O’Connor, Byrne, Ruiz, & McHugh. 2019

Conceptual accounts of pliance, a particular class of rule-governed behavior, propose that its generalization precipitates insensitivity to direct contingencies. Accordingly, a context of mindfulness has been theorized to influence the way in which rules function and facilitate effective contact with such contingencies. Despite the profound implications of these conceptualizations, there is a dearth of empirical support for their claims. This study aimed to investigate self-reported generalized pliance as a predictor of sensitivity to changing schedules of reinforcement and mindfulness. Forty young adults completed the Generalized Pliance Questionnaire (GPQ), Contingency-shifting variant Iowa Gambling Task (csIGT), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory—Short Form. Analyses revealed that higher scores on the GPQ were predictive of lower mindfulness and sensitivity to changing contingencies on the csIGT and WCST with medium to large statistically significant effect sizes. The findings support the aforementioned conceptual accounts and have implications for novel research in mindfulness.