the IRAP, shorter mean response latencies across consistent (more-good/less-bad) compared to inconsistent (more-bad/less-good) trial-blocks were interpreted as an implicit bias towards ‘wanting more’. Compared to the neutral mood condition, participants in the positive mood condition demonstrated an increased bias towards ‘wanting less’ (p = .028). Several predicted associations were also observed. Measures of negative affect and reduced life satisfaction were significantly associated with an implicit bias towards ‘wanting more’ (rs's ranging from − .455 to − .565, p's ranging from .01 to .038), while reduced levels of materialism were significantly correlated with an implicit bias towards wanting less (rs = .579, p = .006). The findings provide preliminary support for the IRAP as a generalised implicit measure of ‘wanting more’ as a proxy of materialism; and suggest that changes in mood may influence this effect. Findings are discussed from a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) perspective.

Read the whole article on the ACBS website https://contextualscience.org/article/an_examination_of_generalised_implicit_biases_towards_wanting_more_as_a_pro

The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance within the experimental analysis of behavior of research on human language and more specifically of an empirical approach based on relational frame theory which focuses on derived or arbitrarily applicable relational responding as a key process underlying this phenomenon. The article starts with a brief review of the Skinnerian approach to language. It then discusses 2 areas of research within behavior analytic research that suggest a distinction between verbal human behavior and the behavior of other groups. It then focuses on relational frame theory (RFT) and its conception of derived or arbitrarily applicable relational responding as a key process underlying language and reviews RFT research in various domains that suggest the promise of this work as an approach to the latter.

The current paper is part of an ongoing effort to better connect RFT with the complexities of clinical phenomena. The paper outlines two broad areas, referred to as ‘verbal functional analysis’ and the ‘drill-down’, in which we believe the basic theory is showing increasingly direct application to therapy. The paper also comprises two case summaries in which verbal functional analysis and the drill-down featured strongly in case formulation and clinical focus. Case 1 involves an adult woman who presented with paranoia, had been diagnosed with psychosis, and had an extended history of familial and other abuse. Case 2 describes a teenager who had been placed in foster care, following parental neglect. For comparative purposes and to provide exemplars of similar functional-analytic processes, both case summaries are presented in a similar format. The article attempts to illustrate how therapeutic work can be connected to the basic theory and argues that it will be important in future work to further expand these connections with ongoing developments in RFT.

To find the full text version of this article and others (as well as download a full text .pdf.), ACBS members can visit the ScienceDirect homepage here.

The current thesis presents a first step towards examining paranoia from a functional-analytic perspective. The focus of the research was ‘self-beliefs’ as a wealth of evidence in the existing cognitive-clinical literature suggests that this is a key process in the development and persistence of paranoia. From the functional-analytic perspective, paranoia and related self-concepts are defined as patterns of behaviour in context. The goal of this research involved elucidating these behaviours, determining how they influence each other, and identifying which contextual variables affect them. The work drew upon Relational Frame Theory (RFT), a functional-analytic theory of human language and cognition, and an RFT-based measure, the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), to do so. Across five studies involving participants from the general (non-clinical) population, specific patterns of relational responding to the self that may be pertinent to paranoia were identified. Using an experimental approach involving threat-induction tasks, it was also demonstrated that paranoia and related responding to the self (e.g., as negative, vulnerable) and others (e.g., as trustworthy, devious) can be influenced by environmental factors. The IRAP was shown to be a useful measure in this regard, demonstrating predictive utility (Study 1), an ability to parse out patterns of responding relevant to high non-clinical paranoia (Study 4), and sensitivity to experimental manipulations (Studies 2, 3, and 5). Taken together, the findings from this research suggest that the functional-analytic perspective may compliment the cognitive-clinical approach to the study of paranoia and might also offer new and exciting avenues for research (e.g., novel procedures) in this domain.

Relational frame theory (RFT) is a modern behavioral approach to human language and cognition that accounts for complex human behavior, such as perspective taking in terms of derived relational responding. According to RFT, a history of reinforcement for relating deictic relations, such as I–you, here–there, and now–then, may lead to the emergence of a sophisticated repertoire of perspective taking. This theoretical understanding of complex behavior has resulted in the design of interventions to establish these repertoires when deficient. This study analyzes the contributions made to date by the deictic relations approach to perspective taking in typically and atypically developing children and adults. A total of 34 articles published between 2001 and 2015 were selected (26 empirical and 8 nonempirical). The results indicate an expansion of empirical evidence into deictic relations. However, there is still a need for empirical work on its application to atypical development and clinical populations. Future research directions are discussed.