The present study used a basic behavioral paradigm derived from Relational Frame Theory (RFT), a contemporary behavioral account of language and cognition, to validate principle-based definitions of the cognitive interventions of defusion and reappraisal. Ninety-one participants first underwent an RFT learning paradigm that established symbolically generalized avoidance. Participants were then randomized to a defusion, reappraisal, or control condition. The main outcomes were equivalence responding—indicative of the trained relational network and analogous to the content of cognition—and avoidance—analogous to the behavioral impact of cognition. Defusion and reappraisal significantly reduced avoidance responding, providing support for the hypothesis that these interventions target the behavior of relational framing. Mediation analyses, conducted on an exploratory basis, revealed differences between the mechanisms of defusion and reappraisal and provided preliminary support for the classification of these interventions as a functional context intervention and a relational context intervention, respectively.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Sandra M. Stith / This investigation explored a relatively understudied aspect of mindfulness: the experience of ninth graders in a public school classroom who practice a brief, daily mindfulness activity. The mixed-method study utilized both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Semi-structured interviews investigated the experience of those students and gleaned further information surrounding the question, ―What was the experience of mindfulness like for you?‖ The data from these interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis and was cross-coded by two outside researchers not part of the data collection. This study also explored the effects of classroom mindfulness activities through the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (Greco, Dew, & Baer, 2005). The participating students and a control group of students within the same school building and subject area took the measure before and after the study to determine the effects, if any, of participating in classroom mindfulness activities on adolescent mindfulness. These results were analyzed using paired sample T-tests using SPSS software. Results from both the interviews and the survey showed that students participating in the mindfulness activities had a consistently positive experience with the mindfulness exercise and increased their level of mindfulness. While unfamiliar with mindfulness at the beginning of the study, students in the experimental condition reported they found the experience beneficial in terms of personal growth, classroom environment, and adaption to other areas of their life. Any negative experiences concerning the mindfulness exercises centered around the initial unfamiliarity with mindfulness and specific components of one exercise. These results were further confirmed by the entries in a daily journal kept by the teacher.

Through examining the variables that contribute to the natural process of language and cognition, a promising path is paved for researchers to identify the variables that influence higher order skills, such as perspective taking, empathy and altruism. The current study implemented the PEAK Relational Training System Transformation Module Pre-Assessment Expressive portion (PEAK-T PA) as an objective behavior measure of relational framing complexity. Two additional self-report assessments were used with all subjects, including a multi-dimensional measure of empathy, referred to as the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ). A Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between PEAK-T PA scores and IRI subscale scores. Additional Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine a relationship between PEAK-T scores and VLQ scores. A statistically significant relationship was determined between one of the relational frame subareas of the PEAK-T PA and the perspective taking IRI subscale scores. Results, limitations and future research areas associated with relational framing abilities are discussed.

Evidence suggests that the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) is an effective method of providing verbal behavior training to individuals with developmental disabilities, and previous research indicates that BST can be used to train staff in its implementation. Video modeling is a modification to BST that can decrease the amount of resources necessary to provide instruction without limiting the effectiveness of the training. This study evaluated the effectiveness of using video modeling for teaching direct care staff how to implement the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) using a multiple baseline across participants design. All participants showed improvement in PEAK implementation with video modeling treatment; one required the addition of a checklist to achieve mastery. Implications for further research are discussed.

Relational Frame Theory provides an analysis of verbal behavior involving a focus on the development of relational operants which are seen as a basis for language. From this basis, a framework is provided for establishing relational networks in individuals who lack derived relational ability. Establishment of relational frames may increase the probability of responding relationally to novel instances and use of the specific relational frames during social interactions; therefore, training verbal relations in accordance with an RFT approach may enhance intraverbal responding and facilitate the emergence of untrained responses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the emergence of specific relationships in the context of intraverbal responding as a collateral effect of training on relational networks in four children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Two participants demonstrated mastery of derived relational responding (DRR) without training, one participant demonstrated mastery of DRR following training, and a fourth participant demonstrated mutual entailment and some combinatorial entailment. Increases in vocal verbal behavior during generalization probes were observed, although increased use of all target relations was not observed in all participants. Further research is needed to evaluate specific deficits in derived relational responding among individuals with ASD, as well as the correlation between DRR and language ability.

A well-researched line showing equivalence performances in a wide variety of areas has been conducted in the field of Behavior Analysis (BA). One area demonstrates that relating relations is a behavioral account of analogical thinking. Relating relations may have implications for the development of analogical training given that analogical reasoning is seen as the foundation of intelligence yet research in this area is limited. A protocol by Stewart, Barnes-Holmes, and Weil (2009) was developed to train children in analogical reasoning using equivalence-equivalence relations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an equivalence-equivalence training protocol based on Stewart et al. (2009) and test whether the protocol was effective in training equivalence-equivalence responding to 7 and 8-year-old children. A secondary purpose was to test whether training in equivalence-equivalence responding increased performances on analogical tests. All five participants were dismissed throughout the study. Participant 1 was dismissed during the pre-assessments and all other participants were dismissed during intervention. Because none of the participants passed the equivalence-equivalence training, increases in performance in analogical testes were not analyzed. Individual performance data from training are examined and analyzed to provide an account of the failures to pass the equivalence-equivalence protocol.

Relational Frame Theory (RFT; Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, and Roche, 2001) describes verbal contingencies as networks of relations between overt and covert stimuli. RFT posits that the ability to form these relational networks is a key component of language and cognition. These relations can become problematic when they result in an individual rigidly responding to verbal contingencies even when environmental contingencies produce more adaptive outcomes. RFT has given rise to an intervention program called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) that is designed to help people see past maladaptive verbal contingencies. ACT's utility in the area of OBM is still in the early stages of exploration. Experiment 1 examined the effect of a verbal and written performance feedback system with a low cost probabilistic contingency reward program and an eight hour ACT training program on the percentage of time Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) spent engaged in active treatment and the technical competence of active treatment provided to people with disabilities. The experiment used a pretest/posttest design with a waitlist control group and two intervention groups. DSPs serving children and adults with developmental disabilities in a residential and small group home settings participated in the experiment. The first intervention group received only the feedback intervention while the second intervention group received the feedback intervention and the ACT training. After attrition the group sizes were control N = 12, feedback only N = 12, and feedback plus ACT N = 17. Both intervention groups performed significantly better than the control group. The feedback plus ACT group outperformed the feedback only group by 27.8% in percentage of observation time engaged in active treatment at posttest. The result was statistically significantly at the .05 level of significance. The feedback plus ACT group also exhibited superior but nonsignificant improvements over the feedback only group in the areas of competency of operant teaching techniques (14.9%), percentage of clients engaged in purposeful activities (10.7%), and percentage of clients with learning or leisure materials within arm's reach (11.0%). Regression analyses found a weak positive correlation between age and frequency of active treatment (R2 = .11, F(1, 39) = 4.99, p < .05), a weak positive correlation between psychological flexibility as measured by the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-2 (AAQ-2) and job satisfaction, a weak negative correlation between psychological flexibility and self-reported workplace stress, and a weak negative correlation between stress and job satisfaction. Self-reported levels of psychological flexibility, workplace stress, and job satisfaction remained stable for all three groups from pre to posttest despite the increased performance expectations on DSPs in the two intervention groups. Possible explanations for the differences in performance are discussed. Experiment 2 consisted of a small scale replication of the active treatment findings of experiment 1 while examining what impact, if any, higher frequency observations and verbal and written feedback would have on DSP self-reported workplace stress, job satisfaction, and psychological flexibility. Experiment 2 also used participants 25 years of age and under to further explore and possibly rule out the age-active treatment correlation found in experiment 1 as a significant variable impacting the frequency of active treatment. The intervention procedures used in experiment one were adapted for experiment two. The specific intervention components used were verbal performance feedback and a one-on-one daylong version of the eight-hour ACT training program used in experiment one. Two separate multiple baseline designs across participants were used. Group one consisted of three DSPs and group two contained 2 DSPs. The feedback intervention produced improvements in the percentage of time DSPs were engaged in active treatment during observations and in their operant teaching skills competency-based testing assessment scores. Three DSPs failed to meet the performance target after the feedback intervention was introduced but met or exceeded the performance target after the daylong ACT training was implemented.

This investigation evaluated the use of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) to teach perspective-taking skills to adolescents with high-functioning autism. The first experiment used a multiple probe design to examine the use of MEI to teach participants to respond appropriately to the deictic frames of I-You, Here-There, and Now-Then. Participants were instructed and tested using developmentally appropriate perspective-taking protocols, and generalization of perspective-taking skills to a more natural social interaction format was also assessed. The second experiment used a multiple probe design to examine the use of MEI to facilitate defusion from negative thoughts and feelings related to social interaction. Participants were trained to discriminate between different aspects of their own perspective (i.e., self-as-content and self-as-context). Defusion was measured using ratings of the believability and comfort associated with negative thoughts, and the percentage of time engaged in appropriate social interaction was recorded for each participant. Results from Experiment 1 showed the emergence of deictic relational responding in the presence of novel relations for all participants following MEI, and varying degrees of generalization of perspective-taking skills to a natural presentation of social interaction were observed based on the complexity of the deictic relation. Results from Experiment 2 revealed a decrease in believability and an increase in comfort associated with problematic thoughts for all participants following MEI in the absence of directly observed changes in social interaction in the natural environment. These results support the use of MEI as an instructional strategy for teaching perspective-taking skills to individuals with autism. Findings are discussed according to a Relational Frame Theory analysis of perspective-taking.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the procedures described in the PEAK-E curriculum in generating derived intraverbal categorization responses in both a vocal categorization context and written problem-solving context, replicated across three children with disabilities. Six four-member equivalence classes were taught, including three class member stimuli (A, B, and C) as well as one function class name (D), using a match-to-sample arrangement. These classes were divided into two stimulus sets (i.e., classes 1-3 and classes 4-6) and trained using pre-class (D-C training followed by mixed A-B/B-C training) and post-class formations (Mixed A-B/B-C training followed by D-C training). The procedures were efficacious in generating derived intraverbal categorization responses for one participant in a vocal context, and additional exemplar training was required for the emergence of vocal categorization responses in the other two participants. None of the participants were able to solve the written problem-solving tasks following training and testing of all target relations.

Relational Density Theory describes quantifiable higher-order properties governing relational framing of verbal organisms. Consistent with Newtonian classical mechanics, the theory posits that relational networks, and relating itself, will demonstrate the higher-order emergent properties of density, volume, and mass. Thus, networks that contain more relations (volume) that are stronger (density) will be more resistant to change (i.e., contain greater mass; mass = volume * density). Consistent with Newton’s law of gravity, networks that contain greater mass will also demonstrate force, accelerating the acquisition of new relations beyond that accounted for by direct acting contingencies, therefore demonstrating emergent self-organization that is highly susceptible to small changes at initial conditions. The current set of experiments provides initial proof of concept data for foundational principles introduced in the theory. Experiment 1 (N = 6) models the volumetric mass density formula, predicting that networks with greater volume and density will be more resistant to change (i.e., contain greater mass) when counterconditioning is applied to a subset of derived relations contained within experimentally established networks. Results were consistent with theoretical predictions based on density on 10 of 12 occasions, and resistance appeared greater for relations operating at greater volume. Experiment 2 (N = 6) extended directly from Experiment 1, generating a density differential through exposure at initial training conditions, and utilizing response time as a measure of relational density. Results again demonstrated successful prediction of resistance corresponding with the emergent density differential on 10 of 12 occasions, along with overall greater resistance corresponding with and volumetric increases. Experiment 3 (N = 9) demonstrated that relational volume can detract from relational density when accurate responding is near 100%, and that network density is predictive of class mergers when no merged responding is ever reinforced, suggesting that network mass can exert force on relational responding in the absence of any experimental conditioning (i.e., gravity). Taken together, results have radical implications for understanding the self-emergent nature of complex human behavior, with applications in therapy and treatment, as well as in understanding the human condition more broadly.