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The Complexities and Philosophy of RFT in 5 minutes GO!

When I proposed doing an ignite-style presentation on an introduction to RFT I thought Oh yeah, I can do that, no problemAs I sat hunched over my books and laptop, even with Paul Silvias book staring at me encouragingly, I found myself thinking How am I going to cram all of this into a 5 minute introduction? With that in mind I am going to give this my absolutely best shot1The Importance of Human LanguagePractically everything we do is shaped by our verbal behaviorThe ability to control behavior with wordsA better understanding of how we influence eachother Harness the power of language systematicallyhuman language is of paramount importance because it is practically everything that we do: our science, education, therapy, socializing, everything we do surround and is enveloped by verbal behaviorA scientific account will give us the ability to harness the power of words and make an enormous difference2In additionEconomies stand or fall on their abilities to develop and disseminate verbal knowledge ~Steven HayesWords are, in my not so humble opinion, the most inexhaustible source of magic; capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it. ~DumbledoreAnd consider these quotesAs Steve Hayes pointed out Economies stand or fall on their abilities to develop and disseminate verbal knowledgeAndWords can cause injury and remedy it, and are truly like magic By J. K. Rowlings character Dumbledore3BRIEFLY on Skinners Verbal BehaviorLanguage is behaviorBehavior operates on its environment Types of verbal behavior have specific functionsMandTactIntraverbal

What verbal behavior gave us is a functional account of language as a natural phenomenonSkinner provided an analysis of operants defined by their effectAs a speaker: I mand: Im thirsty give me the waterI tact: That shirt is blackI intraverbal: shave and a haircut4What it is Relational Frame Theory:An addition to the analysis of human behavior A cogent philosophy to guide research and understanding of verbal behaviorAnd most importantlyA virtual extension for the currently prominent analysis of Skinners Verbal BehaviorWhat is RFT? Well, it stands for relational frame theoryIt extends the analysis of human behavior to account for things like the listeners behaviorThis new approach offers avenues of exploring new questions about human language Fills in things that were missed by Skinners analysis of verbal bx5Whence it comesRule governanceA failure to account for the behavior of the listenerA failure to account for the process in stimulus equivalenceFunctional contexualism Rule governed behavior had not been fully exploredThe listener had been left outThe processes in equivalence relations were not adequately accounted forAnd the need for a Philosophical approach when viewed as a representational systemlead to the development of relational frame theory6Stimulus EquivalenceABC

Sidman and Tailby 1982 discovered in their experiments that training relationships would result in novel respondingFor instance they could teach if A then B and get if B then A for freeThen they were able to teach if A then C and get If B then C for free7Not as easy as it looksGeneralized operantsClearly easier for humans than animalsUnique when considering the complexity

Relational frames are generalized operants, that is there is an infinite range of topographies in a function of an operant behaviorAlthough this may seem simple, it is uniquely easier for humans than animals. The complexity of this skill is important to consider in understanding behavior8Stimulus Equivalence Terms and Equivalent RFT TermsABC

=AReflexivitySymmetrySymmetryMUTUAL ENTAILMENTCOMBINATORIALTransitivityThe terms for this are A to A is Reflexivity Symmetry = Mutual EntailmentTransitivity = Combinatorial Mutual Entailment

9Show me the money

WRITTEN WORDSPOKEN WORDDOGDOG===When teaching a child that the written word dog = a picture of a dog, and that the picture of a dog = the spoken word dog, the child will be able to read and respond to the written word dog and the spoken word dog without the picture

10More TermsDerived Relational Responding Getting free stuffRelational FramingArbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding

Here some other terms you are likely to see in RFTDerived relational responding is when you train relations and get free stuff, which is to say novel responsesRelational Framing is more technically described as arbitrarily applicable relational responding, this is relating things in a particular way: size, value, spacial location etc.)11What the CFUNC does that mean?

Lets try an exerciseI want you to seriously imagine biting into a lemon, imagine you feel its juice in your mouthIf anyone salivated Isnt that crazy?By telling you to imagine this I changed the function of the word lemon. The sounds that passed my lips cause your salivary gland to excrete stuff. 12How this works (More terms)Relation is establishedContext and Relation: CRELStimulus function with regards to the relationContext and function: CFUNC

A relation is established between stimuli, the word lemon and your experience with lemons, this is the C-RELand then certain functions are selectedbiting and feeling transformed the function of the lemon and the experienceThese are governed by contextual cues and can be esablished arbitrarily (quoting Niklas Torneke, 2010)13Arbitrary Relations

There are arbitrary relations that animals and humans can make based on physical properties like size such as big and small.Humans can relate based on contextual factors alone. For example playing cards have similar formal properties, the ability to relate the symbols allows us to do fun things like gamble14Arbitrary examples

Another example is money. Children might be more likely to select coins based on their size. However, we can teach children to make arbitrary relations and identify not only the value of the coins, but be able to identify relations such as most and least or highest and lowest15Rule Governance and More TermsDifferent kinds specified by RFTTermsPlianceDo what yo mama tells youTrackingBehave with the environment after the rule

I FEEL GREAT!Pliance is doing what is asked of you (for example, go to bed at 9pm)Tracking is when the listener behaves without the rule because of reinforcement from the consequences implied by the rule (going to bed at 9 because you wake feeling rested)16Rule Governance and More TermsAugmentingFormative Motivative

The third term is Augmenting, this is altering the function of a consequence, motivative augmenting is when stimulus functions are altered (I have a soft warm bed for you) soft and warm present sensory consequences; Formative augmenting is when new consequences can govern behavior without having been contacted (this key will open the door to your suite)17Dont drive through a red lightDont kick a man while hes downStudy hard and you will have a better chance at successPut more clothes on or youll be coldStop abusing alcohol or youll dieTry again and youll do betterDont say anything, youll make it worseBe good and you will find peacePray and youll go to heavenDont stop on a crack or youll break your mothers backStop smoking or youll get cancerDont drink and driveIf you save your money you will be able to afford a nice houseShow up to work on timeDo unto others as you would have them do unto you

It is remarkable, if you think about it, how we are able to behave towards things in the future that we have not history with. Regardless of how feel about language or Skinners analysis of Verbal Behavior, the fact that a combination of words and syllables uttered can control behavior that never contacted the things those words describe is neato I think18The Man

The thesis of RFT (truncated) In Dr. Hayes own wordsRelational Frame Theory is a behavior analytic approach to human language and cognition. RFT treats relational responding as a generalized operant, and thus appeals to a history of multiple exemplar training. Uncle Fester makes us rethink electricity in the bodyRFT makes us rethink everything we know about behavior analysis19Recommendation

A scientist embraces science, not any one philosophyThis approach is an important step in our pursuit of scientific knowledge and humbly expands what is understood about behavior I would strongly encourage picking up these two books for those who are interested in learning more.Learning RFT by Niklas Torneke, and RFT by Steven Hayes et al. And check out the RFT tutorial online at 20