Why it is crucial to understand thinking and feeling: An analysis and application to drug abuse

Environmental cues can indirectly acquire cocaine-eliciting changes in Heart Rate: A pilot study of derived relational responding, the transfer of function among cocaine users

Identifying the processes by which environmental stimuli can come to influence drug use is important for developing more efficacious interventions. This study investigated derived relational responding and the transfer of differential conditioned effects of environmental stimuli paired with "smoked" cocaine in accordance with the relations of symmetry, transitivity, and equivalence using Heart Rate as the measure of conditioning among 12 adults with significant histories of cocaine use. Match-to-sample (MTS) procedures were used to test for emergent relations among two four-member stimulus groupings. One member of a group was then paired with 25-mg of smoked cocaine and one member of the other group was paired with 0-mg of smoked cocaine. 10 participants completed the MTS protocol: 4 participants demonstrated two four-member equivalence classes, 3 participants demonstrated two three-member equivalence classes and 2 participants demonstrated symmetry only. One participant demonstrated no derived relations. Differential respondent elicited changes in HR was demonstrated in the presence of stimuli paired with smoked cocaine among 4 of the 6 participants completing the conditioning phase; all 4 of the participants demonstrated a bi-directional transfer of these functions in accordance with symmetry. Transfer was not reliably demonstrated in accordance with transitive or equivalence relations. The results suggest that drug respondent elicitation in the context of drug use may be a function of both direct conditioning and relational processes. These findings have implications for studying and understanding the processes by which stimuli in the natural ecology can set the occasion for cocaine use and developing cocaine use disorder.

A Contextual Behavior Science Framework for Understanding How Behavioral Flexibility Relates to Anxiety

There is a growing literature focusing on the emerging idea that behavioral flexibility, rather than particular emotion regulation strategies per se, provides greater promise in predicting and influencing anxiety-related psychopathology. Yet this line of research and theoretical analysis appear to be plagued by its own challenges. For example, middle-level constructs, such as behavioral flexibility, are difficult to define, difficult to measure, and difficult to interpret in relation to clinical interventions. A key point that some researchers have made is that previous studies examining flexible use of emotion regulation strategies (or, more broadly, coping) have failed due to a lack of focus on context. That is, examining strategies in isolation of the context in which they are used provides limited information on the suitability, rigid adherence, or effectiveness of a given strategy in that situation. Several of these researchers have proposed the development of new models to define and measure various types of behavioral flexibility. We would like to suggest that an explanation of the phenomenon already exists and that we can go back to our behavioral roots to understand this phenomenon rather than focusing on defining and capturing a new process. Indeed, thorough contextual behavioral analyses already yield a useful account of what has been observed. We will articulate a model explaining behavioral flexibility using a functional, contextual framework, with anxiety-related disorders as an example.

Derived relations moderate the association between changes in the strength of commitment language and cocaine treatment response

The psycholinguistic analysis of client-counselor interactions indicates that how individuals talk about their substance use is associated with treatment outcome. However, the processes by which client speech influences out-of-session behaviors have not been clearly delineated. This study investigated the relationships between deriving relations-a key behavioral process by which language and cognition may come to influence behavior, shifts in the strength of client talk in favor of change, and treatment outcome among 75 cocaine-dependent participants (23% Female). Participants were trained to relate cocaine words, nonsense syllables, and negative-consequence words and were then assessed for a derived relation of equivalence before starting treatment. The DARN-C coding system was used to quantify the strength of participant speech during an early cognitive behavior therapy counseling session. Cocaine use during treatment was the outcome of interest. The analyses (a) characterized the process of deriving relations among individuals seeking help for their misuse of cocaine, (b) tested the relationships between shifts in the strength of participants' speech in favor of change and treatment outcome, and (c) tested if deriving equivalence relations moderated the relationship between shifts in the strength of in-session speech and treatment response. Results indicated that a minority of participants derived equivalence relations, however increases in the strength of commitment language predicted less cocaine use during treatment only among those who did. The findings suggest deriving relations may be an important process by which changes in the strength of commitment language comes to influence substance use.

Words are not things

On a traditional view, words are the fundamental units of verbal behavior. They are independent, autonomous things that symbolically represent or refer to other independent, autonomous things, often in some other dimension. Ascertaining what those other things are constitutes determining the meaning of a word. On a behavior-analytic view, verbal behavior is ongoing, functional operant activity occasioned by antecedent factors and reinforced by its consequences, particularly consequences that are mediated by other members of the same verbal community. Functional relations rather than structure select the response unit. The behavior-analytic point of view clarifies such important contemporary issues in psychology as (a) the role of scientific theories and explanations, (b) educational practices, and (c) equivalence classes, so that there is no risk of strengthening the traditional view that words are things that symbolically represent other things.

Thinking about thinking and feeling about feeling

Traditional clinical psychology generally posits "mental" events that differ from "behavioral" events. Mental events are not publicly observable, take place in a different dimension from overt behavior, and are the topic of primary concern. For example, mental events are often taken to be causes of troublesome overt behavior. In addition, the mental events themselves may be regarded as troublesome, independent of their relation to any specific overt behavior. Therapy is usually aimed at fixing these troublesome mental events, under an assumption that improvement in the client's status will follow in due course. Behavior analysis has its own position on the relations among clinical matters, overt behavior, and such private events as thinking and feeling. In a behavior-analytic view, private events are behavioral phenomena rather than mental phenomena. They are not initiating causes of behavior; rather, they are themselves caused by antecedent conditions, but they may contribute to discriminative control over subsequent behavior, both verbal and nonverbal. Verbal processes are viewed as vitally important in understanding troublesome behavior. However, the circumstances that cause both the troublesome private events and the troublesome behavior in the first place still need to be addressed. Finally, clinical behavior analysis will need to market its insights into diagnosis and treatment very adroitly, because it rejects the mentalism upon which most traditional forms of therapy are predicated and the mentalism that most consumers expect to encounter.

Establishing operations, cognition, and emotion

In this paper we argue that behavior analysts have tended to neglect the study of important aspects of complex human behavior, including cognition and emotion. This relative neglect has been costly in terms of mainstream psychology's perception of the field of behavior analysis and in terms of our ability to provide a more thorough account of human behavior. Observations and findings from the clinical context are offered as examples of behavior that are not readily explained by the three-term contingency, and we argue that an adequate account of these behaviors must include principles derived from recent behavior-analytic work, in particular a better understanding of the short- and long-term effects of establishing operations. The concept of the establishing operation and its implications for understanding complex human behavior are discussed.

Evaluating the evidence base for relational frame theory: a citation analysis

Relational frame theory (RFT) is a contemporary behavior-analytic account of language and cognition. Since it was first outlined in 1985, RFT has generated considerable controversy and debate, and several claims have been made concerning its evidence base. The present study sought to evaluate the evidence base for RFT by undertaking a citation analysis and by categorizing all articles that cited RFT-related search terms. A total of 174 articles were identified between 1991 and 2008, 62 (36%) of which were empirical and 112 (64%) were nonempirical articles. Further analyses revealed that 42 (68%) of the empirical articles were classified as empirical RFT and 20 (32%) as empirical other, whereas 27 (24%) of the nonempirical articles were assigned to the nonempirical reviews category and 85 (76%) to the nonempirical conceptual category. In addition, the present findings show that the majority of empirical research on RFT has been conducted with typically developing adult populations, on the relational frame of sameness, and has tended to be published in either The Psychological Record or the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Overall, RFT has made a substantial contribution to the literature in a relatively short period of time.

Inner behavior: Empirical investigations of private events

The special section on private events in the Spring 2000 issue of The Behavior Analyst discussed the exploration of private events. The four articles focused on conceptualizations of issues related to private events and on behavior analysts' neglect of the area. This response cites 19 data-based articles and two doctoral dissertations involving measurement of what precision teachers term inner behavior-thoughts, feelings, and urges. Of the estimated 1.2 million standard celeration charts, at least 1,600 are inner behavior charts. These extensive data indicate that people can and do count and chart their inner behavior. This response discusses findings on inner behavior and its frequency, celeration (growth), variability, and improvement using antecedent and consequent events.

Measures of attentional bias and relational responding are associated with behavioral treatment outcome for cocaine dependence

BACKGROUND

Psychosocial interventions for substance dependence have demonstrated efficacy. However, the mechanisms by which specific intervention strategies exert their effect have not been clearly identified.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the prospective relationships between two psychological processes, an attentional bias toward cocaine stimuli and beliefs about the consequences of cocaine use, and treatment outcome.

METHOD

Twenty-five cocaine-dependent participants enrolled in a 6-month outpatient treatment program that included voucher incentives for abstinence. All participants were asked to complete two implicit assessment procedures, a Drug Stroop protocol and an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), as well as explicit measures of cocaine craving and the consequences of cocaine use, prior to beginning treatment. Pearson's correlation coefficients tested the prospective relationships between treatment outcome and the implicit and explicit assessments.

RESULTS

Stronger implicit beliefs about the positive effects of cocaine use prior to treatment were associated with poorer treatment outcome when an escalating voucher-incentive program was in place. Further, an attentional bias for cocaine-related stimuli was associated with better treatment outcome when an escalating voucher-incentive program was removed. No association between cocaine use beliefs and treatment outcome was found when beliefs were measured with self-report instruments.

CONCLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE

These findings highlight the potential utility of performance-based measures for delineating the psychological mechanisms associated with variation in response to treatment for drug dependence.

The functional assessment of maladaptive behaviors: a preliminary evaluation of binge eating and purging among women

This study applied a functional approach to the study of bingeing and purging behaviors. Based on a four-function theoretical model of bingeing and purging, it was hypothesized that these behaviors are performed because of their intrapersonally reinforcing (e.g., emotion regulation) and/or interpersonally reinforcing (e.g., help-seeking, attention-getting behavior) properties. Participants were 298 adult females who had engaged in bingeing or purging in the last 3 months and who provided data via an online survey of these behaviors. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed support for a four-function model of bingeing and purging in which people use these behaviors for intrapersonal reinforcement functions and also for interpersonal reinforcement. Understanding the functions of binge eating and purging has direct implications for assessment and treatment of these behaviors.

Usos do conceito de eventos privados à luz de proposições pragmatistas

O conceito de eventos privados tem sido apontado na literatura da Análise do Comportamento como central para a abordagem de fenômenos relativos à subjetividade, no contexto de uma adesão à instrumentalidade como critério de verdade. Este trabalho discute os usos do conceito de eventos privados a partir de questões levantadas pelo pragmatismo, filosofia com a qual aquele critério de verdade tem sido consistentemente identificado. É examinado em particular o enfoque relacional verbal na análise de conceitos relativos à privacidade, e como esse enfoque se reflete em uma rejeição do mentalismo e do organicismo. O trabalho segue discutindo a importância da comunidade verbal na produção do "mundo privado" individual. Por fim, ressalta-se que alguns autores afastam-se de uma referência funcional/instrumental ao elaborarem o problema da imprecisão de auto-descrições de eventos privados.

A contemporary behavior analysis of anxiety and avoidance

Despite the central status of avoidance in explaining the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders, surprisingly little behavioral research has been conducted on human avoidance. In the present paper, first we provide a brief review of the empirical literature on avoidance. Next, we describe the implications of research on derived relational responding and the transformation of functions for a contemporary behavioral account of avoidance, before providing several illustrative research examples of laboratory-based analogues of key clinical treatment processes. Finally, we suggest some challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for behavioral research on anxiety and avoidance.

Private stimuli, covert responses, and private events: conceptual remarks

In this article, I discuss the concepts of private stimuli, covert responses, and private events, emphasizing three aspects: the conditions under which private stimuli may acquire discriminative functions to verbal responses, the conditions of unobservability of covert responses, and the complexity of events or phenomena described as private. I argue that the role of private stimuli in the control of self-descriptive verbal responses is dependent on a relation (correlation or equivalence relation) with public stimuli, and that responses vary along a continuum of observability. These remarks on private stimuli and covert responses are introductory to an examination of the varying complexity of phenomena described as private. I argue that private events is a verbal response emitted under the control of phenomena of different degrees of complexity, and I interpret these phenomena, based on the principle of selection by consequences. I introduce the notion of inclusiveness to suggest that some phenomena related to privacy are less or more complex as they include relations of a phylogenetic, ontogenetic, and cultural origin.

Razão e emoção: uma leitura analítico-comportamental de avanços recentes nas neurociências

Achados recentes das neurociências apresentam uma visão integrada do funcionamento humano que envolve a presença de relações entre os grandes sistemas orgânicos, entre estados fisiológicos e cognitivos e entre razão e emoção. Este artigo objetiva contrastar tais estudos a aspectos centrais do modelo interpretativo skinneriano, destacando o papel de relações entre processos respondentes e operantes para a compreensão da interdependência entre razão e emoção. Investiga-se a importância de respostas emocionais e do comportamento verbal para a expressão de respostas tidas como racionais e, de uma maneira geral, para a seleção do repertório comportamental, verbal e não-verbal. Ressalta-se que o atual movimento de superação de propostas dualistas de compreensão do ser humano pelas neurociências aproxima-se da perspectiva analítico-comportamental de investigação de respostas abertas e encobertas no contexto de relações indivíduo-ambiente.

Contextual control of equivalence-based transformation of functions

The transformation of functions refers to the untrained acquisition of stimulus functions among members of stimulus equivalence classes or relational frames. Although it is widely assumed that contextual control over the transformation of fuctions must exist, this has not yet been conclusively demonstrated in laboratory studies. Four experiments are reported in which (a) stimulus equivalence classes were established, (b) a conditional stimulus function was trained for one member of each of the classes, and (c) multiple-exemplar procedures were used to train and test for contextual control over the transformation of the stimulus function within the classes and to assess whether it generalized to new equivalence classes. Although a significant amount of training was required, the procedures ultimately resulted in the contextual control of function transformation for 9 of 10 participants and generalized contextual control for 4 of 5 participants.