Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Dec;32(4):200-208.
doi: 10.5114/ppn.2023.135529. Epub 2024 Feb 19.

From direct contingencies to derived relations: the ever-developing nature of theory and practice in behavior analysis

Krystyna Pomorska  1 , Paweł Ostaszewski  2
Affiliations
Review

From direct contingencies to derived relations: the ever-developing nature of theory and practice in behavior analysis

Krystyna Pomorska et al. Postep Psychiatr Neurol. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: To illustrate the processes of development within the behavioral theory and the corresponding expansion of the areas in which it is applied, especially the advancement (conceptual developments) of the functional analysis of language inspired by Relational Frame Theory (RFT) research.

Views: Classical and operant conditioning are well-established behavioral learning processes, discovered and described at the beginning of the twentieth century. They provide the tools for analyzing, establishing and modifying the functions of stimuli and responses of the organisms through manipulation of the environment. Although B. F. Skinner provided grounds for the functional analysis of complex behaviors such as language, it was not until the beginning of the twenty-first century that RFT was introduced. From this moment behavior analysts could use behavioral principles to explain how stimulus functions may change without direct learning. The practical application of the growing knowledge about Arbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding (AARR), a basic generalized operant described within RFT, allows us to analyze, explain and change behaviors that had hitherto been beyond the scope of behavioral therapy. The continued growth and development of behavior theory and practice holds the promise for an expansion of its application to new areas and populations in need. One such development is the functional analysis of verbal behavior e.g., relational frames, ROE (relating-orienting-evoking).

Conclusions: It seems useful to add advancements proposed by RFT to the behavioral toolbox with which we could effectively describe, explain and change behavior with precision, scope and depth.

Keywords: applied behavior analysis; behavior therapy; functional analysis of language; relational frame theory.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Absent.

Figures

Figure I
Figure I
Example of a rational (temporal) frame and its entailment (relational properties)
Figure II
Figure II
Conceptual model of ROE as a unit of analysis of AARR
Figure III
Figure III
Examples of behavioral procedures and principles derived from operant conditioning
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Watrin JP, Darwich R. On behaviorism in the cognitive revolution: myth and reactions. Rev Gener Psychol 2012; 16: 269-282.
    1. Törneke N. Learning RFT. An introduction to Relational Frame Theory and its clinical application. Oakland, CA: Context Press; 2010.
    1. Malone JC. Advances in behaviorism: it’s not what it used to be. J Behav Educ 2003; 12: 85-89.
    1. Biglan, A, Hayes SC. Should the behavioral sciences become more pragmatic? The case for functional contextualism in research on human behavior. Appl Prev Psychol 1996; 5: 47-57.
    1. Barnes-Holmes D, Hussey I. The functional-cognitive meta-theoretical framework: reflections, possible clarifications and how to move forward. Int J Psychol 2016; 51: 50-57. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources