Relational Frame Theory (RFT)

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 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.

Perspective-taking interventions have been shown to improve attitudes toward social outgroups. In contrast, similar interventions have produced opposite effects (i.e., enhanced negativity) in the context of attitudes toward elderly groups. The current study investigated whether a brief perspective-taking intervention enhanced with mindfulness would be associated with less negativity than perspective-taking alone. One hundred five participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions which comprised of an active or control perspective-taking component and an active or control mindfulness component. Participants were then administered an Implicit Associated Test to assess implicit biases toward the elderly. Results supported previous findings in that the condition in which perspective-taking was active but mindfulness was inactive was associated with greater negative implicit bias toward the elderly; however, some of this negativity decreased in the active perspective-taking and active mindfulness condition. The current findings and other mixed effects that have emerged from perspective-taking interventions are discussed from a Relational Frame Theory perspective.

This chapter considers how the ability to relationally frame sets the stage for the emergence of language and how the former's generative and flexible nature accounts for much of the latter's utility. It also highlights how relational framing rapidly increases in both scale and complexity, expanding from the relating of individual stimuli to the relating of relational networks to other networks. The chapter describes the notion of “cognition” and considers how different types and properties of relational framing play a role in perspective-taking, intelligence, and implicit cognition. It concludes by providing a brief overview of the key achievements of relational frame theory (RFT) research to date. However, by specifying variables that facilitate prediction-and-influence, RFT seems to extend beyond alternative accounts, providing a comprehensive, theoretically unified, empirically grounded, and practically applicable account of complex human behavior.