A Pragmatic Approach to Understanding

1
Relational Frame Theory
A Pragmatic Approach to Understanding and
Treating Human Suffering
Eric J. Fox, Ph.D.
download me at ericfox.com/sweden
2
Workshop Overview

• A brief history of RFT
• Core concepts of RFT
• RFT and Language
• RFT and Suffering
• Clinical Implications of RFT

3
Individuals From Whom Ive Stolen

• Steven C. Hayes
• Dermot Barnes-Holmes
• Yvonne Barnes-Holmes
• JT Blackledge
• Ian Stewart
• Patty Bach
• DJ Moran
• Chad Drake
• Jerold Hambright
• Rainer Sonntag
• Shawn Smith (The Iron Shrink)
• Probably you

4
RFT and ACT

• Do you need to understand RFT to be an effective
  ACT therapist?
• Will understanding RFT make you a better ACT
  therapist?
• Will understanding RFT help you understand what
  ACT is, where it came from, what it is trying to
  do, and how it works?

probably not (maybe?)
maybe
probably (yes?)
5
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
A NOT-SO-BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Traditional Approaches to Language

• Basic Idea Language expresses ideas, meanings,
  messages, or bits of information that are
  developed and stored inside our brains or minds

6
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Traditional Approaches to Language

• Idea/message is formed in the brain or mind of
  the speaker

7
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Traditional Approaches to Language

• Idea/message is encoded into symbols (words) by
  the speaker

8
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Traditional Approaches to Language

• Idea/message is decoded and processed by the
  listener

9
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Traditional Approaches to Language

• Idea/message is stored in the brain or mind of
  the listener for later retrieval and processing

10
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Traditional Approaches to Language

• Basic Idea Language expresses ideas, meanings,
  messages, or bits of information that are
  developed and stored inside our brains or minds

ironshrink.com
11
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Traditional Approaches to Language

• Basic Idea Language expresses ideas, meanings,
  messages, or bits of information that are
  developed and stored inside our brains or minds

ironshrink.com
12
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Traditional Approaches to Language

• Traditional approaches focus on
• Structure of language
• Words as symbols for ideas, meanings, or
  information that is encoded, decoded, processed,
  stored, and retrieved
• Neurological states associated with language use
• Biological determinants of language

13
Pragmatic/Contextual Approaches
THE RFT APPROACH

• Root metaphor act-in-context
• In behavior analysis, emphasis is on
  behavior-in-context
• Behavior anything an organism does (both overt
  and covert responding)
• Context Environment (external and internal)
• Context History (of the organism, species, and
  universe)

14
Pragmatic/Contextual Approaches
THE RFT APPROACH

• Root metaphor act-in-context
• No stimulation in the absence of a response no
  response in the absence of stimulation
• The whole of the behavioral event is primary
  breaking it into parts is secondary (and done
  only to achieve practical purposes)

15
Pragmatic/Contextual Approaches
THE RFT APPROACH

• Root metaphor act-in-context
• Act-in-Context Focus on events or verbs (verbal
  behavior or languaging) rather than things or
  nouns (language, words)
• Act-in-Context Focus on the historical context
  and function of language (learning/reinforcement
  history) rather than its structure (grammar,
  neurological states, etc.)

16
Pragmatic/Contextual Approaches
THE RFT APPROACH

• Truth criterion successful working
• Truth based on achievement of analytic goal
  (prediction and control/influence)
• Your theory may be beautiful, coherent, and
  elegant, but if it doesnt lead to prediction and
  influence, it aint true to me!
• Focus on manipulable controlling variables
  (historical and environmental variables)
• Emphasis on application

17
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Skinners Approach to Language

• Words have no inherent, essential meaning or
  referents
• The meaning of a word is to be found in its
  determiners and functions (its context)
• Individuals do not generate verbal behavior as
  autonomous, initiating agents (assumption does
  not lead to practical control)

Let me tell you whats up, yo
18
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Skinners Approach to Language
(Moore, 2008, p. 164)
19
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Skinners Definition of Verbal Behavior

• Any behavior on the part of a speaker reinforced
  through the mediation of a listener who is
  trained by a verbal community so as to mediate
  such reinforcement
• Behavior alters the environment through
  mechanical actionmuch of the time, however, a
  man acts only indirectly upon the environment
  from which the ultimate consequences of his
  behavior emerge. His first effect is upon other
  men. (Skinner, 1957, p. 1)

20
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Skinners Taxonomy of Verbal Operants
Antecedent Controlling Circumstances
SD as Property of Environment
Establishing Operation MAND
You say water when you are thirsty and want
some dang water
Verbal?
No TACT
Yes
You say fox when you see a fox
Point-to-Point Correspondence?
No INTRAVERBAL
Yes
You say rocks when you hear someone say Doc
Fox
You say fox when you see the word fox
You say fox when you hear the word fox
Formal Similarity?
No TEXTUAL or TAKING DICTATION
Yes ECHOIC or TRANSCRIPTION
(Moore, 2008, p. 181)
21
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Research on Skinners Analysis of VB

• Skinners verbal operants utilized in a very
  small proportion of behavior-analytic research
• From 1963 to 2004, only 60 empirical studies were
  published that utilized Skinners verbal operants
  (Oah Dickinson, 1989 Sautter LeBlanc, 2006)
• The majority of citations of Verbal Behavior are
  from non-empirical articles (Dymond, OHora,
  Whelan, ODonovan, 2006)

22
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Research on Skinners Analysis of VB

• Most of the research has focused on establishing
  manding and tacting
• Most of the research has been conducted with
  individuals with developmental disabilities
• Verbal adults served as participants in only 33
  of the articles in JABA from 1997 to 2001 (Culig,
  Dickinson, McGee, Austin, 2005)
• It is estimated that developmental disabilities
  affect between 1 and 2 of the population

23
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Limitations of Skinners Analysis of VB

• Im not a Skinner hater Skinner is my superhero
• I have every one of his books on my bookshelf
• I teach a class called Skinners Behaviorism!

24
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Limitations of Skinners Analysis of VB

• Verbal Behavior is a brilliant, remarkable,
  vitally important book provided an account of
  language using only principles of conditioning
  (while avoiding mentalism and reductionism)

25
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Limitations of Skinners Analysis of VB

• The definition of verbal behavior is not
  functional
• The definition of verbal behavior is too broad
• The definition of verbal stimuli is not
  functional
• It does not provide a technical account of
  rule-governed behavior
• (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, Roche, 2001)

26
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
The Definition of VB Is Not Functional

• Verbal behavior Any behavior on the part of a
  speaker reinforced through the mediation of a
  listener who is trained by a verbal community so
  as to mediate such reinforcement
• VB is defined not on the basis of the individual
  behaving organisms history and context, but on
  the basis of the history of another organism
• Organisms contacting identical contingencies
  could have their behavior classified different
  based on the source of reinforcement

27
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• Ralphie Rat obtains food pellets in an operant
  chamber on a VR5 schedule arranged by a researcher

28
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• Ronnie Rat obtains food pellets in an operant
  chamber on a VR5 schedule due to a small hole in
  a food pellet bag leaning next to the chamber

29
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
The Definition of VB Is Not Functional

• Ralphie Rat obtains food pellets in an operant
  chamber on a VR5 schedule arranged by a
  researcher
• Ronnie Rat obtains food pellets in an operant
  chamber on a VR5 schedule due to a small hole in
  a food pellet bag leaning next to the chamber

Verbal, according to Skinners definition
NOT verbal, according to Skinners definition
30
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
The Definition of VB Is Not Functional

• To classify Bobbys behavior as avoidant, I
  observe his interactions with his environment
• To classify Bobbys behavior as
  attention-maintained, I observe his interactions
  with his environment
• To classify Bobbys behavior as verbal, I must
  observe his listeners interactions with his or
  her environment

31
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
The Definition of VB Is Too Broad

• Our definition of verbal behavior, incidentally,
  includes the behavior of experimental animals
  where reinforcements are supplied by an
  experimenter or by an apparatus designed to
  establish contingencies which resemble those
  maintained by the normal listener. The animal and
  experimenter comprise a small but genuine verbal
  community (Skinner, 1957, footnote 11, p. 108).

32
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
The Definition of Verbal Stimuli Is Not
Functional
Stimulus is being used as an object, not a
function, and it is being categorized by its
source, not its history
33
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
The Definition of Verbal Stimuli Is Not
Functional

• Does it matter that the definition of verbal
  stimulus is not functional?
• YES! Many of Skinners verbal operants are
  defined by the relation between a response and an
  antecedent verbal stimulus
• Thus, the distinction between verbal stimuli and
  nonverbal stimuli is vital to classifying verbal
  operants

34
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Skinners Taxonomy of Verbal Operants
Antecedent Controlling Circumstances
SD as Property of Environment
Establishing Operation MAND
Verbal?
Verbal?
Without a functional definition of verbal
stimulus, the meaning and conceptual coherence of
most of Skinners verbal operants suffers
No TACT
Yes
Point-to-Point Correspondence?
No INTRAVERBAL
Yes
Formal Similarity?
No TEXTUAL or TAKING DICTATION
Yes ECHOIC or TRANSCRIPTION
(Moore, 2008, p. 181)
35
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Skinners Taxonomy of Verbal Operants
Antecedent Controlling Circumstances
SD as Property of Environment
Establishing Operation MAND
Verbal?
Verbal?
Sarah is in the woods and when she hears a
distant bird make a cuckoo sound, she says
clock
TACT
No TACT
Yes
Point-to-Point Correspondence?
Sarah is in the woods and when she hears her
brother say cuckoo, she says clock
INTRAVERBAL
No INTRAVERBAL
Yes
Formal Similarity?
No TEXTUAL or TAKING DICTATION
Yes ECHOIC or TRANSCRIPTION
(Moore, 2008, p. 181)
36
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
Limitations of Skinners Analysis of VB

• Behavior analysts have achieved great success
  with non-humans, the very young, the very old,
  and those with developmental disabilities
• but prediction and influence with more verbally
  sophisticated humans has been considerably less
  impressive

37
The Cognitive Revolution
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• Cognitive psychologists have seemed more capable
  and effective at accounting for and impacting
  complex (verbal) behavior
• Significant gains in CBT, though process evidence
  not always clear about how/why cognitive
  restructuring can be effective

38
The Cognitive Revolution
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• Overall, cognitive scientists are more focused on
  describing the mechanisms of cognition and the
  brain than creating therapeutic techniques to
  promote behavior change
• For a pragmatist/behaviorist, approach is not
  always satisfying because it neglects manipulable
  variables in the context that would allow for
  direct prediction and influence

39
The Behavioral Revolution?
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• Research on stimulus equivalence and derived
  stimulus relations may offer the field a way to
  move forward in the experimental analysis of
  verbal behavior
• Derived stimulus relations seem to resemble both
  the symbolism and generativity or
  productivity of language, and have only been
  convincingly demonstrated with verbal humans

40
Stimulus Equivalence
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• When taught A B and B C, most humans will
  derive B A, C B, A C, and C A

A
B
C
41
Stimulus Equivalence
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• Typically examined using a match-to-sample format

Limoo
Limoo
Betrang
Bervil
Norna
42
Stimulus Equivalence
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• Pioneering work by Murray Sidman began in the
  1970s
• Hundreds of empirical studies
• Sidmans focus "My own theorizing has been
  directed not so much at an explanation of
  equivalence relations but rather, at the
  formulation of a descriptive system a
  consistent, coherent, and parsimonious way of
  defining and talking about the observed
  phenomena" (Sidman, 1994)

43
The Emergence of RFT
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT

• Need to account for derived relations other than
  equivalence (comparative, temporal, opposition,
  causal, etc.)
• Attempts to account for stimulus equivalence in
  terms of known principles of behavior
• Does not assume it is a behavioral primitive
• Views equivalencing as learned, operant
  behavior

44
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RFT
The Emergence of RFT
45
RFT BASICS
46
Behavioral Functions
RFT BASICS

• Some behavioral functions are inherent, direct,
  unlearned, and phylogenic
• Based on evolutionary contingencies of the
  species
• Already present in the organisms repertoire no
  learning required!
• We often call these reflexes
• Newborn reflexes (startle response, rooting,
  sucking, grasping)
• Perceptual responses to stimuli

47
Behavioral Functions
RFT BASICS

• Some behavioral functions are acquired, indirect,
  learned, and ontogenic
• Based on behavioral contingencies of the
  individual organism
• Not present in the organisms repertoire at birth
  learning required!
• This is the field of learning and conditioning
• Pavlovian/classical/respondent conditioning
• Operant conditioning

relational framing
derived functions
48
Two-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Two different reflexes, one right after the
  other relatively brief time span between events

Reflex 2
Reflex 1
49
Two-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• First stimulus (the neutral stimulus with
  respect to salivating) eventually acquires a new
  function eliciting salivation!

CS
CR

• A function of the food has transferred to the
  bell (classical/respondent/Pavlovian conditioning)

50
Two-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Note that the transfer of function in classical
  conditioning is NOT bidirectional

CS
CR
CS
CR

• Unidirectional transfer in terms of temporal
  continuity

51
Two-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Influencing two-term contingencies
• Repeatedly present the CS without the US
  (extinction)
• This does not always work well with verbal
  critters! More on this later

52
Three-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Three behavioral events
• Motivating operation (MO)
• Response (R)
• Consequence (C)
• Behavior-in-context (focus on both the response
  and its context or antecedent and consequential
  events)

53
Three-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Influencing three-term contingencies
• Break the relationship the response has with
  motivation and/or consequences
• Prevent/change motivating operation
• Prevent/change consequences
• These procedures do not always work well with
  verbal critters! More on this later

54
Four-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Four behavioral events
• Motivating operation (MO)
• Discriminative stimulus (SD)
• Response (R)
• Consequence (C)
• A discriminated operant
• Under conditions of sufficient motivation (MO)
• An arbitrary event in the context (SD)
• Occasions a particular response-consequence
  contingency

ate salt
press lever
get water
bell
MO
R
C
SD
55
Four-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Influencing four-term contingencies
• Prevent/change motivating operation
• Prevent/change discriminative stimulus
• Prevent/change consequences
• These procedures do not always work well with
  verbal critters! More on this later

56
Five-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Five behavioral events
• Motivating operation (MO)
• Conditional discriminative stimlus (SC )
• Discriminative stimulus (SD)
• Response (R)
• Consequence (C)
• Conditional discrimination
• SC occasions the relevance of the SD
• No SC, SD is not relevant or predicts nothing

ate salt
press lever
get water
bell
light
MO
R
C
SD
SC
57
Five-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS
MO poor (college student)
Limoo
SC
Florp
SD
SD
R clicking middle key
R clicking middle key
R clicking right key
C cash money
C electric shock
C cash money
58
Five-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Influencing five-term contingencies
• Prevent/change motivating operation
• Prevent/change conditional discriminative
  stimulus
• Prevent/change discriminative stimulus
• Prevent/change consequences

59
Six-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Six behavioral events
• Motivating operation (MO)
• Relational contextual cue (Crel)
• Conditional discriminative stimulus (SC )
• Discriminative stimulus (SD)
• Response (R)
• Consequence (C)
• Relational conditioning

60
Six-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS
SC
Crel
MO boredom
Which one is a fox?
SC
SC
Is this a bag?
Is this a fox?
Is this a burger?
SD
SD
R point to fox
R nodding, saying yes
C attention/praise
C attention/praise
61
Six-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• After sufficient multiple-exemplar training
  (natural language training), the Crel sets the
  occasion for bidirectional relational responding

Crel
MO boredom
Which one is a burger?
SC
SC
Once this response/relation is taught
this bidirectional response/relation will
emerge
Is this a fox?
Is this a burger?
Is this a bag?
SD
SD
R nodding, saying yes
R point to burger
C attention/praise
C attention/praise
62
Six-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Influencing six-term contingencies
• Crel interventions
• Client I am a bad person.
• Therapist No, youre not. Lets look at the
  facts. Youll see that youre not a bad person.

63
Seven-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Seven behavioral events
• Motivating operation (MO)
• Contextual variable (Cfunc)
• Relational contextual cue (Crel)
• Conditional discriminative stimlus (SC )
• Discriminative stimulus (SD)
• Response (R)
• Consequence (C)
• Cfunc Contextual stimuli that select a
  particular psychologically relevant,
  non-relational stimulus functions in a given
  context.

64
Seven-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Crel specifies a relation between stimuli
• Cfunc specifies functions to be
  tranferred/transformed/actualized in accordance
  with that relation
• Not all functions of a stimulus are transformed
  based on its derived, arbitrary relation to
  another

65
Seven-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Cfunc Contextual stimuli that select a
  particular psychologically relevant,
  non-relational stimulus functions in a given
  context.

Cfunc
Cfunc
Imagine the taste of a banana
Picture a banana
66
Seven-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Example What if I said
• Imagine that there is a large pile of dead
  maggots at the bottom of your cup of coffee
• What would you think/experience?
• Probably picture maggots, heart rate might
  increase, mild gag reflex, grossed out facial
  expression, feel anxious

67
Seven-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Example What if I said
• Imagine that there is a large pile of dead
  maggots at the bottom of your cup of coffee
• What would you think/experience?
• Probably not dump your coffee out, rinse your
  mouth out immediately, vomit

68
Seven-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Example What if I said
• Imagine that there is a large pile of dead
  maggots at the bottom of your cup of coffee
• Not all of the functions of the words large pile
  of dead maggots at the bottom of your cup of
  coffee are the same as there actually being
  maggots at the bottom of your cup

69
Seven-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• SC sets the stage for the relevance of an SD
• Cfunc sets the stage for the relevance of a Crel

Cfuncs
Beatles gt Jesus
70
Seven-Term Contingency
RFT BASICS

• Influencing seven-term contingencies
• Any intervention that alters the behavioral
  functions of events participating in a relational
  discrimination
• Cognitive defusion, mindfulness meditation, etc.
• Attempts to alter or minimize the normal, derived
  functions of words supported by most verbal
  contexts
• Attempts to maximize the direct functions of
  words and other behavioral events

71
Contingencies and Waves
RFT BASICS
classical conditioning
operant conditioning
discriminated operant
conditional disc.
relational conditioning
trans. of stim. functions

• First Wave of Behavior Therapy
• Focused on two-term contingencies and principles
  of classical conditioning
• Exposure and response prevention
• Systematic desensitization

72
Contingencies and Waves
RFT BASICS
classical conditioning
operant conditioning
discriminated operant
conditional disc.
relational conditioning
trans. of stim. functions

• Second Wave of Behavior Therapy
• Focused on three- to five-term contingencies and
  principles of operant conditioning
• Crel interventions
• Emphasis on modifying internal experiences
• Reinforcement and punishment
• Cognitive restructuring

73
Contingencies and Waves
RFT BASICS
classical conditioning
operant conditioning
discriminated operant
conditional disc.
relational conditioning
trans. of stim. functions

• Third Wave of Behavior Therapy
• Focused on six- and seven-term contingencies and
  principles of relational conditioning
• Cfunc interventions
• Mindfulness
• Values

74
Relational Responding
RFT BASICS

• Responding to one stimulus based on its relation
  to another
• Relational stimulus control
• Example 1
• Example 2

75
Arbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding
RFT BASICS

• The core of human language and cognition is the
  ability to arbitrarily relate objects and events,
  and to change the functions of specific events
  based on their relations to others

76
Arbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding
RFT BASICS

• Relational response comes under the control of an
  arbitrary contextual cue rather than the
  properties of the related stimuli
• Example

77
Arbitrary and Non-Arbitrary Relations
RFT BASICS
NON-ARBITRARY (PHYSICAL) RELATIONS
ARBITRARILY APPLICABLE RELATIONS
A
B
Crel
SAME
IS
W
Z
MORE THAN
Better
Worse
OPPOSITE
78
Relational Frames
RFT BASICS

• Patterns of arbitrarily applicable relational
  responding with the contextually controlled
  characteristics of mutual entailment,
  combinatorial entailment, and transformation of
  stimulus functions

79
Defining Features of Relational Frames
RFT BASICS
1. Mutual Entailment
3. Transformation of Functions
2. Combinatorial Entailment
80
Relational Frames
RFT BASICS
Crel
Crel
This is a lemon.
Betrang means lemon.
Lemon
Betrang
Cfunc
Cfunc
What is the look of a betrang?
What is the taste of a betrang?
yellow
bumpy
sour
81
Types of Relational Frames
RFT BASICS

• Different patterns associated with different
  types of relations
• Example

82
The Importance of the Transformation of Stimulus
Functions
RFT BASICS

• Researchers have demonstrated the transfer or
  transformation of virtually every stimulus
  function via derived stimulus relations,
  including
• Simple discriminative control
• Conditional stimulus control
• Conditional reinforcement
• Conditional punishment
• Avoidance evocation
• Respondent elicitation
• Etc.

83
The Importance of the Transformation of Stimulus
Functions
RFT BASICS

• This means that derived relations essentially
  alter other behavioral processes!
• This means that a stimulus can acquire behavioral
  functions based NOT on the individuals direct
  history of interacting with the stimulus (or
  similar stimuli), but on the basis of derived
  verbal relations to other stimuli

84
The Importance of the Transformation of Stimulus
Functions
RFT BASICS

• This means that derived relations essentially
  alter other behavioral processes!
• This also means that attempts to directly disrupt
  contingencies (via extinction, exposure, etc.)
  will not be as successful as they are with
  non-verbal critters

85
The Importance of the Transformation of Stimulus
Functions
RFT BASICS

• To adequately account for (and predict and
  influence) the behavior of verbal humans, we
  probably need to account for derived stimulus
  relations
• RFT provides a parsimonious, operant account of
  derived stimulus relations

86
Relational Framing and Symbolism
RFT LANGUAGE

• Provides model for how words refer to, stand for,
  or symbolize other things (and other words)

87
Relational Framing and Generativity
RFT LANGUAGE

• Small number of directly trained relations can
  result in enormous number of derived relations
• Example

88
Language Units as Relational Networks
RFT LANGUAGE

• Simple relational networks correspond to
  traditional notion of sentences

related element
related element
Crel
Complete relational network and complete sentence
That man is a chef
Crel
related element
That man is a
Incomplete relational network and incomplete
sentence
related element
related element
That man chef
89
Metaphor and Analogy
RFT LANGUAGE

• Metaphors, analogies, parables, allegories, etc.
  can be viewed as relating relational networks
• Analogy Example

90
Arbitrary Crel for Coordination
Same Sort of Feeling Non-Arbitrary Crel for
Coordination (The
Aha Experience)
91
Rule-Governed Behavior
RFT LANGUAGE

• Contingency-Shaped Behavior behavior controlled
  by previous exposure to reinforcement
  contingencies
• Rule-Governed Behavior behavior controlled by a
  verbal rule or description of reinforcement
  contingencies

92
Rule-Governed Behavior
RFT LANGUAGE

• A rule specifies relations to be derived among
  stimuli and events in our environment
• Through the transformation of stimulus functions,
  this rule or relational network can change the
  functions of those stimuli and events
• Example

93
Why Relational Framing Can Lead to Suffering
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Dominance of verbal relations
• Transformation of stimulus functions
• Rigid rule-governance

94
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Deriving stimulus relations is a tremendously
  useful behavior, and we engage in it constantly
• Humans are able to arbitrarily relate pretty much
  anything (including objects, events, thoughts,
  feelings, actions, and more) to pretty much
  anything else

95
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Pick a number between 1 and 10
• Pick a letter between A and J
• Pick another number between 1 and 10

96
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING
How is a
97
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Can be difficult for humans to not engage in
  arbitrarily applicable relational responding
• Can be difficult for humans to get out of their
  heads and directly experience their surroundings
  and events

98
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Three relations we use a lot in problem solving,
  planning, and comparing outcomes
• Hierarchical relations events and their
  attributes (A is a member of B A has attributes
  B, C, D)
• Temporal and/or contingency relations (A happens
  before/causes B)
• Evaluative/comparative relations (A is better
  than B)
• What happens when we apply these relations to
  everything in our lives?

99
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Hierarchical relations events and their
  attributes (A is a member of B A has attributes
  B, C, D)
• Having names for events and their attributes
  makes it easier to remember and think about them
• Traumatic, painful, and aversive events can stay
  with us for a lifetime (and just thinking about
  them can be painful)
• A novel stimulus placed in a hierarchical
  relation with bad/dangerous/painful things may
  be avoided or aversive even without any direct
  contact with it (or its bad properties)

100
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Temporal and/or contingency relations (A happens
  before/causes B)
• We can predict bad events (that may not happen)
• We can fear that depression or anxiety will
  return in the future
• We can know that we will die
• We can worry about our imagined future
• We can tend to live more in the verbally
  remembered past and the verbally imagined future
  than in the present moment

101
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Evaluative/comparative relations (A is better
  than B)
• We can compare ourselves to an ideal and find
  ourselves wanting (even if things are just dandy)
• We can think we are much worse (or much better)
  than others
• We can be afraid of negative evaluations of
  others (even if we havent experienced them) and
  become socially inhibited
• We can asses stimuli along arbitrary dimensions
  of worth, acceptability, desirability, and so on
  (comparison, coordination, hierarchical,
  opposition deictic)

102
Dominance of Verbal Relations
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Humans are able to arbitrarily relate pretty much
  anything (including objects, events, thoughts,
  feelings, actions, and more) to pretty much
  anything else
• Pretty much anything can be arbitrarily related
  to pain and aversive stimuli

103
Transformation of Stimulus Functions
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Can be difficult for humans to not engage in
  arbitrarily applicable relational responding
• The psychological impact of any stimulus is
  likely to be influenced by the relations we
  derive between it and other stimuli
• The derived functions of stimuli can come to
  dominate the direct functions

104
Transformation of Stimulus Functions
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Direct functions White on outside, brown on
  inside, tastes sweet, smell of candle smoke,
  creamy and smooth texture, etc.
• Derived functions I forgot someones birthday,
  God Im so fat, I hate that skinny bastard who
  can eat whatever he wants, I need to go to the
  dentist, I hate that kind of frosting, my dad was
  a baker, etc.

105
Transformation of Stimulus Functions
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Three relations we use a lot in problem solving,
  planning, and comparing outcomes
• Hierarchical relations events and their
  attributes (A is a member of B A has attributes
  B, C, D)
• Temporal and/or contingency relations (A happens
  before/causes B)
• Evaluative/comparative relations (A is better
  than B)
• These derived relations can alter the
  psychological functions of the stimuli that
  participate in them

106
Transformation of Stimulus Functions
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Evaluation of stimuli (as good or bad) leads
  to transformation of functions
• Events/stimuli evaluated as bad can bring about
  aversive functions (even if actual event or
  stimuli have never been experienced)
• Words or thoughts we use to name or describe
  stimuli and events share some of the stimulus
  functions of those stimuli and events

107
Transformation of Stimulus Functions
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Words or thoughts we use to name or describe
  stimuli and events share some of the stimulus
  functions of those stimuli and events

fear
pain
sadness
anger
fear
pain
death
death
sadness
anger
108
Transformation of Stimulus Functions
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Words or thoughts we use to name or describe
  stimuli and events share some of the stimulus
  functions of those stimuli and events
• Thinking of painful events or memories can itself
  be painful and aversive
• Avoiding or escaping aversive stimuli and events
  works pretty well for external stimuli
• so we will often try to avoid or escape our
  aversive internal stimuli (thoughts, feelings,
  emotions, etc.) experiential avoidance

109
Transformation of Stimulus Functions
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Thought suppression generally has opposite
  effect
• Thinking dont be anxious can increase anxiety
  because some of the stimulus functions of actual
  anxiety will be present with the word anxious

110
Rigid Rule-Governance
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Rule following very helpful
• Typically involves causal or conditional
  relations (if A, then B) or temporal relations
  (first A, then B)
• Much of what we learn is in the form of verbal
  rules

111
Rigid Rule-Governance
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Often learn rules about how to behave in
  different situations
• Always be polite and courteous
• Dont mention divorce around Aunt Mildred
• Always wear a jacket and tie to work
• Dont walk into Swedish shops saying hay hay
  because it is fun to do so if you dont actually
  speak Swedish

112
Rigid Rule-Governance
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Many rules are directly helpful when followed
  (e.g., bring an umbrella when it is raining to
  avoid getting wet)
• Supported by direct contingencies described by
  the rule (tracking)
• Many rules are followed primarily due to social
  consequences (e.g., go to church every Sunday)
• Supported by verbally mediated/social
  consequences not directly described by the rule
  (pliance)

113
Rigid Rule-Governance
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Rule-following (and generation of self-rules) is
  frequently reinforced and can take on a life of
  its own
• Rules may continue to be followed even if they
  are inaccurate, ineffective, or harmful
• I cant do it because the anxiety will be
  unbearable
• I mustnt show weakness
• Boys dont cry

114
Rigid Rule-Governance
RFT AND SUFFERING

• Rules may continue to be followed even if they
  are inaccurate, ineffective, or harmful
• Rigid rule-governance can result in psychological
  inflexibility
• Rules may prevent contact with actual
  contingencies in environment (and consequences of
  the behavior)

115
Core Principles/Strategies
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Cognitive Defusion Learning to perceive
  thoughts, images, emotions, and memories as what
  they are, not what they appear to be.
• Acceptance Allowing them to come and go without
  struggling with them.
• Contact with the present moment Awareness to the
  here and now experience with openness, interest,
  and receptiveness.

116
Core Principles/Strategies
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Observing the self Accessing a transcendent
  sense of self, a continuity of consciousness
  which is changing.
• Values Discovering what is most important to
  one's true self.
• Committed Action Setting goals according to
  values and carrying them out responsibly.

117
Strategies
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Help client focus on thinking and feeling as
  behaviors or processes (rather than thoughts and
  feelings having an absolute truth or meaning to
  them)
• Help client focus on direct functions of thoughts
  and feelings rather than their indirect/derived
  functions
• Help client clarify values and examine behaviors
  and rules to see if they correspond with values

help client think like a functional
contextualist!
118
Strategies
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Root metaphor act-in-context
• Truth criterion successful working
• View thoughts and feelings as events or behaviors
  rather than things
• Focus on the function or utility of those
  thoughts and feelings, rather than their
  immediate truth
• Clarify ones goals and values and see how well
  thoughts, feelings, and rules support them

119
Crel vs. Cfunc Interventions
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Crel interventions are associated with cognitive
  restructuring and Cfunc interventions are
  associated with ACT
• Crel interventions can be problematic because
  relational networks work by addition rather than
  subtraction. Once established that A is related
  to B, we cant have the experience that A is
  not related to B

120
Crel vs. Cfunc Interventions
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Example 33 y.o. male client divorced two years
  joint custody of seven year old married seven
  years divorced after wife had an affair and left
  him for another man
• He would like to meet significant other and has
  been on many first dates, joined an internet
  dating service, and is feeling discouraged about
  prospect of meeting someone

121
Crel vs. Cfunc Interventions
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Example 33 y.o. male client divorced two years
  joint custody of seven year old married seven
  years divorced after wife had an affair and left
  him for another man
• He believes that
• Dating should be easier than this
• There is something wrong with him or his ex would
  still be around
• Women cant be trusted
• All the good ones are taken

122
Crel vs. Cfunc Interventions
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Crel interventions change his beliefs through
  disputation to
• Dating is hard
• There is nothing wrong with you
• Women can be trusted
• There are good women out there
• Cfunc interventions
• Notice that his beliefs are evaluations (focus
  on descriptive language rather than evaluative
  language
• Values work Is avoiding anxiety working for
  you?
• Defusion exercises

123
Crel vs. Cfunc Interventions
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Many interventions involve both Crel and Cfunc
  moves
• Both types of interventions work in some
  contexts
• Can be difficult to determine whether an
  intervention is Crel or Cfunc (and probably
  difficult to find pure examples of either)

124
Additional Issues
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Much of what we know isnt true
• You can change both the context and content of
  thoughts to change what one does and how one
  feels
• Relational framing makes emotion much more
  complicated for humans than for animals

125
Much of What We Know Isnt True
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• Thoughts are learned behaviors and we think the
  way we do because, historically, weve been
  reinforced for thinking that way
• However, the vast majority of what we think is
  not based on direct experience it is derived
  through mutual and combinatorial entailment

126
Much of What We Know Isnt True
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• How is erroneous thinking/framing reinforced?
• Via experiential avoidance
• If you think something bad (Y) will happen if you
  do X (or think or feel X), dont do X
• If Y doesnt happen, your thought has just been
  reinforced via negative reinforcement
• Even if Y happens later, but not in the short
  term, the thought linked to avoidance will still
  likely be reinforced
• The way we frame whats happening now have more
  to do with our pasts than our presents. If we
  avoid as a result, this will never change..

127
Much of What We Know Isnt True
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• How is erroneous thinking/framing reinforced?
• Via coherence with the relational network
• Emerging empirical evidence suggests a relational
  response (a thought) is reinforced when it
  coheres with the relational network it is a part
  of (when it is consistent with what you already
  know)
• A relational response is experienced as aversive
  when it doesnt cohere
• (Blackledge, Moran, Ellis, in press, JRECBT)

128
Much of What We Know Isnt True
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• How is erroneous thinking/framing reinforced?
• Mutual and Combinatorial Entailment Gone Wild
• Operant processes that initially require
  consistent immediate reinforcement
• Eventually, given the ubiquity of language, they
  occur automatically.

129
Much of What We Know Isnt True
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• How is erroneous thinking/framing reinforced?
• Coincidence/Superstitious Behavior
• That way of thinking is simply followed by
  effective action in the world
• The way reinforcement works is that any behavior
  that is emitted and followed by reinforcement is
  then more likely to be emitted again in that same
  context
• Whether that way of thinking facilitated
  effective action or not, youre more likely to
  think that way in the future

130
Much of What We Know Isnt True
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• How is erroneous thinking/framing reinforced?
• Rigid rule-governance and pliance
• You act according to a thought because this is
  simply how things are done or because others
  expect you to
• Rule-following so often reinforced that it takes
  on a life of its own, even when given instances
  are ineffective
• We receive so much reinforcement and punishment
  from others, what they want often plays a
  critical role in how we think and what we must
  do

131
Much of What We Know Isnt True
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• How is erroneous thinking/framing clinically
  relevant?
• If youre not framing your experience in a way
  that maps on well to direct contingencies, youre
  not likely to respond effectively to those
  contingencies
• If you dont respond effectively, youre unlikely
  to receive high rates of positive reinforcement
  over the long term
• If you dont receive high rates of S, youre not
  a happy camper

132
Content and Context
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• The content of thoughts can be changed
• The vast majority of empirical RFT studies
  conducted have shown that you can change the way
  people frame stimuli
• Framing is reinforcement-based. If you can
  consistently reinforce someone for thinking
  differently (and withhold reinforcement for
  thinking a separate way.), they will think
  differently

133
Content and Context
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• The content of thoughts can be changed, BUT
• The effect may be highly context-specific
• Specific thoughts can come to occur in a specific
  context when uniformly reinforced
• Like all behaviors, this specific way of framing
  may not generalize to other contexts without
  explicit generalization training
• What happens when reinforcement is
  inconsistentor when alternate ways of framing
  are consistently or even intermittently
  reinforced?
• Resurgence (Wilson Hayes, 1996)

134
Content and Context
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• The content of thoughts can be changed, BUT
• Most studies on changing thoughts have been done
  with arbitrary stimuli that, for the most part,
  participants had no pre-experimental history with
  (or preconceived notions about)
• Changing frames or thoughts via apt analogies or
  metaphors may be particularly viable way to
  change thinking

135
Content and Context
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• The context around thinking can be changed
• At their core, words are simply auditory or
  visual stimuli they dont mean anything
• Certain contextual conditions need to be in place
  in order for transformation of stimulus functions
  to occur (i.e., for words to acquire verbal
  meaning)
• If these contextual conditions are
  replaced/supplanted, the effects of language can
  be disrupted.

136
Content and Context
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• The context around thinking can be changed
• Focus on the content of speech vs. the process of
  speaking
• Must have a history with respect to verbal
  stimuli in question
• Conventional syntax and grammar
• Conventional rates frequencies of speech
• Specific words have a limited range of meanings

cognitive defusion techniques violate these
conditions and help destroy the meaning of
words and thoughts!
137
Content and Context
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• The context around thinking can be changed
• Cognitive defusion techniques temporarily alter
  the clients context in ways that systematically
  violate key features of the context of literality
  those features controlling relational
  responding and verbal transformations of function
  in general
• More basic RFT experimental work on this issue is
  needed (often based on applied observations and
  theoretical musings)

138
Complexity of Human Emotion
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• For an animal, an emotion is a set of
  physiological sensations, urges, and behavioral
  predispositions
• What is emotion from an RFT perspective?
• Physiological sensations, urges, behavioral
  predispositions
• PLUS
• Relational framing made with respect to those
  sensations, urges, dispositions

139
Complexity of Human Emotion
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RFT

• For example, the Western conception of
  anxiety is not an ironclad Truth, but a
  constellation of sensations urges that is then
  evaluated as
• Overwhelming or disabling in large amounts
• Undesirable or bad
• A feeling to be avoided
• A sign of weakness or incompetence

140
Want to download me?ericfox.com/sweden