MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Ruth Anne Rehfeldt The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a defusion exercise in combination with perspective- taking interactions as a brief protocol based on the Relational Frame Theory (RFT). The protocol was designed to alter verbal statements about the self through the implementation of training on deictic frames (I-YOU, HERE-THERE, AND NOW-THEN) in conjunction with an exercise of defusion. A pre-post design with a control group was implemented to evaluate the effects of the protocol on the frequency rate of self-as-context and self-as-content statements. Adolescents with disabilities were selected and assigned to each group based on the frequency rate of self-as-content statements. After the assignment of the participants to each group, each participant was interviewed individually through a structured interview aimed at identifying deictic frames and negative statements. Then, participants in the treatment group received the protocol of defusion and deictic frames individually, and participants in the control group received a social skills session on an individual basis. Finally, participants were interviewed individually through an interview based on the identification of deictic relationships and negative statements about the self. Results showed a significant effect in reducing the number of self-as-content statements and increasing the number of self-as-context statements for participants in the treatment group; however, changes did not reach the statistical significance when comparing the post-tests scores between the treatment and control group. Limitations of this study are discussed and future research is recommended.

Submitted by Izabel Franco (izabel-franco@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-03T13:43:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissJFAC.pdf: 749028 bytes, checksum: 852db7153158113d4a2069953481d479 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-20T18:26:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissJFAC.pdf: 749028 bytes, checksum: 852db7153158113d4a2069953481d479 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-20T18:26:55Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissJFAC.pdf: 749028 bytes, checksum: 852db7153158113d4a2069953481d479 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-20T18:27:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissJFAC.pdf: 749028 bytes, checksum: 852db7153158113d4a2069953481d479 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-22 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / This is a theoretical paper that, given a longstanding difficulty of approaching logical reasoning from a behavioral perspective, attempts to provide an interpretation of Aristotelian syllogisms consistent with Relational Frame Theory, thus proposing a new relational frame, i.e. Relational Frames of Deductive Inference. To that end, it was analyzed, on the one hand, the account of syllogisms found in Aristotle’s Prior analytics, highlighting relevant concepts and, on the other hand, RFT literature, mainly the 2001 book by Hayes, Barnes-Holmes & Roche. In this light, we argue that Aristotelian syllogisms present the necessary features of any relational frame and also a specific pattern and specific relational cues that set it apart from other already defined relational frames. Understanding logical reasoning as operant behavior (in this case, a specific type of arbitrarily applicable relational responding) may constitute a necessary first step in developing empirical methods for the study of such an important class of behaviors. / Esta é uma pesquisa teórica que, dada a tradicional dificuldade de tratar o raciocínio lógico desde uma perspectiva comportamental, tenta fornecer uma interpretação dos silogismos aristotélicos consistente com a Teoria das Molduras Relacionais, propondo, como resultado, um novo tipo de moldura relacional, as Molduras Relacionais de Inferência Dedutiva. Para tal fim, foi analisada, por um lado, a explicação dos silogismos encontrada nos Analíticos Anteriores de Aristóteles, destacando os conceitos mais relevantes e, por outro lado, literatura científica sobre a Teoria das Molduras Relacionais, principalmente o livro de Hayes, Barnes-Holmes e Roche de 2001. Com essa base, postulamos que os silogismos aristotélicos apresentam as caraterísticas necessárias para qualquer moldura relacional e também um padrão específico e dicas relacionais específicas que o distinguem de outras molduras relacionais já definidas. A compreensão do raciocínio lógico como comportamento operante (neste caso, um tipo específico de responder relacional arbitrariamente aplicável) pode constituir um primeiro passo necessário para desenvolver métodos empíricos para o estudo de uma classe de comportamentos dessa importância. / FAPESP: 2014/24270-0

This study hypothesized a direct relationship among three verbal phenomena: derived relational responding, verbal intelligence, and worry. It also hypothesized that experiential avoidance would mediate the relationship between derived relational responding and worry. Overall, results from this study failed to support a relationship between worry and the other two verbal phenomena, however, results did support a relationship between derived relational responding and verbal intelligence. Additionally, results indicated a significant relationship between experiential avoidance and worry. Future research should clarify the relationship among the three primary variables of interest, improve measurement of these variables, be more sensitive to external validity, and promote the study of acceptance-based treatments that target experiential avoidance.

Approximately 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury each year in the United States. Perspective taking is a repertoire known to be severely affected following a traumatic brain injury. The ability to take the perspective of another greatly contributes to social interactions and involves a complex set of skills. A small number of studies have attempted to train perspective taking skills in populations lacking the ability, but none with individuals diagnosed with TBI. This study aimed to teach perspective taking skills to adults with TBI through established protocols which teach deictic relational frames. Three adult males with traumatic brain injuries were exposed to the deictic relational training protocol. Each participant was tested on traditional theory of mind tasks prior to and following mastery of deictic training. All three participants achieved mastery of the relational training protocol and showed some improvement on theory of mind tasks following training and at follow-up.

Behavior analysts who study verbal behavior theorize that people derive relationships between stimuli - forming stimulus classes such that psychological functions transfer among stimuli and therefore affect behavior. Verbal processes are thought to play a role in cancer patients' behavioral flexibility. The current study examined if an analogue intervention produced changes in relations between health-relevant stimuli from pre- to post-test in patient and student samples. A matching-to-sample (MTS) task required participants to form three 4-member classes that included health, treatment, or neutral terms. Participants next listened to either an acceptance-based or a control-based rationale and therapy exercise, or a distracter task. Then, they were re-exposed to the MTS task. Latencies and accuracies for learning each class as well as between condition differences were examined. Finally, changes in ratings of stimuli from pre to post analogues were measured. Differences in stimuli ratings were seen in the student sample, reflecting transfer of function and some reduction in responsiveness to stimuli following intervention, but overall no learning performances are found. Discussion explores the consistency of the findings with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) theory in light of the seemingly lack of findings.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF

The purpose of this study was to add to the existing body of research supporting the efficacy of ACT in improving performance and psychological challenges athletes experience. Three collegiate women’s basketball players participated in the current study in a multiple baseline design across participants. Two of the three subjects received the ACT only condition and individualized ACT plus mindfulness (IACT+M) treatment conditions. Subject three entered the IACT+M condition directly following baseline. Free throws, Mikan drill and three-ball dribbling where the three skills being assessed as well as psychological flexibility using two the assessment tools. The results suggest that brief ACT interventions may be useful for improving practice performance for collegiate basketball players. Participant one had an average increase for free throws by M=12.9%, a M=5% increase in the Mikan drill, and M=3.3% increase in the three-ball drill. Participant two had an average increase of M=7.3% for free throws, M=1.8% increase in the Mikan drill and M=0.4% increase in the three-ball drill. Participant three had an average increase of M=13% for free throws, 1.8% increase in the Mikan drill and a M=2% increase in the three-ball drill.

For many decades there has been an ongoing feud between the fields of behaviorism and cognitive science. This feud is not about specific scientific findings, it is about deep philosophical convictions, and about what terms and methods it makes sense to use when studying psychology. In the late 1950’s, behaviorism was declared dead when it was convincingly argued that behaviorism could not explain the nature of language, a centerpiece of human psychology. But since then behaviorism has slowly risen from its grave, as a new behaviorist theory of language emerged. The new behaviorist theory of language is called Relational Frame Theory (RFT), and it is part of a new behaviorist paradigm called Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS). This paradigm also includes a behaviorist psychotherapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which in the last decade has become popular across the world. Thus, the feud has once again become active, and the question about which philosophical principles are most suitable for the science of psychology is yet again something that needs an answer. But things have changed since the mid-1900’s when the discussion was last active. The philosophy of CBS is not exactly like that of earlier versions of behaviorism, having developed into a more explicit and coherent set of philosophical principles, summarized under the name functional contextualism. Old arguments against behaviorism do not apply to the same degree. So it is time for a new look at this debate, taking into consideration what functional contextualism and RFT has to offer. According to Contextual behavioral science, cognitive science generally entails a commitment to the correspondence theory of truth, the idea that something is true if it corresponds with reality, or a worldly fact. CBS, on the other hand, makes an explicit commitment to a pragmatic theory of truth, which focuses on the consequences (i.e. usefulness) of a statement or theory, instead of its correspondence with reality. Because of the supposed centrality of these theories of truth for the divide between cognitive science and behaviorism, I will focus on what exactly this divide is about, and whether there is any way that the differences can be reconciled. I will argue that the divide isn’t as big as it may seem when we take a closer look at the philosophical principles and empirical theories of CBS, and that it may in fact be possible to bridge this divide by formulating a version of the correspondence theory that is compatible with CBS. In part 1 I present a quick sketch of behaviorism as contrasted with cognitive science, and the connection between behaviorism and the pragmatic theory of truth, as well as the connection between cognitive science and the correspondence theory of truth. In part 2 I give a more detailed description of the philosophy and science of Contextual behavioral science, including the tools for understanding language in CBS terms. In part 3 I present a more detailed description of the correspondence theory of truth, giving an overview of the different versions of this theory that have been proposed throughout the history of philosophy. In part 4 I make a careful evaluation of the CBS objections towards the correspondence theory of truth, and arrive at a version of the correspondence theory that can be expressed in CBS terms. I will conclude that this version is compatible with the underlying philosophy of CBS, even though the CBS pragmatic theory of truth claims otherwise. I call it a behaviorist correspondence theory of truth.

Children's language and world knowledge grows explosively in the preschool years. One critical contributor to this growth is their developing ability to infer relations beyond those that have been directly taught or modeled. Categorization is one type of skill commonly taught in preschool in which inference is an important aspect. This study explored the development of specific types of inferences within a categorization relation: those among naming items and categories, selecting items based on their names and categories, and answering questions that relate names and categories. Children learned names and categories for a set of unfamiliar cartoon characters through one of two training protocols: (a) Listener training involved selecting a picture upon hearing an item name or category; (b) Expressive training involved saying an item name or category upon seeing a picture. Following training, we tested whether children derived several kinds of untrained responses. Those children who received Expressive training (saying names) completed tests of listener responses (selecting pictures); similarly, those children who received Listener training (selecting pictures) completed tests of expressive responses (saying names). Next, children answered oral questions in the absence of pictures. Results show that children receiving Expressive and Listener training produce naming and question answering responses at levels above chance. However, many children failed to answer all questions correctly. The Expressive group produced naming and question answering responses at significantly higher levels than the Listener group. This suggests that Listener training is a weaker form of instruction when the goal of instruction is the production of untrained responses. However, these results are tentative because unequal proportions of children completed each type of training. Finally, we examined the relationship between naming and question answering. Few children answered questions at a higher level than they produced names. This study shows that children learn to infer responses from both Listener and Expressive trainings. This study also suggests that naming and question answering responses are related responses. The current study highlights the need for later research on teaching inference skills such as naming and question answering to those who do not develop them in the absence of specific instruction.

Perspective taking is typically defined as the ability to reason about others’ mental states (e.g. their beliefs, thoughts, desires, and intentions) and to understand the role of those mental states in everyday situations (I. A. Apperly, 2012). Traditional accounts of perspective taking typically analyze the ability based on three different domains: visual, affective or emotional, and cognitive perspective taking (Flavell, 2004). From a behavioral viewpoint, perspective taking skills are built upon the ability to recognize our own behavior in relation to the context. Relational Frame Theory (RFT) is a contemporary behavioral account of human language and cognition (Hayes et al., 2007). From an RFT viewpoint, perspective-taking skills involve deictic relations between individuals, spaces, and time. Instead of using the three dimensions analyzed in the other fields, RFT studies the development of complex perspective-taking skills through three types of deictic frames: interpersonal (I-YOU-OTHER), spatial (HERE-THERE), and temporal (NOW-THEN-LATER). The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a set of behavioral assessments to measure visual, emotional, and cognitive perspective-taking skills from an RFT viewpoint. This dissertation made methodological and empirical contributions to the field by proposing three behavioral computer-based protocols for evaluating the role of deictic frames on visual, emotional, and cognitive perspective taking tasks. Experiment 1 results revealed significant differences in response latency and correct response levels on interpersonal and spatial deictic frames at simple and reverse levels of complexity on a visual perspective-taking task. These findings suggested that transforming stimulus functions following a mutually entailed relationship between interpersonal and spatial frames is not equivalent to performing conditional discriminations involving both interpersonal and spatial stimuli. Experiment 2 results revealed significant differences in response latency and correct response levels on interpersonal frames with simple, reverse, and double reverse levels of complexity on an emotional perspective-taking task. The finding showed that as the complexity of the deictic relations in emotional perspective taking increased, so did the number of errors and latency to respond. Furthermore, the findings of the study indicate that the valence of emotions has an effect on the levels of deictic relational responding. On a cognitive perspective-taking task, the results of Experiment 3 revealed significant differences in response latency and correct response levels on interpersonal frames with simple and reverse levels of complexity. False beliefs and false desires increased the number of errors and latency to respond to interpersonal deictic frames, according to the findings. Overall, these protocols improved the ecological validity of RFT-based protocols of deictic frames, extended previous research on perspective taking, and opened up new research avenues.