The Complexities and Philosophy of RFT
in 5 minutes… GO!
The Importance of Human Language
 Practically everything we do is shaped by our verbal behavior
 The ability to control behavior with words
 A better understanding of how we influence eachother
 Harness the power of language systematically
In addition
 “Economies stand or fall on their abilities to develop and
disseminate verbal knowledge”
~Steven Hayes
 “Words are, in my not so humble opinion, the most
inexhaustible source of magic; capable of both inflicting
injury and remedying it.“
~Dumbledore
BRIEFLY on Skinner’s Verbal Behavior
 Language is behavior
 Behavior operates on its environment
 Types of verbal behavior have specific functions
 Mand
 Tact
 Intraverbal
What it is
Relational Frame Theory:
 An addition to the analysis of human behavior
 A cogent philosophy to guide research and understanding of
verbal behavior
And most importantly
 A virtual extension for the currently prominent analysis of
Skinner’s Verbal Behavior
Whence it comes
 Rule governance
 A failure to account for the behavior of the listener
 A failure to account for the process in stimulus equivalence
 Functional contexualism
Stimulus Equivalence
B
A
C
Not as easy as it looks
 Generalized operants
 Clearly easier for humans than animals
 Unique when considering the complexity
Stimulus Equivalence Terms and
Equivalent RFT Terms
B Transitivity
COMBINATORIAL
MUTUAL
Reflexivity ENTAILMENT
A= A
C
Show me the money
WRITTEN WORD
DOG =
=
SPOKEN WORD
=“DOG”
More Terms
 Derived Relational Responding
 Getting free stuff
 Relational Framing
 Arbitrarily Applicable
Relational Responding
What the CFUNC does that mean?
How this works (More terms)
 Relation is established
 Context and Relation: CREL
 Stimulus function with regards to the relation
 Context and function: CFUNC
Arbitrary Relations
Arbitrary examples
Rule Governance… and More Terms
 Different kinds specified by RFT
 Terms
 Pliance
 Do what yo mama tells you
 Tracking
 Behave with the environment after the rule
I FEEL
GREAT!
Rule Governance… and More Terms
 Augmenting
 Formative
 Motivative
“Don’t drive through a red light”
“Don’t kick a man while he’s down”
“Study hard and you will have a better chance at success”
“Put more clothes on or you’ll be cold”
“Stop abusing alcohol or you’ll die”
“Try again and you’ll do better”
“Don’t say anything, you’ll make it worse”
“Be good and you will find peace”
“Pray and you’ll go to heaven”
“Don’t stop on a crack or you’ll break your mothers back”
“Stop smoking or you’ll get cancer”
“Don’t drink and drive”
“If you save your money you will be able to afford a nice house”
“Show up to work on time”
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”
The Man
Recommendation